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Mutual Appreciation

United States

2005

109 Min
Black and White
1.66:1
English
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
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DIR Andrew Bujalski

PROD Morgan Faust, Dia Sokol, Ethan Vogt

SCR Andrew Bujalski

DP Matthias Grunsky

CAST Justin Rice, Rachel Clift, Andrew Bujalski, Lee Seung-Min, Pamela Corkey, Kevin Micka, Ralph Tyler, Peter Pentz, Bill Morrison, Tamara Luzeckyj, Mary Varn, Kate Dollenmayer, Keith Gessen, Salvatore Botti

ED Andrew Bujalski

SOUND Randall Good, Eric Masunaga

SXSW, AFI FEST (American Directions), Edinburgh (Rosebud), Rotterdam (Sturm und Drang), !F Istanbul, Mar del Plata

Synopsis

Adults in their 20s circle each other, their bodies in motion, with occasional attractions and lots of talk. Alan is a musician, just down to New York from Boston, hanging out with his friend Lawrence and Lawrence’s girlfriend Ellie. Alan and Ellie are on a bed talking: is this prelude or possibility? Sara, who has interviewed Alan for the radio, seems attracted to Alan, but Alan may not be so sure. They, too, sit on the edge of a bed. He has a gig; it goes well. How should he handle Sara? Has the moment with Ellie passed? Do things play out or does time merely pass as bodies move through space? —IMDb

Director

Original

Andrew Bujalski

Andrew Bujalski, born April 29, 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts, is an American film director, screenwriter and actor, who has been called the “Godfather of Mumblecore.”

Bujalski, born in Boston in 1977, is the son of an artist-turned-businesswoman, Sheila Dubman, and a businessman, Edmund Bujalski. Andrew studied film at Harvard’s Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, where the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman was his thesis advisor.

He shot his first feature, Funny Ha Ha, in 2002, and followed it with Mutual Appreciation in 2003 – though neither film received theatrical distribution until 2005 and 2006, respectively. Bujalski wrote both screenplays, and appears as an actor, playing a major role in both films. In 2006, he appeared as an actor and contributed to the screenplay of the Joe Swanberg film Hannah Takes the Stairs.

As of April, 2007, Bujalski is in Austin, Texas, where he is preparing to shoot his third independent… read more

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msmichel

13Feb13

Excellent second feature from the so-called godfather of mumblecore. The film works because the characters though leading uninteresting lives are really anything but. The b&w images wonderously capture that feeling of early twenties' angst; the uncertainty of decisions, the wanderlust, that late night/early morning 'does it matter' soul searching. Can see why it has the reputation it has and its polarizing effect.

HKFanatic and Miasma like this

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House of Sober Second Thought

11Sep11

Having the parents of cast & crew supply the commentary track was a stroke of genius.

Miasma and kerfuffles like this

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Nicolas

30Aug11

Black and White, 16mm. It's just like Cassavetes' Faces, except the characters are hollow, the dialogue was written by a stoned 14 year old, and it sucks. Even the mildly intriguing final 30 minutes couldn't save this.

Steve Pulaski and Leandro Almeida like this

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yroc

20Feb11

after turning Funny Ha Ha off after 40 minutes of excruciating boredom a la attempting(and failing) at Cassavetes aesthetic, i gave this film a view and actually made it all the way through to the end. The dialogue was good and simple, the acting wasn't overly boring and the story wasn't hard to follow but overall, not something I would reccomend for a second view. One should be enough and the wig scene was great.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Matters of Opinion: An Interview with Andrew Bujalski

By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on February 4, 2010

Andrew Bujalski's one of the most distinctive directors of drama to emerge in the last decade. The elements that define his work are instantly

read article
W184

"It sounded so different than the way it came out": Andrew Bujalski's "Beeswax"

By Dave McDougall on August 7, 2009

"Part of the ways we grow up is we sort of fail at being adults" - Zoe Kazan, on her role as Ivy in Bradley Rust Gray's 2009 film The Exploding

read article
W184

The Auteurs Daily: Lustig's 70s and Bujalski's "Beeswax"

By David Hudson on August 5, 2009

"Cinema of the 1970s has become so mythologized that it's easy to miss the simpler, unknown pleasures lurking in the shadows of Altman, Scorsese

read article

Mutual Appreciation Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
My first encounter with Andrew Bujalski was quite accidental and entirely pleasurable; the second was entirely intentional and only accidently pleasurable. That he can inspire such pleasure and pain is
→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Mutual Appreciation Review

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
My first encounter with Andrew Bujalski was quite accidental and entirely pleasurable; the second was entirely intentional and only accidently pleasurable. That he can inspire such pleasure and pain is
→ read on Twitchfilm.net

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Reviews

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Indie Masterpiece

By EastyBo​y on September 20, 2010

Andrew Bujalski surpasses his great debut feature Funny Ha Ha and delivers one of the best indie films of the noughties. Like it’s predecessor, the film sticks to documentary-like…  read review

Untitled

By David on August 7, 2009

Hipster moves to NYC to become an artist. Hipster plays to an empty bar. Hipster falls for intellectual friend’s girlfriend who inadvertently becomes hipster’s manager. Hipster and friends remain friends…  read review

Forum

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Andrew Bujalski

3 posts by 3 people almost 4 years ago