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Confusions of an Unmarried Couple
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by
Unknown Author
November 6 - 12, 2008 |
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These days the term “indie movie” can really only loosely be
described as independent. “Indie” films like Juno or Little Miss
Sunshine are earning Oscar nominations/wins left and right and
making millions at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, these are
both movies I love but let’s be honest: Can we really call them
independent? If we go back to what indie originally meant, we’ll
arrive at a movie like Confusions of an Unmarried Couple.
Confusions, which is Jason and Brett Butler’s third feature
film, is the story of Lisa and Dan, two ex–lovers who try to come
to terms with their relationship, each other’s cheating, their
subsequent breakup and of course themselves. What we get are
intimate looks at the two of them, separate and apart, as they
share their stories and feelings about love and each other. After
months of lying around on his brother’s couch, drinking beer all
day and feeling sorry for himself, Dan decides to pay his
ex–girlfriend (or ex–fiancée? Current fiancée? Neither of them are
sure) a visit. Ostensibly he’s there to get some of his things back,
like the queen–sized mattress he bought for the two of them or
his Pretty in Pink record but what kind of movie would it be if that
was it? At the same time as we see the scene in Lisa’s apartment
unfold, we also get separate accounts of the once–relationship as
Dan and Lisa talk to the camera independently. What we find out
soon enough is that their views aren’t that different but of course
both too involved in the situation to realize this.
Brett Butler as Dan and Naomi Johnson as Lisa are the only
two people in the entire 73–minute movie and so we spend an
enormous amount of time with both of them. But we don’t get
tired of watching them at all. Butler’s Dan is a lovable loser of a
guy reminiscent of various Judd Apatow leading men such as Seth
Rogen in Knocked Up. But unlike Katherine Heigl in that movie,
who really is just a pretty face, Johnson stands her ground and is
just as funny and interesting as her male counterpart. We don’t
question for a second that these two have a long history and that
there are feelings there, positive or otherwise.
Even though Dan would love to have a relationship a la
Pretty in Pink or various other John Hughes vehicles, what him
and Lisa get instead is the rarely visited, messy and yet so real
flipside to those relationships where all is forgiven when the rich
boy shows up to prom. In just over an hour the Butler Brothers
have not only convinced us that we’ve known Dan and Lisa for
years and they’re actually chatting about this and that to us but
also shown us how dang close love and hate really are to each
other. Confusions of an Unmarried Couple is playing at the
Hamilton Film Festival on November 6. V
[LAURA HOLTEBRINCK]
Confusions of an Unmarried Couple
@ the Hamilton Film Festival
Directed by Jason Butler + Brett Butler
Thursday, November 6th
@ Staircase Theatre
27 Dundurn N., Hamilton
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