Little Athens

I'll start with the things that didn't work;

Jorge Garcia – I am a fan of his character in "Lost", and I have respect for the job he does for that series. In Little Athens he plays a person of Spanish decent (I believe Mexican), thus he has to use a "Mexican" accent for the duration of the film. To say his accent is bad would be a complete understatement. His accent was so bad, I couldn't believe his character at all. It honestly resulted in the worst acting performance I saw during the entire Toronto Film Festival. At first I thought he was trying to mock Mexicans, until his character stated that he was in fact a Mexican. What makes it worse is that his characters ethnicity HAS NO BEARING ON THE FILM AT ALL!

The Ending – Sometimes when people try too hard, it results in something that no longer feels natural, but forced. That's what I felt happened here. When watching a film like Amorres Perros or Magnolia, separate stories found in the film intersect for a brief moment. When doing so, they do so well. I believe this is the type of ending Little Athens tried to come up with, but it fell short. The move is actually a few separate stories/segments running in parallel that in turn meet in the end. For one, I'm surprised they tried to take the character that had the least amount of emotional draw and place the most unfortunate event on them. What makes for a good dramatic scene is the fact that the viewer becomes attached to a specific character, thus in a sense "pulling" for that character or hoping for that characters well being. The one question I wanted to ask the director but couldn't (I had to leave) was why he chose a character with such little dialog and impact on the film to have this fate?

But wait, I'm not done with that "surprise" just yet...

This "surprise" is apparently a "surprise" because the character is affected at that moment by an incident from one of the other stories in the film. This is where the director tried to "bring it all together". The problem is it was forced, and would have been better if common sense was used. To make it worse, the scene prior to this actually had it set up so that characters fate could have been tied back to family issues, and something that occurred earlier on in the film! It would actually have been a stronger message! Not only that, but ALL THE CHARACTERS could have had the EXACT SAME END RESULT if gone the other direction. The fact that the "simple" end would have made more sense and actually had a stronger overall message is why I call the end forced. I don't think the director wanted me to laugh at the moment, but I had to.

This feeling of being forced doesn't only stop here, and that is part of the problem. They always had to go that one extra step to the point where it becomes laughable. They just had to make situations "that much worse" The reason for why the police came to the party at the end for example. They could have come just because of the fact there was a party, or from the loud music. It would have worked just fine. Instead they had to find something from one of the segments to make it work, and again "bring it all together".

At a high level, I'd probably suggest DJ Qualls did the best overall job. They decided to be very typical and pair the skinny guy with the big guy (they paired him with Jorge Garcia), but I could still believe in his character, even when Jorge Garcia was on the screen.

It seemed to me that the film stock changed at some point in the movie. I don't know how to confirm this, but I'd swear they went down to a lower stock at the end. The granular look was amazing, and for parts of the ending that did work, it was a nice touch. It was probably the highlight of the film for me. The fact the stock changed.

At a high level it would be easy to make a statement that with the cast it had, it underachieved. There were moments when the acting wasn't convincing even outside of Jorge Garcia, but I'm not so sure that was the problem. The real problem was the end. It may be a result of the fact people are marketing this film through it's end, I'm not sure. Even the program director at the TIFF suggested "Wait until you see the end!!", leaving the audience in anticipation. Maybe the end didn't live up to its hype, but I can't believe I'd respect this end even without expectations or anticipation. It was just that forced. Sadly, this movie could have been such a better overall result with two changes, one of them being very minor;

#1 Remove the fake accent from Jorge Garcia

#2 Use the more obvious events for some of the characters, especially the "surprise" at the end

You could have had the exact same fate for every character. You could have had practically the same movie outside of 3 minutes worth of dialog to be honest. You could have re-shot a 10 second scene in which the camera pans a character, and it would have made for a much stronger message...

Unfortunately for me it doesn't work, and the people I attended this with felt the same. An average film with an ending that was forced.

The movie opens with "The following events happened in Ahtens but could happen anywhere"

I don't think so, unless you try really hard ;)

This excellently-crafted film follows the lives of a group of post-high school graduates (or dropouts), late teens and early twenty-somethings for whom college is not an option. There are 4 stories which proceed independently of each other, occasionally passing off the baton from one to the next, but eventually all coming together.

Little Athens is a slice of life in a relatively lifeless environment -- a small town called Athens, but it could be any small town just about anywhere. Certainly, anyone who grew up in such a place knows it well. There isn't a whole lot to do. So you do what you can to get by. These characters' lives are about who you're dating, used to date, or would like to date, who you're cheating on and who's cheating on you, who's doing drugs and who's selling them, getting jobs and getting fired, getting into trouble and staying out of trouble, and trying to figure out who you are in a town where nobody amounts to much unless you leave. Stay and you're stuck, so you may as well make the best of it. In a town with no rock concerts, no sports arena, no dance clubs, no mall, and no multiplex, there's no drama. And when the drama doesn't exist without, you create it from within. Nature abhors a vacuum, so these young people fill the void by creating their own conflicts, because it's so much easier to be discontent than not.

If it sounds sad, well, where there's pity there's sympathy. And where there's sympathy there's comfort. We know these people. And that cuts to the heart of what makes this film what it is -- this brilliant young cast does what good actors are supposed to do -- they make these characters real. You never get the feeling that this is scripted, or has been rehearsed -- and the camera similarly stays out of the way.

Most of the film is shot in widescreen 35MM, as if to emphasize how small these characters are set against the bleak landscape of this town. We are watching them from a distance, just observers, taking it all in and allowing us to slowly invest ourselves in these people. The last portion of the film uses hand-held 16MM, as the four separate story lines come together towards the climax of the film. Now we are there, with them, because now that we know them we are allowed into their world.

The aspects of the film which stand out the most in my mind are the performances and the music. The acting is just spot on. It's always hard to single anyone out in an ensemble cast, but John Patrick Amedori's Jimmy is arguably the most sympathetic character in a film where you tend to feel sorry for everyone. He's perfectly cast -- the story had to have one sometimes sad but hopeful puppy-dog, and he's it.

The other highlight for me was the music, but that's always my weakness. After the acting and the soundtrack comes Tom Zuber's intricate story, told with the luxury of one able to write it, produce it, direct it, and edit it. He should be extremely proud of this work.

It takes a bit for the development of each actors story but once that happens the movie takes right off. 2nd half is GREAT!!

this movie definitely hits something. it isn't the best movie i've ever seen but its one of the best of its type. it had some really great actors in it, even if most wouldn't agree to that. part of the reason i think this was such a good movie is because it is so real and it is really what goes on in peoples lives in small towns. i'm from a pretty small town and even high school this is what people are doing. its crazy to think that things like this aren't actually as far away from my life as it may seem. the acting in this is great because in some places, even if it may seem as if the acting is crappy, it really isn't. the actors are able to get into the character and let that person take control which is what makes them look and sound like real people and not just actors. i definitely would recommend this to anyone who needs a little dose of reality...if there wasn't so much cussing it would be a good movie to show in health classes when the life units happen...but yeah basically good movie :]

I have to start by saying it took me a solid hour to figure out that Athens is the town the movie takes place in. That being said, this movie's got big intentions and they are realized. I saw it with a great crowd, so the mood was cool. I won't ruin it, but the scene where the Jimmy character steals drugs from his dealer is classic. Really really good, and the female characters are super real which is something I don't think most movies have. My friends and I talked about the movie for an hour afterward. The guys are great, especially Michale Pena and John Patrick Amedori. Eric Szmanda has some very funny scenes as well which is great after seeing him in the same role every week on CSI. I loved the way the movie looks.