Dance Party, USA

Boys are boys.

An hour long film presents a story of under-seventeen teens desperate with new instincts awaken and communicating opportunities a life promises.

They are on different stages of sexual liberty while one of them attracted to a same gender mate surely, is overactive in pillow exercising, bearing a secret of a dark experience with a younger girl.

Unlike "Don's Plum", this movie is concentrated at intimate talks between characters in pairs rather than touching sexuality-related topics in a group.

It's a low budget movie. Actors perform well and everything looks natural. Probably, they will overgrow this age as all viewers did.

Well, and where outside some third world countries dance parties differ?

This movie consists mostly of dialog between some inarticulate high school students. It takes place over a Fourth of July holiday. The time period appears to be in the 1970s, since there are no cell phones or compact discs, but rap music is played at a party. I could see no significance in setting the movie in a time different from when it was made. Did the filmmakers think they understood the previous generation better than their own?

As expected, the main focus is on sex and relationships. The first twenty minutes could have been cut to a few, since all that was required was to introduce us to the four main characters and establish a downbeat mood and a level of conversation where the most serious is, "Hey, how's it going?" or "What's up?" A rambling monologue about a Nebraska trip by a character who was never to be seen again seemed pointless, unless it was inserted to annoy us in the same way the guy was annoying his listeners.

The friends Bill and Gus are initially Beavis and Butthead stand-ins, but at least Gus shows some small movement toward maturity over the course of the film, whereas Bill remains totally vacuous. Anna Kavan, as Jessica, the girl whom Gus can finally see as a person rather than a sex object, creates an appealing character.

I wonder where the adults were. We see Jessica's mother in one brief scene, otherwise the teens seem to have the run of things with no limits on their drinking.

The movie has the look of a high school film project, and maybe it was. Anyway, it proves that anyone can make a movie these days.

I found it helpful to turn on the English subtitles.

So to synopsisise this movie for you: Gus is a guy who lies about his sexual adventures, much like every guy ever, Jessica seems like a lost soul who is trying to connect with someone but having no luck. The pair meet at some terrible house party and a sparkle of light comes alive in both of them.

That's all I can share, it's a movie that is just over 60 minutes long, as with Small Town Murder Songs, that's hardly a real feature film in my eyes but in the short time you get to know these characters you feel like a lot happens, to go in to more depth about plot and storyline would be giving too much away I feel.

My first impressions were that it was a more accurate depiction of the behaviour of people in their early 20's than I remember seeing on film before. It had the feel of Larry Clark's Kids but without the delinquent storyline. As you may have realised from previous reviews I am a sucker for a bit of realism in film, the kitchen sink aesthetic being something I enjoy more than a lot of other viewers and whilst this doesn't reach the level of a Ben Wheatley movie for example it is sufficiently raw and true to suck me in from the very beginning.

Yes the quality of image is poor but you shoot a film with a standard digital camera it's not gonna look like Star Wars and it simply adds to the intended effect. Katz doesn't look at his equipment, think he's making a documentary and shake his camera about like we've all come to expect from every movie ever made, he does a strong job with what he has to hand and there are some beautifully framed shots throughout.

Sound as you would expect from a movie dubbed mumblecore isn't the crisp clear dialogue you get from a regular movie, characters talk over the top of each other, planes fly overhead, diegetic sounds interfere occasionally but not to the point where enjoyment is hindered or you need to use subtitles.

There's a lot of humour in the film, subtle but still there, watching Gus talk to his male friend Bill can feel like you're watching a live action Beavis and Butthead but I couldn't stop laughing all the same. So many terrible anecdotes are shared between characters, sentences are started and not finished, you've known people like this and been to parties where there's nothing but boring stories, at times it's like listening to your father-in -law talk about the internet but happily you can laugh in these people's faces. It's quite cathartic in that sense. And this is quite a different party to the one's we're used to seeing in American Pie and films of that sort. It's definitely closer to what I've experienced.

The character development is also small but then the story takes place over just a few days and I'm sure we've all complained at implausible character development in Hollywood film so this makes sense but what it does do is provide some wonderful moments with Gus trying to talk over his internal changes with Bill and a truly sweet ending to the film.

Overall despite knowing not all of you will enjoy I can't recommend this film enough. It's not perfect but it is enjoyable. I'm very much looking forward to Katz's followup Quiet City now. blahblahblahgay.blogspot

I'm not sure writing that you enjoyed a movie is enough. I admit being new to this style of film and viewed the directors films in reverse order. I began with "Cold Weather" and enjoyed it very much. For me it came down to wanting to spend time with these actors, and I did. Next I watched "Quiet City" and enjoyed that film as well. As with the previous film I found myself wanting to spend time with the two lead actors. That is as descriptive as I can get. There is no point in saying any more about it. Watch the films and let the stories unfold. The last one "Dance Party USA" was a bit harder to follow, being older than the lead actors definitely plays into that. But there is something there and the young actress Anna Kavan is a revelation. Her lovely smile at the kitchen table during the party will stay with you long after.. I was sorry to see she has not made any more films. Thank's to the pod-cast for introducing me to the films of Aaron Katz and am looking forward to his new movie "Land Ho"

Dance Party, USA is not a bad addition to the Mumblecore family in any way. It does feel cheap and kinda amateurish, but since I know thats what these movies are supposed to feel like, I won't take it out on the filmmaker.

If you even know what this movie is and are aware of this new Mumblecore movement of late, then you'll probably want to check it out. It's got some good moments in it, but for the most part its kind of boring and pointless. But again, thats really what all Mumblecore movies are, so I didn't think it was too bad.

A final note; these kind of movies really make you want to go out and make your own film. It makes you believe that all you need is a digital camera, some friends and a 70 page script and you're done. Its a bit more complicated than that, but Mumblecore is something new and something different. I can definitely see these movies becoming the new face of Independent cinema, because guys like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith have made it very difficult to make Indie films along the same lines as their work.