April 19–26, 2001

movie shorts

The Low Down

recommended

So there’s this movie about aimless British folks in their late twenties trying to make sense of their lives, balancing their meaningless jobs with their meaningless relationships.… No wait, come back! It’s hard to find the words that don’t make Jamie Thraves’ fantastic The Low Down sound like a British Slacker, but Thraves’ film has as much energy as its characters lack. Elegantly constructed on a miniscule budget, the film borrows guerilla-art techniques from the New Wave on up — freeze-framing on a lover’s face to indicate desire, for one — while hewing to its own emotional core. (The homage is far less slavish and more sincere than those in the recent When Brendan Met Trudy.) Queer as Folk’s Aiden Gillen plays an artist who spends his days making props for TV game shows. When he begins a romance with a down-to-earth real estate agent (Kate Ashfield), it opens up a world of possibilities he’s tried to dismiss, leading to both joy and panic. Like the enthralling Wonderland, The Low Down’s virtues are only half-apparent while you’re watching it the first time. The rest sneak up on you in the most pleasant kind of ambush.

—Sam Adams