Review of Tiny Furniture (2010) by Walter M — 16 Mar 2013

Upon returning home to reside in her mother's(Laurie Simmons) apartment in New York City at least temporarily after graduating college, Aura(Lena Dunham, who also wrote and directed) is angry that her younger sister Nadine(Grace Dunham) has claimed her room for her own special space. At least there will be more space for Aura when their mother takes Nadine on a tour of college campuses. In the meantime, Aura reconnects with Charlotte(Jemima Kirke), an old friend, who not only lands her a job but also introduces her to Jed(Alex Karpovsky) who asks her out. However, their date is cut short due to lack of funds, meaning they lose the opportunity to check out whatever cool French film is playing at the Film Forum and instead head back to Aura's place.

With her first feature, the flawed "Tiny Furniture," Lena Dunham shows a great deal of promise as a first director, especially on the visual end of the spectrum. That's sadly not the case with either writing or acting.(Merritt Wever steals the movie in her brief time onscreen which speaks volumes to the last category.) But instead of saying anything meaningful or moving on from her semi-autobiographical meanderings, Dunham only moves physically and creatively across the Williamsburg Bridge for her television series "Girls." And negative points for hating on foreign films, by the way.