Fresh and Exciting

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Beautiful, moving film.

As Good As It Gets

Larry (Jason Schwartzman) is a slacker with little ambition. He works a menial job at the oil change garage. He has his dog. He is joined by his grandmother (Olympia Dukakis). His friend Major Norwood gets him his drugs.It's Schwartzman doing his slacker thing. For his fans, this may be interesting. Indie filmmaker Robert Byington is not strictly mumblecore. His dialog is not mumble but it has much of the indie sensibilities. In the end, there isn't much going on with this character. It's hard to tell if he cares or is he just scared like when he runs out on a sure thing with a girl. It makes it hard to care about him.

7 Chinese Brothers is a song by REM. It is also an ultra low budget independent film directed by Bob Byington. Jason Schwarztman plays Larry, a lazy, lying slacker always playing stupid pranks and who drinks too much from a Styrofoam cup to make out he is not an alcoholic.At the beginning of the film we seem him get fired from job for stealing liquor from the bar. His only friend is a nurse who supplies him with stolen pills and the nurse looks after Larry's grandmother at the nursing home. His time with his grandmother is the only time he has a grown up conversation. Apart from his grandmother his dog is the only other thing he cares about.There is little plot to this movie. Larry gets a job at a garage valeting cars. His co-workers tell him to steal loose change. He takes a shine to his female boss, he gets fired because his boss finds out that he was fired from his previous job for stealing. In fact the same guy owned both the places he gets fired from. His grandmother dies, he plays stupid pranks to antagonise people like keying cars or throwing his hat on passing cars.Somewhere along the line Larry grows up a little. Schwarztman plays Larry with a deadpan, downbeat comic charm. He is the only thing that keeps the film going. There is very little that happens in this offbeat film that feels long even though it is only 75 minutes long.

This is not a complex movie! It's a nice simple story of a basic slacker biding his time in anticipation of an inheritance. In the mean time we see and experience his daily life.Director/writer Bob Byington brings us a story of 'Larry' (Jason Schwartzman) who feels no need to do something with his life because he is the sole survivor in his grandmothers family. His grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) resides in an assisted living retirement center. Larry occasionally visits, mostly when he needs cash. He knows his grandmother is wealthy and he is confident he will inherit all because he is the only 'family' she has. Larry is comfortable with his dog Arrow and a bottle of booze and job at a quick lube auto service.The day arrives when he learns his grandmother has passed away and Larry makes a move which turns out to be a big mistake! And in his rush to know what his inheritance will be he botches the memorial service. The estate lawyer explains to Larry how 'the will' is portioned out. At this point Larry realizes his past has caught up with him and there's nothing he can do about it now.This is a charming quirky film that is funny and lighthearted. Any indie cinema buff will enjoy this fine production and acting by some well known actors.

Friday night of this week, my friend, DF, got a bowl of Paomo at what I determine to be a very good Chinese restaurant. Upon receiving the brothy meat with breed, he noted that the smell was something between garbage and vaginal. He ate three quarters of the bowl and when we walked later in the night, he kept logging higher levels of dream-like status. Barring the full range of after-effects, 7 Chinese Brothers was sort of like the soup: smelled rank, I ate it anyway, and left feeling sort of tired.Comedy? This one was reaching for dolorous, had a few risible moments a la the man and his dog plot line, and then wound down.