Kentucker Audley’s Team Picture is short, slight,
serene and totally underwhelming, and I have to admit it completely won me over
within its first 15 minutes. Audley
himself plays the lead character, David, an unrepentant Memphis slacker who is
radically different from the wise-ass pot-head slackers you see in most indie-comedies. David is basically a mellow, likeable guy; he
just lacks the ambition to do much of anything, at least for the moment. As the film opens, he quits his job simply
because he wants to spend some time “not working for a while,” and his
girlfriend dumps him due to his dearth of awareness about her needs and
interests. David spends his days lounging
around with a buddy in a kiddie-swimming pool set up in his front yard, which
he uses the neighbors’ hose to fill. One
day while returning this hose, he meets a strange girl on the neighbors’ porch
and this casually leads to a road trip to Chicago, during which a very lazy
romance develops between them. Audley is
considered a member of a sub-trend in independent film called “mumblecore,” and
I haven’t been an admirer of the few other films of the genre I’ve seen. Nor am I usually impressed with filmmakers
who star in their own films, as typically their agenda of ego-massage is far
too distracting for me. But Audley here
manages to do everything right, portraying himself as neither heroic nor
unpleasant nor as an annoyingly hip ladies man.
Apparently a lot of the scenes were improvised, but whether this is true
or not is kind of irrelevant because it feels wholly natural in a world where
everyone isn’t eloquent all day long but tends to hem-and-haw and stammer and
talk over each other. It isn’t the kind
of film – or style in general – that will ever win Oscars or become a monster
hit – but I think it should be of interest to anyone concerned with film and
filmmakers that stem from some genuine affection for film itself rather than
for money and fame; and there is a palpable difference.
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