Review of Cyrus (2010) by Benjamin F — 20 Jan 2011

Stepping beyond their Mumblecore roots, the Duplass brothers finally make a movie people are more likely to sit through. The end result? Something intimate, personal, sad, and often deeply uncomfortable - very well made.

John C. Reilly is spot-on as usual as the lead. Jonah Hill turns one of his strongest performances yet, displaying more range than he usually does and showcasing his talent for invoking discomfort with his intense dysfunction. Marisa Tomei plays a charming mess. Catherine Keener doesn't have any challenging material, but you can always count on a good performance from her. And UCB's Matt Walsh has a small part, but he doesn't have much to do and doesn't get to be too funny. Still, a welcome face.

The camera work is fairly loose and at times feels a little less than professional, but for the most part, it successfully captures each shot well enough to work. The pacing of the film and presentation of the content are spot-on, though. Despite the imperfect camera work, the direction's strong for the relatively new duo of directors. And the soundtrack doesn't feature too many licensed songs, but the original score - mostly acoustic performances, mostly guitar - works well and succeeds in setting a tone that fits the film well.

I went into Cyrus with a combination of mixed expectations. I'm no fan of the cringeworthy Mumblecore subgenre (Which itself is essentially a good example of some of the worst in cinematic navel-gazing - a number of the art house films that fail to find real backing for a good reason.) from which the Duplass brothers come. Still, I'd heard good things about their breaking away from that with Cyrus, just as Greta Gerwig did with Greenberg last year. Mixed, but hopeful expectations of the Duplass brothers joined with a fondness for the excellent cast and I went in expecting a good film. I'm glad to say that the Duplass brothers delivered, as did their cast, and while Cyrus is missing a certain something that's hard to articulate, it's still a strong, funny, sad film. There aren't too many like it, and for what it evokes, it's definitely worth watching. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Duplass brothers do next as they continue to grow as directors - while there's never any lack of bad art house cinema being made, the world can absolutely always use more good art house movies. I'm glad to see that despite my strong distaste for it, Mumblecore's starting to turn out some legitimate talent as filmmakers and actors from that 'movement' begin to branch out and challenge themselves to do much more and much better.