Friday

I missed the last few lines of Funny Ha Ha, perhaps because the actors were speaking quietly, or perhaps because I wasn't paying too much attention since the film ends with no prior signals that it will end. I can guess what these lines were, but I am only guessing. I think it was a great ending. Anyway, I'll have to ignore them for this review - until someone can tell me what they are. This film is perhaps the lowest of lo-fi I have ever seen. And yet I became quickly, and thoroughly, engaged with the characters and their dilemmas so as to lose all sight of the 'roughness' of the production. It's filmed on something like a 16mm, you can almost hear the camera rolling, there's no soundtrack, and you see every blemish and mistake of the actors, hear ever step they make on wooden floors. At first it's disconcerting, but you soon become involved. The plot is negligible. What is remarkable is the almost too real conversations, the awkwardness of situations, the silences, and the stupid things said. The main actress with her beautiful face, but thin, lanky body, is compelling in her inaction as she drifts from job to job, and party to party. She is loved and ignored, periodically, by different men, and strives with humility and charm towards self-improvement. The moment I left the theatre I wanted to see it again, and Bujalski's next film. That, I suppose, is the best review I can give.