Beeswax

I read an impassioned positive review of this over on IMDB that had me momentarily rethinking my original reaction to the film, but I have to go with my gut here: this was not good. Why? More than anything, I had a hard time mustering any kind of ANYTHING for what was happening on screen. I get the "real life" vibe that Bujalski was going for but that doesn't make the viewing experience an illuminating or pleasurable one. People converse, minor problems arise, stuff happen off-screen. The end.

It's hard to tell which movie I hated more, Beeswax or its twin, Funny Ha Ha. I have been known to enjoy some mumblecore before, but this faux real people leading real lives thing doesn't work if there aren't interesting problems to overcome, or some insight into the human condition. This style of mumblecore is just nothing.

Low-key, but quite well-made and moderately interesting "slice-of-life" drama typical of Bujalski's mumblecore style. Good performances... but the film simmers without ever really bubbling over into excitement, fun or involvement. Ultimately forgettable but passes the time.

it's hard to really pick out a flaw in this. it perfectly executes its goal. but its realism is so realistic as to make the film small and insignificant. nice, but it's like the least ambitious movie ever made.

When in taking about movies subject of Mumblecore comes up, I describe them as micro budget youth movies about nothing. Truth is, they are usually about something trivial, and only on rare occasions I'm at my wits end to grasp some theme. Beeswax is really about nothing. Slice-of-life perhaps? I lead very dull, humble life myself, and yet it's more interesting than the plot of this film.

A few genuinely sweet and charming moments interspersed with some really annoying ones surrounded by a lot of mildly tedious inanity. Small-stakes and low-key not so much in any kind of wispy, poetic way but rather more simply somewhat pointless. Bujalski is competent at his own brand of talky naturalism, but almost willfully unimpressive and definitely uncinematic. Mutual Appeciation seems very much a fluke.

I feel like this lacked the drive of Bujalski's previous films, while at the same time the writing and production were much improved. It's hard not to feel like he has the ability to make a great film, but is just having trouble finding the best way to make that finally happen.

I can't quite explain why I like Bujalski's films so much. His protagonists often lack much personality and his characters' general hesitancy and "mumbliness" aren't terribly appealing qualities. The films have no real stories and the sets/cinematography are incredibly bare bones. So why do I like them? I don't know... I just do. They feel real. The dialogue feels real, the interpersonal relationships feel real, and when two characters kiss, it doesn't feel like contrived bullshit.

You work very hard for tiny rewards. Only a cinema-illiterate could mistake this for an advance.

"With Beeswax, Andrew Bujalski continues his project of crafting intensely observed, dialogue-driven character pieces that make use of nonprofessional actors and privilege the seemingly empty moments in conversation." - Andrew Schenker

I personally dig Bujalski's lo-fi style. This one has a little more cinematic flair than Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation - higher-quality film stock and much more plot; it even has an antagonist - but retains the same sometimes excruciatingly intimate feel. It ends on the biggest cliffhanger of all time, which is a little annoying.

This time around it is not as refreshing as Funny Ha Ha was, nor as powerful as Mutual Appreciation. Bringing mundane conversational awkwardness to the big screen is still something that most filmmakers don't do, and it sets mumblecore and its top gun Bujalski apart, but in Beeswax it just seems less purposeful, less meaningful than it did in his previous movies.

This could be my favorite of Bujalski's three features, as his skilled use of nonprofessional actors allows us a window into the lives of real people struggling with who they're going to be and where they're going to go. Bujalski treats all of his characters like human beings, imbuing them with qualities both irritating and endearing. And as the film ends in his typically abrupt style, it leaves us with a sense of the depth, the comfort, and the pain all wrapped up in the family bond.