New Review!! LOL (2006, dir. Joe Swanberg)

I caught this film last night at the Pioneer Theater in the East Village. It was part of the SXSW festival this year and is running at the Pioneer thru Sept. 3rd. If you live in the area, I encourage you to see it. The makeshift DV auteur, Joe Swanberg (pictured above), is a shining example of what I hope is the next wave of filmmaking talent. With Tom Cruise getting fired and corporation-owned studios hemorhaging money every year, Hollywood seems to be lost in a haze of its own bong smoke when it comes to the next step in distribution. COME ON PEOPLE! All you have to do is look at the porn industry. I firmly believe that its only a matter of time before films like this one coupled with YouTube make Hollywood eat it.

There's quite a bit of porn in LOL, the long distance / fake internet relationship amateur kind. The opening sequence involves a young hipster girl recording her relatively modest striptease as a video gift for her boyfriend. With a couple swift shots, Swanberg establishes that it's been leaked onto the internet and her self-conscious gyrating is now being viewed by a dozen slack-jawed idiots. This small vignette has no bearing on the rest of the film but it serves as the perfect prelude to this fractured concerto of technology and relationships. Nothing is sacred. Everything organic can be replaced by something mechanic... and no one really seems to have a problem with that.

The story follows three young men and how they love their computer, cell phone and electronic instruments more than they could ever love a breathing woman. But since the film is a ultra-low budget movie not a fake-independent, Swanberg tells the story simply and honestly. No hint of satire or Orwellian paranoia clings to this straight-from-the-gut, point-and-shoot snowglobe of 20-something disillusionment.

I really respected this movie and Swanberg's style. The mostly improvised narrative was superbly edited. There was one particularly moving scene where Swanberg really nailed the devastating hell that is an ignored cell phone call and the subsequent tear-streamed message it inspires. While LOL falters in its third act, the first 50 minutes are a compelling and humorous look at us and our generation's obsession with our toys of communication. It's all fun and games until something breaks.

Bottom Line: If you can't make it to the Pioneer this week, definitely check out Swanberg's work. Given how prolific he is, it shouldn't be too hard to track him down.