The Color Wheel

The movie begins with an intriguing premise that engages the viewer, but as the story unfolds, the plot gradually becomes less and less logical. The locations, distances, timeframes and relations lose coherence, culminating with a really unpredictable ending but not in a good way.

The dialogs are unnatural and annoying in their effort of being witty. The supposed estranged sibling dynamic between the main characters seems more reflective of the real-life couple portraying them. Their screenplay feels like a thinly veiled attempt to wrestle with personal insecurities and envy toward specific social groups, which detracts from the authenticity of their on-screen relationship.

From a technical perspective, the film appears to have been shot digitally and desaturated in postproduction, resulting in large, flat grey areas poorly masked by artificial digital grain. The title itself seems like another failed attempt at being clever, referencing the visuals rather than any deeper meaning.

At first glance, it may seem like a hidden gem for indie movie lovers. However, the film's lack of logic, grating dialogue, and disappointing visuals left me feeling scammed and disappointed.

I love independent films and this is one of my very favorites. I love the filmmaker, Alex Ross Perry, and have seen most if not all of his fillms. Queen of Earth is also incredible, but it's a completely different animal. This is the best low budget film I've ever seen because of the script and actors. I can't believe it's being compared to Clerks. Ugh. I've tried to watch Clerks a few times and can not get through it. The Color Wheel is darkly comedic and features the brilliant Carlen Altman. Carlen is hilarious, beautiful, and an incredible actress, whether delivering serious or comedic lines. The filmmaker, Alex Ross Perry, is also a lead and funny, as well as being a fine actor. I love the script, the look of the film and the ending. I hope Carlen continues acting in films! She is a treasure and should be a major actress! The ending made the film for me--what a shock, but in a good way. WOW. Gutsy, too. I still can't figure out how and why this ending works, but it was a brilliant move! Thanks for making this film! I absolutely loved it and have seen it at least 3 times. I'll probably need to see it once a year for the rest of my life.

By the end of viewing "The Color Wheel", I was unsure what Alex Ross Perry wanted to say about Colin and JR - the siblings at the centre of his second film. I was unsure what to think of what they had done, what they had been through, and who they are. I think some people might consider that a failing but I think it's his style. He deviates from the norm but not letting us know what we should think. He didn't forget to include the speech in the penultimate scene that would sum up the meaning of the movie. Nor did he accidentally leave out the music that would tell us how to feel about this pair. He left it up to us. And that is harder to deal with.

This is a road-trip film that follows the estranged siblings as they go to pick up JR's stuff from her professor/boyfriend with whom she has recently broken up.

They keep being thrown into situations which are awkward, cringe, and wierd. Often the people they meet are just as weird and alienating as our duo but the magic of cinema means our empathy is with the characters with whom we share the POV. We want better for them. We recognise they might be shallow, lazy, and narcissistic but that doesn't mean they don't deserve happiness. (I mean, thank God.) It's just very hard to understand what happiness might be for these two. The much-discussed climax feels both un-surprising and shocking, totally wrong but maybe the start of something like healing.

Despite this sophistication of theme and character, there are some jarring tonal mismatches that hurt the film. A scene with a motel clerk plays like a bad sketch from the 70s about backwards rural types, and there's a party scene that is aiming for a sort of chaos, but ends up feeling stilted and disconnected, and like none of the other guests are real.

These flaws are easily overlooked. This is difficult viewing, and it won't be for all, but it is smart and interesting and full of something like life.

I watched this movie yesterday night and I have been thinking about it since then. It is unconventional and difficult to describe without giving spoilers.

It is an indie black and white movie, taking place over a period of two- three days. The characters are on the road, changing places and meeting new people. Everyone they meet is ordinary but they come out as weird and crazy in their own ways.

There is a lot of dialogue which is absurd, funny, in a clerks kind of way, but still realistic. Unlike some reviews here stated, it is scripted and not improvised.

The characters are going back and forth between cynical nihilism and idealistic romanticism. It is a requem for the end of youth, they have to settle down to petty adulthood which they despise. Yet the movie is life-affirming, like a tragedy, which makes it good.

There are many themes in the movie: love, heartbreak, sexual attraction, transition from youth to settled adult life, family, self-image, ideals and realities. The success of the movie is in the way it shows how these themes effect each other in each individual in a very realistic way. There are many connections weaved in a very economical way.

At the end everything, all the dialogue comes together, and the way they acted is justified and accounted for. It is tragic: kind of a sad story but it doesn't give up on life. No loose threads. It is incredible the way they were able to convey so much about these characters in such an efficient way, I felt like I watched all and everything relavant to their story.

Alex Ross Perry's The Color Wheel is proof that indie narcissism can occasionally pull out the goods.

Filmed on grainy 16mm, it's a meandering road movie about two underachieving, alienated siblings. After she splits up with her professor-cum-boyfriend , aspiring news anchor J.R. (Carlen Altman) begs her shlubby younger brother Colin (played by director Perry) to help her back up the remnants of her miserable life and move on to the next. The journey across the States causes quite a stir, with the pair constantly berating each other in that conventional brotherly-sisterly banter way. It escalates to a harrowing final ten minutes, where the familial relationship is tested and it's clear that, if they weren't to have each other, they wouldn't have anything.

Like many a-mumblecore movie before it, The Color Wheel consists of verbal sparring and excruciatingly awkward long takes. Unlike those insufferable predecessors, Perry and Altman's script moves with great acerbic force, audaciously treating the blackly comic as flippant light humor. It's quite similar in tone to Rick Alverson's The Comedy, starring Tim Heidecker, only the two loathsome characters here are presented with more compassion, actually having a narrative arc to follow right up to the film's bitter end.

Whilst the scenes shared between the two are close to Alvy Singer>Annie Hall style perfection, The Color Wheel loses it's spark when the pair are backed up by cliché filler characters – the sorority bitch, the dumb jock, the rich kids – during a horrendous dinner party. It's the only time when the amateur acting and forced dialogue reflect it's minor budget production qualities.

With improvised dialogue, a roaming plot, grainy 16mm stock and Sean Price Williams' artless cinematography, The Color Wheel absolutely stinks of Husbands-era John Cassavetes. Not that it's a bad scent, but it permeates throughout the film and leads the homage into unwarranted pastiche, and ultimately externalizes us from the drama.

Even still, this minor tragicomedy, is a minor triumph for Perry and star in the making Altman. For fans of all things awkward, this unassuming movie sets the m-m-m-mumblecore wheel back in motion.

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