Life/Drawing

Alex is a painter, each of whose canvases is just one big window-sized slab of yellow (or red, or whatever color it happens to be). Not only his art but his life lacks inspiration: his one-man show is not to be, his girlfriend just walked out, he's moved into a building full of oddballs and he's back delivering pizza to pay the rent. I expected this flick to turn into a sitcom, but it got better as it went along, developing characters and relationships, especially the one between artsy liberal snob Alex and his new neighbor Lori, whose magnum pistol, martial arts skills and utter lack of sophistication generate the contempt he has for her, despite the fact that they're having a physical relationship. Throw in the wacky neighbors, like the bathrobe-clad Lothario/one-man Greek Chorus who wanders the halls and delivers his observations in Spanish, the super-nosy super, the big-busted strip-o-gram girl, the horny, man-devouring Biddie and a couple of others and you've got funny and touching portraits of a by turns lovable and unlovable loser and the colorful characters in his orbit. Don't know why, exactly, but this story reminded me a bit of Steve Buscemi's terrific "Tree's Lounge" - another indie about a loser and his odd pals. This one's cute and it's got a happier ending. For the price of your admission you get "early" Mark Ruffalo (2001) in an affecting role and cute, largely unknown Beth Ulrich, who's a find.

This is not a real review, it should be understood more as a collection of impressions on the film.

This film is a horrendous disaster for several reasons, first of all the plot is banal but it gets over it anyway, the problem is that the whole film seems to have been made without the slightest effort and therefore the result is a boring film full of useless parts and meaningless that ends exactly as everyone would expect without twists and without the slightest involvement of the viewer. This film is like a story that you listen to distractedly just waiting for it to end because you can't stand watching something boring like this anymore. Last thing to say is that the beginning of the film is so senseless as to be unacceptable.

Recently I wrote about "Just like heaven" and talked about the great Mark Ruffalo; specifically about the comedies he's making these days so people can get to recognize him. I also said that I hoped he'd get back in track soon, to what he does best. "Life/Drawing" (or "Apartment 12") is a film every fan of the actor's got to watch. Ironically, it is a comedy (with a slice of drama), but it remains far away from the big studios.

Here they'll find Ruffalo at his best acting qualities; with the show all for himself, the camera right on his head, the simplicity in all its extension…An actor like Ruffalo looks for movies like this one, about frustrated artists and lonely human beings. This was four years before "Just like heaven", but his character also has a breakdown here, and stays in bed watching television and eating ice-cream.

Other than Ruffalo's fantastic character driven performance as Alex, there's nothing much interesting inside this picture. Directed by a now disappeared (did nothing after this) Dan Bootzin, the piece shows the lives of several person that inhabit the same building. Ray (independent figure Alan Gelfant), the manager who's a sexist scumbag; Sylvia, the crying neighbor who cooks and desperately seeks for love and the new girl Lori (Beth Ulrich), who captures Alex's heart.

A mysterious tall guy who speaks Spanish is always standing and wandering mumbling things in his own language that try to explain a lot. A prostitute who lives besides Alex goes out every night and does this with a different outfit (nurse, police officer). Bootzin observes quietly, slowly. His camera is omnipresent and not at all ambitious; it lays back, creates the environment, and moves faster in a very funny scene where every inhabitant does his thing rapidly. His edition is quick and easy; it leaves a lot to desire.

Bootzin's screenplay, which he wrote alongside a female colleague, is flexible as life itself. It allows us to watch his characters sitting down in the porch with a cup of hot coffee at 10 a.m. in the morning. It allows us to see how culture and education influence a relationship; because Lori went to the army and Alex paints, and Lori doesn't know how Jackson Pollack was. In fact, as Ray correctly observes: "Nobody knows who Jackson Pollack was".

This artistic side of the main character played by Ruffalo, which seems to be the core of the character piece, is not extensively developed. His painting is, as many say, "soulless"; or at least at the beginning, because then Alex finds the artistry inside his feelings.

Even when in the end every character has a big smile in their face, the music inspires happiness and the whole ride has been pleasant, there's a feeling of disappointment. A feeling related to things that could have been present but weren't; to a depth that was intended but didn't appeared.

Slow and predictable because it ends like most movies in this genre. Beth Ulrich plays a surprisingly refreshing girl next door, but Mark Ruffalo plays a common role and does an average job at it. There is good chemistry between Ulrich and Ruffalo which really makes the movie worthy of being watched at least once. I think what's odd is this overall sense of dread that you get from the first 4/5ths of the movie. There are parts of this movie that will provide a bit of chuckle. Unlike some movies in this genre, it's not much of tear jerker. However, it should leave you feeling a little warm and fuzzy.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who has experienced heartbreak or just has a rainy day to spend away.

The downside is that this is pretty much another indie romantic comedy about a backed-up artist who meets a girl and just can't quite get his act together.

The upside is that it's at times very funny, with quirky, well-drawn characters and terrific performances, particularly by a pre-"You Can Count on Me" Mark Ruffalo.

On the whole, it's worth checking out.