Generation Um

"Generation Um..." is a pretentious shallow film about nothing. The pointless plot is about the lives of three uninteresting persons that live in New York: John (Keanu Reeves) is an unemployed guy and small-time thief and pimp. The Call-girl Violet (Bojana Novakovic) is a promiscuous drug addicted woman that has slept with at least two hundred men and three women. The call-girl Mia (Adelaide Clemens) is a disturbed woman that saw her father kicking the belly of her pregnancy mother that aborted a baby girl. Violet shags John and Mia and she are best friends. On the day of his birthday, John steals a video-camera and makes footage in the Central park and interviewing Violet and Mia. Then the girls go to a bachelor party. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Sem Destino" ("Without Destiny")

What is the movie about? It's about loneliness in a crowd, probably. About pain. About hope. About proximity. The movie is about just one day, and about the whole life. It's as little as very much at the same time. The movie starts and ends same — the three friends come home from work. But the things that occurred during the day changing their attitude to themselves and to their own lives. They learn to trust. John has the rare talent to ask short questions and to listen carefully. It turns out to be very important, when you just listen and don't teach, don't advise, don't bring something up. John starts video taping as entertainment and ends up as a confession. And confession always clears the soul. Mark Mann shot a very intimate movie, and brought the viewer completely into the world where Mia, Violet and John live. This world isn't joyful and it isn't sad. It's real. The movie is for those who appreciate sincerity on the screen and who aren't afraid to pass others pain through themselves. It's for those who try to understand people living behind the standard morals. The favorite dialog in the movie is: - Just don't hate me because I'm beautiful. - I don't hate you. I'm just confused. Favorite shot: is the park water fountain.

I get what this film was trying to do, and I could see how it was going about it, and that is what spoiled the film; it seemed too contrived. Or was it? On paper, it must have been a great idea but more for new up and coming actors to cut their teeth on and show their mettle, and there were some very good performances, or was everyone wooden and emotionless? Generation Um... is about life in the generation/social class where nothing really happens, although a lot does, just not necessarily good stuff, and where life hope, expectancy and future are limited by indecision, lack of direction, and feelings of being beaten down constantly by society. The story - the documentary, if you will - follows three friends/colleagues and as is the case amongst people who know each other, they don't explain their connection or their back story for the purposes of the viewer. You have to guess, piece it together as the story goes on. It's a bleak film, and hard to watch as it is so intimate, so warts and all, so brave. There's no soft lighting, no airbrushing, nothing for the actors to hide behind. A brave choice for the ladies, and for Reeves - where most actors his age are going for more glamour and youthfulness he steps out in grim NYC back streets with a hand-held camera on him, watching him eat a cupcake and just sit. And think. Or not. Look at a squirrel. Smile at a dog. Look at a puddle. Walk along.

It's not a nice film. It's not therefore enjoyable. I felt tense all the way through it, partly because I admire Reeves and didn't want to see him engage in "24 hours of sex drugs and indecision" and also because it just had that feeling of impending catastrophe about it. You were waiting for the painful scene, the breakdown, the violence. But it was actually quite quiet and tender interspersed with the almost relieving "art shots" from John's (Reeves') hand-held stolen camera and yet again Reeves plays the benign, safe, wall of calm. The canvas on which the two girls lives were painted. Almost. Novakovic and Clemens were not known to me as actors, but are clearly very talented.

I would like to give this film more stars, as the story stayed with me for days after watching it. I wanted to think it through, see more layers, even watch it again (which was a shocker, as after watching it I felt as if I never wanted to sit through that again and it was a SLOW film)... as a film, it was pretty dreadful. As art it was superb. You FELT the 24 hours, you FELT the lacklustre grimness and dirtiness, you FELT the hopelessness and the complete lack of direction, you felt the frustration with John's monosyllabic non-responsiveness and saw all the opportunities that he let slip by, the questions you would have asked the girls... it was SO lacking, that was clearly deliberate and that shows Direction and Writing of such scope and imagination... or it was really that awful. You see? I'm torn.

The best parts of the film are some superbly artful editing (Squirrel/Cocaine especially) and the end credits (no I'm not being cutely rude), but do watch to the end... there's a bit of filming at the end which sort of ties the story up. It looks unscripted, all the characters are more relaxed, happy drunk, Reeves is suddenly his charming self, the girls less intense, there is chemistry between the actors, they are smiling and joking and you finally find something out about John. It becomes a little more rounded...

I don't know... Um... I'm undecided; good or bad film; brilliant or apathetic acting; art-house or schmarthouse? Artistically minimalist or trying too hard? You decide. Please... YOU decide and tell me what to think ;-)

I love Keanu Reeves. And *spoiler alert* I felt the ending of the movie might be the beginning of the movie. I started over. It wasn't. Costumes were different. Only in the relevance that one day isn't much different from the next. But while taking place, it seemed that a guy annoyed with two hot but skanky chicks decided to take an interest in them after stealing a video camera. And his documentary of them was insightful. But he knew them all along. The only person surprised a the ending was me. And maybe you.

How compelling is it to watch Keanu eat a cupcake?

After a night of hard partying with her roommate Mia (Adelaide Clemens) and the driver John (Keanu Reeves), Violet (Bojana Novakovic) is sleeping it off and doing drugs. Then John steals a camcorder and record interviews of best friends and escorts Mia and Violet about their lives.

Sometimes, Keanu is great. Then sometimes he's like this. He's listless, tired, and lifeless. I know it's the character but he infests the movie with his lifelessness. Director/writer Mark Mann hasn't made this compelling. The first half of the movie scraps along in a grinding waste of time other than a couple of interesting scenes. And no, Keanu eating a cupcake is not one of them. The first half should probably be chopped down to a shorter 15 minutes opening.

The interview meanders. It doesn't have structure to build the tension. They're just sob stories. I like both Bojana and Michelle Williams doppelganger Adelaide. But even as it gets to an interesting place, it took so long that it has no tension. It's a movie that needs more meat on the bone.