Tuesday 26 June 2012

Devouring Films: Tiny Furniture

I have a long, long history with Tiny Furniture, in that, I think I read about it in this New Yorker profile of Lena Dunham, basically went 'you have NO idea how much I need to watch this film' and then proceeded to not see it for about two years. It was seriously getting so tragic that, on my little list of little goals for this year of life, I included 'watch Tiny Furniture, one way or another'. Fortunately for me, it was released on DVD not so long after that, and LO my life was complete.

Or was it..? Tiny Furniture was definitely not what I was expecting, but I don't mean that in a bad way at all. Here's the deal. Basically everything I read about Tiny Furniture was like 'it's a film about a young woman who's struggling to find her way after graduating from college and just doesn't really know what to do with herself', and so I went OMG it's my life! I mean, admittedly she gets to go and live in New York City after graduation in her mother's gorgeous loft (Her actual mother's actual loft) and she's got a lot of financial support and stuff, but other than that I was sure, positive that this film would be like validation, or at least comfort, for being in my twenties and not having a clue what the fuck I'm doing.

And, admittedly, there is an element of that. Aura (Dunham) is a very very lost soul, and really doesn't know what she's doing- her friend Charlotte (Jemima Kirke, equally lost but in a different way) sets her up with a job that she's completely overqualified for, but she literally has no idea what else she should be doing, so she's content just to float along and grab onto whatever comes along. Which is true, not only of this terrible job, but of the men she encounters- she basically meets 2 different guys, and decides to take whatever she can from either of them. There's no thinking about what she wants from a relationship, or anything like that, it's just about clinging onto one or the other of them, at various times, and just seeing what happens. This is a girl without any kind of plan.

And, actually, now that I'm thinking about it like this, it feels like I can relate more to Aura: I've been thinking about Tiny Furniture more in terms of 'well, she got a job straight away, and she lives in NYC, and look at those boys she interacts with!' but really... she lives with her mum, and doesn't have a proper source of income, and, well, now that I think about it, I can relate to that. A lot. One of my favourite things about Tiny Furniture, actually, is the relationship between Aura and her mother (played by Laurie Simmons, Dunham's actual mother- I'm thinking she couldn't afford actual actors...) because, well, it feels really genuine (probably because it is) and you get the feeling that what Aura really wants is a kind of regression, where her mum tells her what she should be doing, and then she can just go and and do it already! Or is that just me...

There are just so so many things I haven't mentioned about this film yet (overachieving sister, left-behind college friends, her mother's own related experience of being in her 20s and not knowing what she's doing) but, you know, maybe I'll let you discover them for yourselves, since you're obviously going to watch it now that I've told you I love it! If you've seen Girls (and if you haven't, come on people! It's like the show of the year, seriously!) then I would say Tiny Furniture is not quite as good as that, but then they are quite different (although they do deal with some of the same themes, i.e. what the fuck do you do in your twenties?) so it's not really fair to compare. Even though I just did. Hm.

And, one final piece of advice to you- watch the short films on the DVD! Seriously- the first time I watched it I started watching them and then got distracted, but they're really really funny, and watching them shows quite a good progression from them to Tiny Furniture- in some ways, you're like 'wow, her filmmaking has progressed so much!' and in others you're just like, well, there was clearly something there from the very start! Basically, I love Lena and I want to marry her. That's a normal dream to have, right?

9 comments:

  1. I still think it would make me feel sick. I'm sure I'll watch it and love it at some point.

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    1. You will, I'm sure. I still think you'd be ok to watch it, but I shan't force it on you :)

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  2. The way you write about it, I think, "yeah, this is a film I should love" - which I think is what I thought when I first read about it. (In a new york times profile, a few months back.) But watching it, I just wanted to scream at Aura for most of the movie. The total lack of independence, the lack of a clue what she's going to do with her life, the lack of initiative, Aura's clear attitude that the job her friend gets her is "below" hr, her inability to dismiss these men who are using her. My frustration might've been in part from recognition of myself in Aura (you know, I'm sure that we all can look back at our teens and early twenties and shudder at the way we allowed ourselves to be treated by men), but mostly...her privileged, aimless life drove me nuts. I don't plan on watching tiny furniture again (though I did watch Girls, and thought it got a lot more bearable at the end of the season - when you can see that some of the characters are beginning to change and grow), but I'm glad to get a better sense of what someone would love about the film.

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    1. I'm... I feel like I might look back on it when I'm like 30 or something and be like 'come on girl, get it together', but really I'll only be saying that to myself as I am now, and right now I just can't bully myself! But yeah, I'm glad I've given you an insight into a Lena Dunham-lover's motivations or whatever... (brain? I don't know!)

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  3. I really enjoyed this movie. The bickering between her and her sister seemed a bit too real sometimes. It definitely sounded just like my sister and me in our worst moments!

    And the scene in the pipe? Maybe the most uncomfortable sex scene ever...well, at least until I saw the first episode of Girls. Why does she like to include those scenes??? WHYYYYY?

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    1. Ohmygosh, yes the sister bickering! I think I blocked out relating to that because I'm the younger sister, and I was definitely on Aura's side a lot more, which makes me uncomfortable/feel traitorish to my younger sibling status! But I liked how they also like make up really quickly, because that's so accurate too.

      I feel like the uncomfortable sex scenes are like a rebellion against the like perfect sex scenes that you see everywhere else, and I feel like Dunham's are a lot more accurate... Not that they don't make me totally uncomfortable too!

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  4. I'm like you and have been meaning to see this movie forever. But unlike you I haven't seen it yet. I really, really should.

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    1. It's definitely worth a watch, that's what I say! :)

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  5. This film sounds intriguing and I had never heard of it. I clearly don't read the arts pages enough anymore!

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