Ah, those nutty hipsters, what with their halting speech, their pinhole cameras, their thrift-store clothing, their ironic mustaches, their complicated musical genres and their single-minded missions to take their cancer-riddled dwarf hamsters on coastal bike tours of upstate California before they must be put to sleep.
CineVegas 2009
- Caveh Zahedi, Megan Harvey, Richard Vallejos.
- Directed by Jeff Mizushima
- Screens June 13, 3 p.m.
- More CineVegas
- Complete coverage of CineVegas 2009
- Film reviews
This expansion of a onetime student film (shot in ultra-indie 16mm, no less) may try to pass itself off as feel-good mainstream fare, but Etienne! is an angsty indulgence made by and for a very specific demographic. As such it maintains an apathetic demeanor about just how quirky or funny it is ultimately perceived, while underneath it’s desperately yearning to achieve the next milestone in both. Instead of reaching either mark, the entire atmosphere just serves as a compromising distraction. Even an initially promising side story of a jilted co-ed fails to gain traction and further weighs down the already sluggish and anemic plot.
There are some notable points made about the nature of unconditional love and the right of animals and humans alike to experience freedom to the fullest. But hearing them from the slack mouths of these moping goofuses, you’d be more inclined to slap them than take the words to heart.
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