Station to Station

This is what happens when there is no editing. A film that is about twice as long as it should be with the longest scenes shot with the worst of the cast (Jordan Getty and Cate Luna). I haven't seen such awful over-acting in a long time. I actually had to fast-forward through most of their extended scenes. If Jordan pursed his lips or cocked his jaw one more time, or Cate over-gestured her way through one more scene, I would have shut it off. Was there no director on set to tell them to chill out, or try to act a bit more natural? They were just too unbelievable and because they were in far too much of the movie, it ruined the decent job the rest of the cast did. Other than that, thanks for Eggers crotch shot.

I saw this film at the Las Vegas International Film and Screenwriting Festival on the first night. Like most of the films at these festivals, I hadn't heard of it before and I found the description was intriguing, but vague (intentionally so, when you think about it afterward).

But I am glad I didn't know anything going in. I don't really think any description could describe it, but if I had had it described to me, I might have watched it in with some preconceved notions and assumptions, which as it turns out, is the entire point of the film, or at least a big part of it.

All I know is I spent the next day thinking about it, about the characters, and some of the convos they have with each other. This film is really well acted and the best work is in the quiet back and dorths with each other, which happen in a way that starts the wheels turning in your head It got me thinking about a lot of the ways movies don't do that now and that made me realize how hungry I was for the kind of conversations and characters we see in the film, which is a modest attempt at making a blockbuster Hollywood film, but an A attempt at making an indie like this.

I am not sure what I expected going into the movie (I was asked to be a test audience member two months ago) but it wasn't what I thought, in all really good ways. It's really hard to describe this movie without either giving too much away or giving people the wrong impression, so I think I'll just say it's a really well-done drama about a young man who has a lot of growing up to do, and a bit of a chip on his shoulder, who runs to Las Vegas rather than face his issues at home, only to find and create new issues there.

The film kind of follows him for 6-9 months as he interacts with friends/lovers/colleagues/family, and while he learn a lot about them, the audience learns a lot about him (and wonders if he's actually learning, too). In that way, the film is a lot like Richard Linklater's Beyond trilogy, and I think some reviewers have said that. But I think the other comparison they make, to Paul Thomas Anderson, is better.

Mostly because of the way the film makes all the psychological drama really watchable instead of depressing or boring. The two hours mostly flies by and it does a neat trick because by the end, you realize you had no idea where the movie was going, pretty much at any time, let alone somewhere so powerfully dramatic. I think that made it really satisfying to me. I am glad I didn't assume the end in the first half because the setup was for something else.

I think there will be lots of comparisons to Boogie Nights, but I think that's mostly due to surface similarities. Boogie Nights was bigger, more salcious for show, and wrapped up in a really predictable and old-fashioned way. This does a bunch of stuff I wasn't expecting and treats its characters as unique, not tropes and that's a movie lovers dream, in a way.

In a different review, for a different film, I said you could just watch the acting only and still be ertained, because all the leads were so good. That is 100% true here. The casting on this film, especially for all the main characters or the ones with big moments is incredible. I wouldn't be surprised if any of these new faces break out, but I hope if they do, they don't lose the raw parts of their performances in this film.

I don't usually give 10s, so I gave the film a 9, mostly because it's amazing they made this to this level of quality, on both a limited budget and during the pandemic. Without those challenges, it's obvious this would have been a 10, and that's a pretty big compliment from me. But maybe the more useful compliment is that I spent money to buy a ticket to see it again at a festival tonight when I already got to see it for free!

I never write reviews on films, but I felt this was necessary to warn everyone. What a horrible, waste of time movie that was excruciatingly unbearable to the end, in hopes that something good would happen. The bad acting, the bad Soundtrack and stupid story line needs to be announced to future victims of this movie. I can't believe it was even accepted for Production and then, suggested by Amazon prime. I would be embarrassed to show a film of this low caliber. This waste of my time will definitely make me think to check reviews before wasting another two hours of my time. I hope this review will save others from this excruciatingly horrible film.

I thought this was a comedy b/c I'd only seen a funny clip before and got the wrong impression, but this movie blew my mind with how good a drama this is. It's so good! The acting, the writing, the way it looks, and the beautiful messages it sends to the audience. The main character and actor who plays him are really interesting.