The Flats

I really enjoyed how the filmmakers framed the shots. They were evocative of other movies,without being obvious enough to stick out. The story was engaging, but had some clunky, heavy, dialogue which at times could break the scene ;especially egregious was the card playing scene towards the beginning, though with more experience I'm sure those types of bump will smooth out. I enjoyed Chad's acting for the most part, though I do hope he stops channeling Matthew Lillard at his worst. I appreciated the organic way in which the story developed and really hope these guys can get funded and continue on to make another feature.

Chad Lindberg gives his finest performance to date as Harper in the Requa Brothers' under-seen film, "The Flats" and to call it outstanding is no exaggeration. He embodies an over-the-top drunk without acting that way. He is profoundly loyal, wise about people and particularly the friendships he navigates, and loves to learn about life through experience using his contagious, magnetic personality. He's also profoundly sad, unwise about responsibility as well as how to handle undesirable conformity and sacrifice, and can be a shameless womanizer. Lindberg always makes the character his, from convincing drunkenness to convincing friendship.

As easy as it could be to pick apart a low-budget debut film like this, "The Flats" is unique. It may have some rough edges in terms of its script (dialogue and forced and/or clichéd events) and some of its peripheral actors, but it's more than the sum of these parts. In terms of movies about American youth, "The Flats" has heart and more closely resembles the emotional subtlety of "The Last Picture Show" rather than trying to be one of the numerous brainless movies about superficial youths living superficial lives in typical cities. And it's not lacking humor either.

These are all characters who come together organically with believable chemistry as a group of close friends but all face a certain isolation: from societal norms, from taking chances outside of them, from family, from finding love, or even from their own heritage and ancestral culture. The film uses its unique geography as another character (also like "The Last Picture Show") as well as its unique subcultures to elevate itself to uniqueness, authenticity, and heartfelt emotion despite its imperfections. This film took me by surprise. Hopefully the Requa Brothers will take another stab at a film, and hopefully Chad Lindberg (who seems usually relegated to roles in either small films like "The Flats" or smaller roles in poor ones) finally gets the chance to show his talent to a larger audience to get the appreciation he deserves.

This rural tale of troubled teen boys trying to find a future in their small Northwest town avoids being sappy and trite but it never finds it's soul nor does it require the audience to care about the two lead. Harper has problems, often getting into trouble with the law and drinking too much. He comes home only to create problems with his friend Luke's life and relationship with his girlfriend. Unfortunately the story never creates enough dramatic tension between Luke and Harper. The Requa brothers do a good job capturing the juvenile behavior of teen males and Chad Lindberg is fun to watch, but nothing interesting is going on beyond jokes in the bathroom and rants at diners and parties. One scene even forces some bad philosophy on the audience via a card game at the local hangout house. I don't know of any teens who hang out and play cards when they could be partying and drinking. The cinematography and the soundtrack are feature-worthy but the story needed a lot more work to interest an audience beyond the local crowd.

I felt this movie was entertaining to the point where it did its job in getting me out of my head(which i use movies for). I also felt the characters were fairly well developed, considering all the different characters involved. It had a realism about it that ironically added to the escapism element- that others' misfortunes can go a long way to make my life seem OK! The location of the filming definitely added to the point it was attempting to make. I consider this film for what it is- a decent independent film. I thought it to be very entertaining. It takes me a lot to stop, sit still and get "into" a new film I've never heard of- let alone an independent film on IFC channel, where others films haven't grabbed me. I think the cinematography was a big factor is stopping my remote on this movie initially with the whole "young people" drama thing being another pull.

There is all this hype about reality TV and then we go to the movies to watch a drama and it just feels so forced, so fake. This film, which was done on a miniscule Brothers McMullen budget captures what it is to be young and in your twenties with such a force and passion that it is hard to believe it's the first feature from the Requa Bros. Anyone who gets the opportunity to watch this film will be waiting with bated breath to see what they do next, as well as what Chad Lindberg does. His performance is pacino. His performance is mcqueen.