FUNNY HA HA

TICKETS for FUNNY HA HA at 518 Val Sun Feb 11, 1p HERE

Director Andrew Bujalsky – 2002 USA 89 min – IndieFest 2004 program note:

Five minutes, is that so long? Marnie would like to go five minutes without something embarrassing happening to her. But for the beleaguered heroine of Andrew Bujalski’s spot-on exploration of life in the awkward lane, that’s just not possible. Friends who don’t know when to shut up, jobs that are okay at best, and kisses, both unwelcome and unsent: Marnie’s endured them all, uncertain but ever hopeful that someday, all the pieces of her life will come together and everything will fit.

At first blush, Funny Ha Ha may seem like a familiar story—a twenty-something drifting through her life, suffering from unrequited love and a touch of post-college ennui—but Bujalski has a refreshingly original approach. While other directors would lather on the soporific humor or aim for emotional fireworks, Bujalski lingers on life’s quietly uncomfortable moments, like when you run out of conversation on a date and there’s nothing left to do but just look at each other. It’s rich material and Bujalski renders each stilted conversation perfectly, with every “Um” and “Ah” in exactly the right place. As Marnie, Kate Dollenmayer projects a vulnerability and naturalism that is perfectly in harmony with the cliché-free script. Not to be outdone, Bujalski steps in front of the camera himself to play Mitchell, the nicest guy Marnie will probably never go out with. He’s also one of three nominees in the 2004 Independent Spirit Awards Someone to Watch Award.  – Doug Jones

ABOUT INDIEFEST Year Six

Dates: Feb 5-15, 2004

Venues: Castro, Roxie, Women’s Building, Oakland Metro

Features: 35  Shorts: 63  Parties: 7  Bands: 3 Total Films: 98  Total Films To Date: 415. 

With: Jeff Ross, Bruce Fletcher, Tod Booth, Molli Simon, Alicia Perre-Dowd, John Lee, Catherine Fougere, Michael Tino, Sean Kelly, Kat Borgen Werbel, Karen Larsen

Sponsors: The Women’s Building, Live 105, Adolph Gasser, Phoenix Hotel, Bay Guardian, Sierra Nevada, Kitchen Sink Magazine, Landmark Theaters, sfstation.com, Lost Weekend Video, Rainbow Grocery, KQED, Hotel Bijou, La Mediterranee, Monaco

NOTES: First Big Lebowski Party! First screenings at the Women’s Building Auditorium. Back cover of the 40 page program guide featured a cut out clip&save Mission Hipster by Hugh Andrade. First year with Karen Larsen as our publicist. First and only time an entire sold out Roxie theater crowd walks out of a movie. (Bettie Page-Dark Angel a film we booked as a world premiere after seeing only a 20 minute rough cut, and saw for the first time at the festival. It was so bad Betty Page had them change the spelling of her name in the title when she pulled out of working on it. But the Betty Page look a like contest at Bondage A Go Go that everyone went to instead was awesome!)