Little Athens (NR) **
WORLD PREMIERE
Shawn Hatosy, Jorge Garcia, Jill Ritchie, Michelle Horn
Directed by Tom Zuber
6 p.m., Sunday, June 12; plus 4 p.m., Monday, June 13
A tedious, pretentious and overwrought ensemble drama, Little Athens aspires to both the sprawling heights of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and the hipster cachet of Doug Liman’s Go in its presentation of interconnected tales featuring disaffected twentysomething losers. Director and co-writer Tom Zuber achieves neither, instead ending up with a mind-numbing stew of unlikable characters saying and doing stupid things without much in the way of humor or dramatic tension.
Zuber’s film is populated with up-and-coming young actors, but either because of the muddled script or Zuber’s insufficient direction, none of them reaches even the heights of their previous work in TV shows and second-rate mainstream comedies. The entire final third of the movie is shot in a hazy darkness that is perhaps supposed to suggest uncertainty and danger but just makes you think that Zuber forgot to pay the lighting department.
There’s no plot to Little Athens, just a day in the lives of several layabouts, all of whom end up at a house party where, predictably, their relationship problems, drug deals and potentially violent rivalries all climax. Much like its characters, the film is aimless and annoying, and doesn’t end up anywhere interesting.
Josh Bell
Shawn Hatosy, Jorge Garcia, Jill Ritchie, Michelle Horn
Directed by Tom Zuber
6 p.m., Sunday, June 12; plus 4 p.m., Monday, June 13
A tedious, pretentious and overwrought ensemble drama, Little Athens aspires to both the sprawling heights of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and the hipster cachet of Doug Liman’s Go in its presentation of interconnected tales featuring disaffected twentysomething losers. Director and co-writer Tom Zuber achieves neither, instead ending up with a mind-numbing stew of unlikable characters saying and doing stupid things without much in the way of humor or dramatic tension.
Zuber’s film is populated with up-and-coming young actors, but either because of the muddled script or Zuber’s insufficient direction, none of them reaches even the heights of their previous work in TV shows and second-rate mainstream comedies. The entire final third of the movie is shot in a hazy darkness that is perhaps supposed to suggest uncertainty and danger but just makes you think that Zuber forgot to pay the lighting department.
There’s no plot to Little Athens, just a day in the lives of several layabouts, all of whom end up at a house party where, predictably, their relationship problems, drug deals and potentially violent rivalries all climax. Much like its characters, the film is aimless and annoying, and doesn’t end up anywhere interesting.
Josh Bell
