Review of Small Apartments (2012) by Mad M — 25 Feb 2013

Franklin Franklin is a pale pudgy behemoth who likes to walk around in his underwear. He lives a life as a fat hermit who collects empty soda bottles while taking care of his dog. His life wasn't always like this until his brother Bernard, who was taking care of him, went mental over a book some self-help guru published. Bernard went crazy looking for THE answer that it put him into a mental institution. Franklin now has become stuck with having to fend for himself. It is until a sudden accident that results in the death of his landlord brings on a change in scenery for him as the result effect brings him closer to a better life.

In the midst of all of this are a few eccentric characters meant to represent the suffering, the weird, the fallen and socially awkward outcasts that they are. I felt bad for all of them and could relate to them 100% with what their lives have brought them to. Being stuck in South Los Angeles must be the devil's waiting room based on how this film makes it look. Jonas Akerlund has shot in this particular area before with his first feature debut 'Spun' which was about a group of drug addicted junkies. What he did in THAT film was bring out the characters chosen path as one of tragedy, making them still the more relateable as they represent the imperfections of being human through drug addiction. They were the forgotten.

Here, he does the same thing with these characters except this isn't a film about drug addiction. It's about the lonely. It worked up to a point and that would be the ending which wasn't where the story should have gone. I would've enjoyed a much bleaker approach to Franklin's journey instead of a happy one.

Chris Millis adapted his own book for the screen when it was optioned to be made into a movie. He wrote the book in 3 days as part of the International 3-Day Novel Contest. He won and it got published. They're marketing this film as a weird comedy, but it's more of a dramedy. Matt Lucas literally shines as Franklin and is the highlight of the film.

Overall, another one of Jonas Akerlund's great oddities of the human condition. (Although, 'Spun' was so much better.).