a review: Some Days Are Better Than Others

Tonight at 7:30 you can catch Some Days Are Better Than Others at the Trylon. Here are my thoughts on the fiim:

The plot of Some Days Are Better Than Others isn’t an easy one to summarize.  For the most part we follow three people feeling the effects of depression, both financial and mental, who are loosely tied together by despair.  Eli (James Mercer) can’t find work, Katrina (Carrie Brownstein) can’t get over a breakup, and Camille (Renee Roman Nose) can’t find anyone that’ll claim an urn she happened upon at work.  And they go about their days with only that for motivation until the movie stops sometime later.

The plot doesn’t drive the film as much as its desire to portray decay in America during this great recession: people are dying, buildings are being knocked down, relationships are ending, stuffed animals are ripped apart, dreams are crushed, emotional states are deteriorating, material items are sold, donated or trashed.  The film isn’t a story of these characters as much as it is an ode to a dying country.

Keep that perspective to get the most out of your viewing.  Beyond that, the acting, characters and script are all pretty bland.  The slow, contemplative nature of the film gives you plenty of time to realize there’s nothing intriguing about these people.  But if you pull back and view everything from a distance, it’ll be a more rewarding experience.

If we’re to believe the title, this is just a bad day.  Well, a lengthy stretch of bad days, to be more precise.  Yet hope is just around the corner.  I’m not sure if any of these characters believe that, though, or if the film does for that matter.