Generation Um

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.

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.

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.

Initially after watching I was confused as I could not understand what was happening to the characters in the movie. Once I finished the movie, it began to make sense. I was surprised. This is not a movie that one understands initially after viewing. It is like peeling an onion. After watching the movie twice, I have learned a bit more about the what the symbolism means. Each member of this pseudo family reveals a little bit more about themselves, which takes time to develop. The director and the actors are patient as the undertones of the movie are revealed one by one. It is through this patience that one learns of the real issues that face each member of this cast.

I really didn't want to watch this movie. The low rating is an absolute no go. But thanks to some user comments i saw a potential.

I'm happy that i took the chance. It's a movie about life in a certain age - my age. Maybe thats the the reason i liked the movie. It was true. I had a good feeling watching it. I didn't always like the way the camera was moving, but in the end it gave the movie an innocent touch.

This movie takes you into the life of some people you get to know just a little bit. it's like going to a party and listening to other peoples conversations without yourself interrupting. It's a pure view of the world in the eyes of John, Mia and Violet. It's so pure you see their skin 'unphotoshopped' and thats refreshing.

I often feel being betrayed or lied about how things look like, how people look like or how locations, bars, streets look like. All the lights, all the make up, all the color boosts... sometimes its just too much.

To view a movie about kind of a real life story - it's a nice idea to do that with real faces, real streets, real situations. And with that comes no explosion, no special close up event, no beautiful candle light sex scene... etc..

That said, this movie is definitively underrated. If you like Lost in Translation or Vicky Christina Barcelona - you may like this movie too. Just don't expect beautiful colors, perfect romance or a Hollywood type movie in general.