Generation Um... (2012)

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Siskoid
If Generation Um... isn't technically mumblecore, it seems to at least be ABOUT mumblecore characters, especially once it stops pretending to be anything else and the three leads start messing around with a camera. It is, for one thing, badly titled. It is not really about a particular generation (Keanu Reeves' John is not in the same age group as Mia and Violet), its listlessness really the same as anyone's on any given 24-hour period. So yeah, we watch Keanu eat an entire cup cake, go to the store, chase a squirrel, not everything we do in a day is significant. Sounds like I'm defending a movie that's not very good, and it's true. I went back and forth a number of times on this. Because what happens on screen is rarely all that interesting, and it's of course cheaply made, but part of the disinterest I at times felt (yes, only at times, I did find the three stars watchable) was because it spent zero time explaining the threesome's relationship until the climactic sequence where it all comes together. The revelations there make sense of many enigmatic statements or actions from before, ironically counterpoint the hope manifested in front of the in-movie camera, and makes me like the film a bit better. If you respect it at that point, don't sit through the credits, as it features perhaps the worst scene of the entire flick and almost annihilates the good will it just generated. 4 years 3 months ago