LAFF 2015: FRENCH DIRTY

 

Vincent (Wade Allain-Marcus) and Roma (Melina Lizette) in French Dirty.

 

 

Coming clean

By John Esther
 
Since the demise of his parents' marriage the one thing Vincent (Wade Allain-Marcus) could rely on is his best friend, Steve (Arjun Gupta). So why would he do something so terrible as to sleep with Steve's year-long girlfriend, Roma (Melina Lizette)?
 
Well the answers are many and they have been brewing for a long time. Filled with guilt, the unemployed Vincent decides to tell Steve of his betrayal once the latter gets off of work. In the meantime, Vincent has all day to avoid Roma's contact efforts, hang out with an upbeat tourist from France named Josephine (Elsa Biedermann), accept some resources from members of his family, and reflect on those significant moments, events and feelings which produced his bromance transgression.

Written and directed by brothers Wade and Jesse Allain-Marcus, the 72-minute French Dirty is a film brimming with realism and authenticity. The directing  (especially the tracking shots during the "introductory" party) and acting are tight, and the script, which probably has quite a bit of improvisation behind it, comes straight out of the "hipster" 'hoods of Los Angeles.

Yet French Dirty (a misleading title) is no adoration or condemnation of that lifestyle. These 30-year-old friends and their loved one can be amusing, entertaining, even intelligent, but they can also be obnoxious, and hermetically absorbed in their own microcosm. They are neither arrested-development Judd Apatow clowns nor budding intellectuals out of a Hal Hartly film.

The characters here are human beings all-too recognizable -- with flaws and positive traits, seemingly politically void, delusional in their assumed witticisms and banter, facing genuine struggles with maturity, loving to party, and, ultimately, loyal to friends.


French Dirty screens again at LAFF: June 17, 5:35 p.m., Regal Cinemas. For more information: Dirty.