Harmony and Me
Year: 2009
Length: 74:00
Director: Robert Byington
Editor: Frank V. Ross
Writer: Bob Byington
Cinematographer: Jim Eastburn
Producer: Kristen Tucker
www.harmonythemovie.com
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(a physical comedy about yearning)
Robert Byington's endearing twentysomething crisis movie blends familiar
elements to original and satisfying effect. A thematic relation to Gregory's
Girl, Swingers and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it uses a bargain basement
mumblecore aesthetic, but sidesteps the self-indulgence to which that
mini-genre is prone thanks to a sustained sharp wit. Sad-faced Justin Rice
is our afflicted protagonist, Harmony, who's a prototype nightmare
dumpee - the sort of heartbroken friend you take out for consolatory
drinks two or three times before resorting any excuse to avoid hearing, yet
again, the play-by-play rehash of just what went wrong. In the wake of his
separation from his perky dreamgirl Jessica (Kristen Tucker), Harmony's
friends and family are as unsympathetic as only true intimates can be. His
appalling brothers mock his anguished state, and his buddies counsel
stoicism on the basis that Jessica was 'dull' and 'only an eight' (as opposed
to the elusive 'ten'). The there's Harmony's boss, who self-confessedly loses
interest in women once they reach legal age; and his mother, an
obsessive chainsmoker whose lungs, according to her doctor, 'should be
declared a national disaster area'... Harmony and Me is primarily played
for dark laughs, but inside Rice's guarded, edgy little performance there's
a sincere portrayal of someone absolutely trapped in self-consciousness
and self-pity. His social missteps and emotional misjudgements are
harrowingly, hilariously close to the bone. Witness Harmony drifting
inexorably into an instantly regrettable one-night-stand with his neighbour,
Natasha (Alison Latta), a bolshy blonde embodiment of every soulsucking
oversharer you've ever met; or jumping up as if electrocuted when his
male pal tries to embrace him. ('You're a mess,' notes said pal, sadly.
'Rigid. Tense, too.')
Low-budget comedies are often satisfied with basking in their limited
resources, ripping off their influences and chucking forth the odd off-
colour gag; but Harmony and Me is a far more distinctive and intelligent
affair, which distinguishes itself by its fine comic timing and its agile
deployment of language. A tiny-budget, less people-pleasing version of
those love-the-loser comedies crafted around comics of the moment Seth
Rogen, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, this film is bold enough not to flinch
from the ugliness of emotional turmoil; humane enough to forgive it; and
ballsy enough to laugh right in its face. (Regional Premiere!)
-Hannah McGill
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009
Screening with Balance.
Q & A with Producer Kristen Tucker!
Show Times:
Saturday, November 14, 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM @ Lumina Theater
Click Here for more information about Cucalorus Festival venues.