Review of Medicine for Melancholy (2009) by Paul S — 28 Mar 2010

This is a slow, intimate slice-of-life movie, a kind of mumblecore, hipster version of "Before Sunrise", but with a political edge: Race and the city's gentrification are major topics of conversation between the two African-American leads.

The atmosphere is perfect: The contrast-rich image, desaturated to the point that it's very nearly as black and white as the main character's worldview, the hand camera with its frequent changes of focus, the indie soundtrack (featuring Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Au Revoir Simone and Oh No! Oh My!) and the beautiful pictures of San Francisco reflect and augment the characters' emotions and situation wonderfully.