greg r
It's in the closing moments that this movie finally shines. It's not much of a gift to the audience, but after the long road to get there, you are happy for it.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
Wonderful film, a subtle portrayal of the dynamics of relationship shifts over a decade, a very realistic and enjoyable watch, most will definitely connect!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
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dave d
Soft spoken and understated, 'Fourteen', is also way too self aware and it becomes distracting. There's no doubt writer, editor and director, Dan Sallitt, is trying to tell us something. He has a character even say, "I'm more conversational now". There is also the mention of budgets and I just found it all too inside baseball for a film that seemed like it was a really bad "special" episode of a movie about nothing. This is a slice of life and very real, but as a stand alone 94 minute feature, no thanks. Another in the long line of shorts stretched and I do mean stretched to feature length with lots of scenery, but a story that isn't pushed forward. And despite it being a quiet indy, you have to be very in touch with every little detail which is supposed to draw you in, but instead frustrated me. Normally, I like these films, but Salitt is so unable to take a stand on mental illness, instead letting this slop sit there. It's a shame the filmmaker doesn't get it right, because the acting here, from an entirely unknown cast, is mostly outstanding. They aren't given much to work with, but they do a marvelous job. The final plot twist, which I could see from my porch, ties in the relationship between our two leads, Tallie Medel and Norma Kuhling. This duo need better agents. I want to see them again, perhaps even together. GET IT DONE! Long periods of time often go by from one scene to the next without explanation and I kinda liked it. It's something that grew on me, but it's also distracting. Your hand is definitely not held, but then we'll have two to three minutes of silence. The plot sits. Final Score: 4/10
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
A really slow walk in the park that will get you to talk about life and stuff. I loved it.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
andrei d
Cam prea indie dar bun
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Reviews of 14 that I have read speak of amity. They seem to distort the movie's disequilibrium. It really centers on the experience of one character, Mara, and the flaws in her attempts to be there for a goes-back-a-long way friend. Being there for her school buddy is a tenacious project for Mara, a role delivered with wholesome innocence by Tallie Medel. The notion that the movie is about friends is a distortion. Although Mara had an alliance in the past with the other main character Jo, Norma Kuhling, and kept in touch, the movie primarily concerns just one side of this connection. The narrative is about incompatibilities. How the raw material of a child, an unsullied clay, plastic with the potential to meld, is, in the grown-up world, rigid, formed into a strange and inconsonant shape. Choices, priorities, experience are at play—and chemicals, both the body's hormones and, particularly in Jo's case, a relentless top-up of abusive substances.
The movie opens with the two women, their synchronicity already unmeshed. Jo is the loose cannon to Mara's stoic timekeeping and loyal attachments. Two Brooklyn lives lived between polarities of self-loathing and care for others. Are they typical? Is this a microcosm? Certainly, the movie is one of those New York dramas that report on life and relationships in the city with forensic attention to chat, chat-ups, schedules, and places to park. The problem in Jo and Mara's relationship is that it totally lacks privacy. It is staged in diners, bars, and social events. When taken home, it is in moments of crisis. The movie's settings are a snapshot of zeitgeist interior décors, institutional and domestic, as well as the anodyne environments of New York hospitality. This society is fixated on an individual's choices. One choice is the freedom to fuck up. Mara is no saint; she lacks the compassion, empathy, imagination, and generosity to be genuinely supportive. And it frustrates the hell out of her. The denouement is the equivalent of a secular confession, mother to child, or the older person's letter to her younger self. Childhood is a time of unconditional trust. Adults lose faith in one another, seeking to exist on their own terms. Mara's primary aim is to define her independence by constructing a safe space, keeping a distance from others. It isn't a buddy movie; it is a travesty of compassion enacted as an internal dialogue.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
Full Review
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