C.O.G.

I was really looking forward to this movie. From the trailers it looked funny, mild and sweet. I thought it was going to be about a young man meeting new people and having positive experiences working at an apple orchard. I was wrong. This movie has a few sweet moments but overall, it is grim and bleak. I cannot emphasize this enough. When it is finished, you are left feeling sad and disappointed in humanity. In simple words: this movie is a downer. Really though, if you are looking for a sweet, light hearted movie, you won't find it here. The best thing I can say about the film is that Jonathan Groff is extremely talented and does a great job, but even he can't save this film.

'C.O.G.': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Comedy drama film about a young college graduate (from Yale) who travels to Oregon to takes a job (under an alias) as an apple picker and then a clock maker. He has to deal with a lot of really religious and poor folks who find him very awkward and odd. It's based on the autobiographical short story by popular humorist and author David Sedaris ('C.O.G.' was featured in his 1997 collection of essays 'Naked'). The movie was written and directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez and stars Jonathan Groff (of 'GLEE' fame). I found it to be darkly humorous and a pretty insightful look at human nature.

Groff plays David (based on Sedaris) who travels to Oregon (the movie was filmed all on location in Portland), after he graduates from Yale, in order to work among common folks (using the name Samuel). He first gets a job as an apple picker, working for a farmer named Hobbs (Dean Stockwell), and is promoted to work in the factory there. After complications arise with a co-worker (Corey Stoll) he leaves his job suddenly and calls up an extremely religious Christian, named Jon (Denis O'Hare), he met on the street (handing out pamphlets). Jon calls himself a 'C.O.G' (Child of God). He takes David in to the house he's temporarily staying at and teaches him how to make Oregon shaped clocks with him, to sell at an upcoming fair.

The movie is an interesting character study that is darkly funny but also pretty depressing; just when things are looking up (for our hero) they're always being turned around again and it's a pretty pessimistic look at life (in a lot of ways). It is based on Sedaris's actual experiences though. I really like Groff's performance, Alvarez's directing and the haunting music (which plays heavily throughout the film) by Steve Reich. I look forward to movies from all these three again as well as more adaptations from David Sedaris's writings!

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A rueful, seriocomic D. Sedaris memoir minus D. Sedaris—his unique authorial voice and his unmatched ability to see his goofus younger self as others must have seen him—doesn't sound like it would have much going for it, but "C.O.G." is actually a pretty good film. David, an East Coast grad student estranged from his family and otherwise at loose ends, has been persuaded by a flighty friend that this would be an excellent time for him "to get his hands dirty" picking apples in Oregon; when a tough-looking apple packer (Dale Dickey) says she'd like to "knock that f—r union rep from here to Tokyo," David asks brightly, "Have any of you actually ever been to Japan? It's a beautiful place." Clearly David's going to have some problems adjusting to life in the Hood River fruit-growing region. Writer-director Kyle Patrick Alvarez was well advised to lose the traditional coming-of-age-film voice-over; DS's unpredictable and thoroughly engaging storyline works perfectly well on its own, and the unSedarislike Jonathan Groff does just fine as David. Good work by all concerned, in fact, especially Corey Stoll and Denis O'Hare as strangers with candy. The Steve Reich percussion pieces are a little distracting at times, but mostly used to good effect.

As a David Sedaris fan, I went to see this movie kinda fearful that it would not do his essay justice. This movie far surpassed my expectations and made me laugh aloud (as reading any Sedaris piece does). This adaptation of C.O.G. was faithful to the spirit of the Sedaris essay, retaining and even adding to its understated, snarky sense of humor.

Jonathan Groff stars as David, capturing a naïve and irreverent guy fresh out of college perfectly. The film opens with a montage of him rubbing shoulders with a bunch of weirdos on a greyhound until he reaches his destination: Oregon. David plans to work on an apple farm in order to experience what "real people" do. Of course, things don't go as planned and unexpected hilarity ensues.

C.O.G. is one of the best new films that I've seen this year. The style and the soundtrack evoke an eccentric yet slightly bleak mood that I really enjoyed. I find that I relate quite heavily to the post-college feelings of uncertainty and aimlessness that David has in the film…as I'm sure many U.S. grads do.

Just saw this with a friend and ended up in the lobby of the theater discussing it with 3 other people for about 30 minutes afterward. People we'd never met.

We all agreed the film is ambiguous in every way. Uncomfortably so. The film is about a young man who is green. One is reminded of Ben from The Graduate. He appears to be a lost soul with no anchor. He reaches out to people for assistance but appears to be only mildly interested in them or what their lives are about. He tends to adopt whatever interests they have in order to remain in their employ or care. He is completely unprepared for the people he meets in his journey to find himself.

The acting is excellent by everyone. For that I give this film a high rating. I'm not sure everyone will enjoy the film but there is no denying the talent here. Just be prepared that not every character in this film is happy and full of joy. It isn't a joyful experience.