Skills Like These
Another indie film about the lives of failing writers – in this case, turning to a life of crime in addition to flirting with the girl of his dreams.
Skills Like This is definitely a script-driven film – a similar quirky humour to In Search of a Midnight Kiss, but going in unexpected directions. The story itself feels oddly familiar – I’m sure I’ve watched other films in which characters perform uncharacteristic acts that change their own life and the lives of those around them. Oh, I know what it reminds me of: Office Space – from the slightly out-of-it hero, high on his new-found ’skills’ (although sporting a white ‘fro that Ron Livingstone could never have pulled off) – to the new girlfriend who eventually kicks his conscience into gear. Although that element also references Out of Sight – if Clooney had kept flirting with the bank-teller, rather than carrying on with Lopez…
The hero’s two disparate friends, one uptight, the other wildly immature, also feel familiar, along with their respective subplots, but the script pulls these elements into something quite fresh.
The film is also buoyed up with a sense of self-confidence – there are points that betray that it’s a feature debut, but it never falls into the trap of being too frenetic, instead building with an engaging vibe, only increasing the pace when it’s needed.
It also features the funkiest poster of the festival, and, I’ve just discovered (nearly a year later, when In Search of a Midnight Kiss has just been released and this film is still MIA), one of the few non-crappy movie websites at www.skillslikethis.com.
I saw:
- 24/08/07, 7.40pm: Skills Like This (Filmhouse 2 EIFF)
Saw SKILLS LIKE THIS at the Maine International FIlm Festival. They are releasing theatrically in North AMerica in March of 2009. Good thing – good movie.
Isaac,