The Puffy Chair

The Puffy Chair, in the Mumblecore movement, is refreshingly different. Now, I want to view other films in the same genre, like LOL and Hannah Takes the Stairs. The Puffy Chair bored me a bit in the beginning, but by the end, I was a fan. This movie captured all nine elements of the French New Wave.

1) On-location shooting

The entire movie takes place on-location. The on-location shooting gives the movie a realistic feel. It helps the viewer become immersed in the feelings of the characters because she can identify with the small-town settings and homey feel.

2) Non-professional actors

The actors and actresses are non-professional. Mark Duplass even uses his own parents as his parents in the movie. Using non-professional actors/actresses is another way to give the movie a realistic feel because they are not recognizable and seem like they could be any other person on the street.

3) Jump cuts

The jump cuts in The Puffy Chair are not as prevalent or obvious as in Shadows, but they are employed.

4) Improvisation

Though the movie does not explicitly state it is improvised like Shadows, the improvisation is inherent within the genre. Additionally, the dialogue has an improvised tone to it. The characters do not exchange witty banter, but argue in the heat of the moment and ask each other out for a coffee. The characters speak like twentysomethings do in real life, not how some forty-year old screenwriter thinks they should.

5) Dirty, cheap film

In this decade, digital film and storage has fallen dramatically in price, putting it within the reach of independent filmmakers. The Puffy Chair clearly is shot with a handheld digital camera, which echoes the French New Wave style of filming. Cassavetes did not have digital media at his disposal, but he did utilize the similarly handheld cost-effective medium of his time.

6) Heavy quotations

I am not well-versed in "classic" or "defining" films, so this aspect was harder to spot. The two main characters, Emily and Josh, attend a movie that appears to be a classic due to the film quality and look. I feel like this is supposed to be a quote, but I am not sure what it is quoting.

7) Mostly natural lights

Because the movie is on-location, it naturally exploits the natural sunlight. This is another element that adds to the realism.

8) Wanted to capture playfulness

Though the movie is an emotional romantic comedy, it sought to inject playfulness into the story. In my opinion, the best representation of this is the camera cuts to a shot of Josh's brother, Rhett, with multiple daisies stuck in his full beard. His eyes are shining and he is smiling widely. It reminded me of Michel's devilish grin in Breathless.

9) Poetic realism

As a mainstream Hollywood movie, this storyline would have been irritating. Hollywood would have made it into a Crossroads-type roadtrip where everyone gets married and lives happily ever after. Duplass gives the movie a realism seldom seen in others. He adheres more to real life by depicting real people facing real life-changing decisions that do not always turn out rosy.

The whole film felt real to me, like this could have really happened outside the movie theater. It captured the grittiness and sometimes unpleasant elements of a relationship. It shows that couples argue and do not automatically make up afterwards with "darling" and "I love you." Instead, it drives a wedge between them they do not immediately deal with. At the end, I wanted to watch the movie again to see if I missed any little hints that would indicate how it would end because it was totally unexpected. I will surely add more Mumblecore films to my queue.