Netflix

I just returned Kissing on the Mouth.    I don't know where I got the recommendation-- probably the AV Club over at the Onion.   It's shot like a documentary but isn't one, and revolves around a 25ish woman in a nameless American city that felt somewhat Portlandesque.    Oregon, that is.   Revolving around her are three other people: a female friend, a male roommate/friend, and an ex-boyfriend.   It's a little universe that's full of angst.   I wasn't surprised, as the movie purported to explore post-college aimlessness among the non-driven set.    What was surprising was my lack of annoyance at it all.

Ellen is trying to figure out what to do with her life, and she's sleeping with her ex-boyfriend Bucket on the sly while her roommate Patrick pines for her secretly and is the sad-sack nice guy.   Her mousy friend kind of likes Patrick but he's oblivious.   The device which drives the film is Patrick's art project, which is a collection of interviews with twentysomethings about their expectations for love and marriage and all that good stuff.     These interviews are the intermezzos and sometimes plain old soundtracks to the real scenes.    It was all pretty bittersweet, and while it didn't really resonate with me (the post-college period for me was an explosion of awesomeness, rather than a pining for the simpler campus days) it was a reasonably good character study.   

There's also a lot of sex, shot in an offhand and unglamorous way which I liked.    I wouldn't watch this with your parents, that's for sure, and if you're at all prudish about, say, dudity, I'd avoid the hell out of it.   And while it should be obvious, it's as indie as gay cowboys, so if you're in need of a boost to your cred, check it out.