Easier with Practice

 

Davy Mitchell (Geraghty) is an aspiring writer embarking, with sleazy brother Sean (O’Neill) in tow, on a self-financed “book tour” to promote his Xeroxed collection of short stories. Even more endearingly pathetic than Davy’s writing career is his love life: a series of awkward phone sex sessions with Nicole, a coquettish stranger who first calls him randomly while he’s flogging his literary wares across New Mexico. First time director Alvarez has a great eye for crummy Americana, setting the unorthodox couple’s verbal trysts against the prosaic backdrops of grubby roadside diners and garishly decorated motels. Shot and performed in a style that loosely fits the unfairly derided mumblecore aesthetic, the film is low-key and subtle – like all good mumblecore movies, it’s not the line delivery that’s hazy, it’s the characters’ emotions. What might sound like the set-up for a particularly bawdy Judd Apatow comedy is actually a deceptively sweet tale of twenty-first century alienation. Geraghty’s performance is quite wonderful. [Jamie Dunn]