My First Mister STARRING: Albert Brooks, Leelee Sobieski, Desmond Harrington, Carol Kane, John Goodman |
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| A first feature from acclaimed actress Christine Lahti (who won an Academy Award for her short film Lieberman in Love in 1995), My First Mister explores the delicate relationship between two unlikely individuals who bring each other out of their protective shells. Jennifer (Leelee Sobieski), the film's narrator, is a Goth-obsessed, tattooed 17-year old who absorbs herself in death-laden music and poetry. Just graduating from school and immersed in a dysfunctional relationship with her out-there mother (Carol Kane), she finds a job at a local clothing store as a clerk. Her boss, Randall Harris (Albert Brooks), is a rigid, middle-aged type, who becomes uncomfortable when Jennifer begins to spy on him and following his moves. She then cleans up her act a bit and lands a position as a stockperson, and Randall begins to take an interest in her. After a few outings where they attempt to relate their lives to each other, they begin to become close friends, effectively building confidence and bridging their considerable age gap. Also included in the cast are Desmond Harrington, Mary Kay Place, and John Goodman as Jennifer's hippie father. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
Comments by David Johnson My First Mister is a perfectly normal movie that is also a quality movie. The independent film community has a scarring stigmatism that all the movies are weird, or deal with increddibly disturbing images. My First Mister is a quality piece, about something as simple as opening yourself up to others. The story follows two people, so drastically different on the outside, but inwardly the exact same person. One is a 17 year old 'goth' death obsessed girl trying to break free from her posessive parents. The other is a manager of a mens formal wear store, leading his life after divorcing his wife. The basic premise is an old one. Put two people from varying walks of life and at different places in their lives and comedy will usually come out of it. My First Mister does indeed have these comic scenes, but it also has an underlying closeness and feeling too it. Throughotu the movie you start to realize what made these people what they are, and how similar the causese are in their two lives. By the end of the film, you no longer see them as two opposite people, but just two people. Two people who have to learn to open themselves up to another person...regardless what the risk. I'm sure there are some scenes in My First Mister that people will expect to be disturbing. Yes they do 'hook up.' But stragely enough the scene seems as commenplace as the hook-ups we see on sitcoms. I think that's one of the greatest things this movie does, is make the characters seem real, and seem like people that all of us have inside us in some respect. Part of doing this is that the movie makes people have flaws. No one in the movie is perfect by any means, none of them are your classic hero, and none of them really say anything profound. They just grow. I believe that this movie is what romantic comedies should be.
I won't spoil anything about the ending of the movie with you, but yes, following a typical romantic comedy formula the ending is predictable. However, predictable because it's the appropriate ending. I think people may leave the movie thinking that the ending could have said something more, been something more, and all that is true. The ending of the movie isn't really an addition to the movie, but a brief moment for the audience to do what the characters have done for the duration of the movie...open themselves up to the soul of the movie. The ending offers the audience what credits usually end up being...a chance for reflection on the events that have occured. That's not even mentioning the fine piece of directing that the end of the movie is. My First Mister was shot on digital photography. Digital film is nice because it makes adding special effects to a movie low cost, and also enables film makers to use a small, portable, inexpensive (relative to the cost of a "real" camera). Was usually results is a movie filled with pointless 'shaky' camera shots, excessive non-normal speed, even the ritualistic matrix shots. My First Mister earned its right to use a digital camera. Yes all the elements I mentioned above at in it, but only at appropriate times, when they added to the film. In fact one of the last scenes uses quite a bit of digital magic, and I think is the single best directed scene this year. It reminded me of the good old days when a talented director could envoke any emotion from a series of cuts and camera angles. Before the dark ages when all directors did to signify sad was show tears. Overall, My First Mister is a movie that all came together with the right elements. Using the exact same premise as most of our crappy romantic comedies, this movie also has feeling and emotion and says something.
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