Tiny Furniture

Released Nov 12, 2010

1h 39m

Comedy

Drama

List

80%

98 Reviews

Tomatometer

54%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

After graduating from film school, Aura (Lena Dunham) returns to New York to live with her photographer mother, Siri (Laurie Simmons), and her sister, Nadine (Grace Dunham), who has just finished high school. Aura is directionless and wonders where to go next in her career and her life. She takes a job in a restaurant and tries unsuccessfully to develop relationships with men, including Keith (David Call), a chef where she works, and cult Internet star Jed (Alex Karpovsky).

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Critics Consensus

Agonizingly funny, Tiny Furniture marks an observant study of a failure to launch and an auspicious debut for writer-director Lena Dunham.

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Audience Member

wonderfully made Lena Dunham directs and acts superfulously the acting is terrific we've all been through this tale of being clingy to home before making it out on our own this deserves a good spot on indie filmmaking it isnt too slow and Im glad it stayed consistent these characters actually sit down and talk to each other; it doesnt get tossed around or left behind whether being 22 or 18 Aura has an experience of early adulthood which takes alot of adjusting to wondering what to do long-term, when to leave home, making your own choices and mistakes its also a neat character piece

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/16/24

Full Review

Audience Member

I've just watched this twice today. With the cheery and light tone from the outset it actually handles some pretty heavy stuff, probably similar to the aronofsky film Black Swan but a much lighter version in terms of mother daughter relationships. So it delivers a real punch for what the young woman is going going through I could really relate

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This film doesn't deserve all the hate it got from audiences, but I understand their perspective. It was hard to watch with continual interest, but I did enjoy it and what Dunham tried to do and did. I related to the film, as well, and that is probably one of the main sources of my enjoyment. Still, it's hard to not get bored while watching. Honestly, watching in it segments wouldn't be a bad idea. I laughed frequently.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is the first time I've ever paid for a prime video because a friend of mine wanted to watch it. I stopped the movie about 20minutes in because of the white washed entitled characters and the racist stereotyping of an south Asian character . Having researched the director and her history of ignorance, racism and entitlement I'll never watch another of her movies again.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I really did try to enjoy this film, I actually quite love art films or movies that make you think but I just didn't understand the point of this movie. Lena Dunham strikes me as someone who got way too many "participation awards" as a kid and now just has an entitled attitude and thats how this movie came across to me. What really was the point of this? Please feel sorry for the miserable privileged girl who's wasting her life and attracts misery because shes miserable? I didnt get it. I tried to but..

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

bigger than it accounts for.. Tiny Furniture 4 Out Of 5 Tiny Furniture is a character driven dramatic feature about an unbiased peek that an unstable girl seeks for on every tiny aspect of her life. The methodology that it has grasped in order to carry on a conversation, is so rare and pure which makes it immensely pleasing to encounter. Addition to that, the weaving and build-up of each sequence is projected in here that helps viewer see through the characters and easily resonate with them. The emotions aren't manipulated and requested to be drawn out from the viewers which are selective in here and this being aware of, the makers are free from any commercial aspect of it. The premise guides the younger audience in their own language with high society issues and yet the stakes never seem to go lower which often does in such genre. And as much as the feature lures in the younger generation through its theme, its core concept lies on meddling with something that is at a certain point is for older generation too. It is short on technical aspects like background score and production and costume design, although is rich on the camera work which is beautiful in here. Dunham; the writer-director, is at its finest with her explicit writing skills and brilliant execution skills that connects frame to frame with the audience. Her performance isn't loud but subtle, whose impact does hit the viewers and moves them accordingly. Awareness of keeping the practicality involved in each sequences (for example, stuttering before speaking and multiple failed attempts to put a definite point on table), layered writing, three dimensional characters, pragmatic conversations and metaphorical cinematography are the high points of the feature that ups the ante of the game and helps it enter the major league. Tiny Furniture is bigger than it accounts for and doesn't serve all its cards up front on the table but allows you to work for it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

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Lena Dunham

Director

Lena Dunham

Aura

Laurie Simmons

Siri

Grace Dunham

Nadine

Rachel Howe

Candice

Merritt Wever

Frankie

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Chris Chang

Film Comment Magazine

an interpersonal chamber-piece that succeeds as well as it does thanks to the unabashed intimacy it has with its own diminutive subject matter. Call it a mumblecore mumblepiece.

Nov 13, 2013

Full Review

Tara Brady

Irish Times

Dunham's satirical intentions can't quite compensate for the pain of spending almost 100 heartless minutes in the company of irredeemably unlikeable characters.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 30, 2012

Full Review

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

It's best enjoyed, like Aura's life, as a work in progress, promisingly tangy and archly amusing.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 30, 2012

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

A refreshingly frank and unencumbered narrative, just as funny and charming as it is melancholy and moving.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 5, 2019

Full Review

Jamie Neish

HeyUGuys

Through Dunham's spot-on, methodical compositions, each and every interaction between characters, each sly glance and body movement represent the varying characters' personalities and attitudes more than dialogue ever could.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 14, 2018

Full Review

Lindy West

The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

Tiny Furniture is an observant portrait of those frustrating, entitled, complicated, unflattering moments when you suspect you could be everything but feel like nothing.

Aug 29, 2017

Full Review

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Synopsis

After graduating from film school, Aura (Lena Dunham) returns to New York to live with her photographer mother, Siri (Laurie Simmons), and her sister, Nadine (Grace Dunham), who has just finished high school. Aura is directionless and wonders where to go next in her career and her life. She takes a job in a restaurant and tries unsuccessfully to develop relationships with men, including Keith (David Call), a chef where she works, and cult Internet star Jed (Alex Karpovsky).

Director: Lena Dunham
Screenwriter: Lena Dunham
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Tiny Ponies
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 12, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $389.8K
Runtime: 1h 39m

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