Gigantesco

Refreshing for a first time director, Matt Aselton has managed to bring a new dimension to the acting repertoire of his leads, Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano, and veteran, John Goodman.

Deschanel in particular shines brightly in Gigantic, as a privileged, underachieving heiress who is facing up to becoming a woman – evidenced in the empathy her character, 'Happy', somehow manages to elicit.

Gigantic certainly plays against gender expectations, as Deschanel's love interest, Dano, looks to fix a situation in order to mend himself, indeed, this is a chick flick that should also appeal to guys; funny, rude, touching, violent, gentle, brutal, kindly, inconsiderate.

Once you overcome the gimmick of the unique premise – mattress salesman who wants to adopt a Chinese baby – this really becomes an enjoyable watch, peppered with cool, sharp dialog and seasoned with warm, elevated charm. It is a movie in which the viewer is invited to contemplate how inner turmoil can be overcome if one doesn't give up on what one wants.

Shot in 35mm, it is also a beautiful thing to behold, and with a soundtrack (scored by Roddy Bottum) that includes Animal Collective, there is much about Gigantic which stays with the viewer long after its conclusion – not least the movie's Fight Club character: as Zach Galifianakis portrays a brutal representation of disconnection.

Greetings again from the darkness. I thrive on indie films and am always anxious when a first time director manages to break through the politics and red tape and gain distribution for his/her pet project. The debut from Matt Aselton is far from perfect, but certainly provides high expectations for his next film.

Blessed with a terrific cast including Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood), indie favorite Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman, and veterans Ed Asner and Jane Alexander; Aselton creates some odd characters that somehow connect not only to each other, but also to the viewing audience.

The film does sometimes suffer from the mistake of many first time filmmakers ... inclusion of scenes that have always been in the mind of the writer/director, but just don't quite fit in the context of the film. The brutal attacks/images by the homeless guy (played by comedian Zach Galifianakis) and the massage parlor scene are two that jump to mind.

On the other hand, and more importantly, there are a few scenes that are remarkable and really provide hope for Aselton's next film: When Zooey first awakens from her nap in the store, she and Dano have an exchange that sets the stage for their relationship; the family dinner without Zooey; John Goodman on his kitchen floor and at the doctor; Jane Alexander on the balcony with Zooey proves what an effective and elegant actress Ms. Alexander remains as she is the first one to connect with Zooey on an adult level. These all result from the creative mind an eye of Mr. Aselton and have set the bar high for his next outing.

The fashionable movies these days rely on finding an edge in convention and dangling a foot in the unknown waters on the other side. Wes Anderson and Jason Reitman and Judd Apatow are practitioners of this dynamic. The strategy is plain, with the skill coming from the balancing act.

So far, those three have done nothing but take a stable genre and story form and walk it to its edge. There is amusement along the way. I like these. But they don't go deep. They are afraid to hurt. We've had a few years of this now and already the technique has become the default in the least valuable of films: romantic comedies.

What we need is someone who knows how to find that edge and go to it. Someone who doesn't just dip a toe, but who jumps back and forth fearlessly carrying back insight. We need more Igby from the other side, but brought back.

This young filmmaker is just what I hoped for. The filmmaking is assured. The arcs are broken as intended. It suitably confuses the newspaper critics. It hurts in places.

I won't fall into the trap of summarizing what is shown, because what matters is what is not shown. Its the empty spaces in the narrative.

Why is someone familiar beating up our hero? Who is this endearing, broken soul that Zooey plays? What role does that gay guy play, the guy we meet at the beginning and never see again? What are those lines that seduce, are never said, but are remarked on as if they need not be?

There is a fold here: the sister runs a TeeVee shopping show; Zooey's character helps in an unknown way. In keeping with the gaps, we never know where the fold goes. There is a device from a standard romantic comedy: having a child. It happens but we have no idea how to register it against out romcom templates.

Some may think these are signs of a broken movie or an immature writer-director. They seem to me to be effective, deliberately engineered gaps that define an unknown, moving edge we are taken to and baptized in the open ignorance we bring.

Zooey really does understand what is going on. She's the perfect actor for this experiment.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

After reading the comments and reviews on this page for the film Gigantic, I felt compelled to register an account on IMDb and add my own voice to the apparently confused chorus. My reaction to the film itself was strong, but not nearly as strong as my reaction to the comments people have been adding to this page. If I had gone to check IMDb site for the film before seeing it, as I usually do, I probably would have been turned off by the low rating and negative comments, and wouldn't have ended up seeing this little gem of a film. And that would have been too bad, because it really is a nice little film; One that has qualities that apparently inspire vitriol in some viewers, but their anger and 'disappointment' just bewilders me.

What is not to like in this film? The cast is amazing. The performances are top-notch and completely appropriate for the tone that director Aselton is trying to create. I've read comments that have mentioned 'believability' of certain scenes and plot points, but I think these types of viewers were doomed to misunderstand the film from the very beginning (and isn't it always these viewers who do choose to comment? bashing on what they don't understand). And that's not even to say this is some kind of elitist 'quirky indie' film as most people suggest. It's to the point now where 'quirky' is just another derogatory and pejorative term for something outside the realm of someone's expectations, experience, and capability of understanding. It's a term the narrow-minded use.

Gigantic is well worth your time and money. It's shot beautifully. It has some great performances that create genuine laughs, not from absurdity for its own sake or from cheesy one-liners, but from the performance choices themselves and from the character development. Did I mention Matt Walsh was great as well? The whole cast is wonderful, and I personally look forward to whatever Aselton does next.

Gigantic is an eccentric film about two oddball families. Brian is bored with his job of selling mattresses and is obsessed with adopting a Chinese baby. Despite having loving parents and supportive brothers he cannot relate to them and lives alone frugally in an apartment. Harriet or Happy who walks into Brian's showroom one day and falls asleep on a mattress has a dysfunctional family with a loud mouth hypochondriac father, an estranged disconnected mother and a self-centered older sister. Brian and Harriet are drawn to each other sexually but cannot connect emotionally and the Chinese baby only makes things worse.

Alternately comical and melancholic this surreal story is about people managing their angst. The exact reasons for Brian's anxiety are not stated but it is possibly because he was brought accidentally into this world by his parents.

There is a bizarre subplot in which a homeless man stalks Brian and keeps attacking him without any purpose. The discerning few can easily see this as a subtext for the demons of self-doubt tormenting Brian's mind. For others it could be an annoying red herring.

It is a film that will make you feel good if you have cracked the subplot.