You Are Here

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Audience Member Hey film lovers, I have written a breakdown for this movie, which I'd like to share :) “You Are Here” is one of the best realistic American independent feature films I have ever seen. When I say realistic I mean the story and the events seem almost like it wasn’t written by anyone, characters and events develop gradually and normally with no exaggerations, as a matter of fact, it seems like a reality show. This might sound boring for some people, however this movie proves that every little small thing that happens in our life can be interesting and any one can have an interesting story about their life. It is an original realistic film. Unlike other films claiming to be realistic, where the viewer feels like he/she is being fooled by the filmmakers, this film presents the reality in a drastic way. It is important to pay attention to small details in this film to be able to see the beauty of it. The first time Director/ Writer (JEFF WINNER) has done a great job paying attention to details. The film is considered to be a Comedy/ Drama. It is Rated R and runs for 86 minutes long. It was made in 2000 and shot with a DV colored camera. In the break down of this film, I will introduce the characters and a short synopsis of the film then I will discuss the following: settings, characters, comparison with other films, editing and themes. The story evolves around four friends. Todd Peters stars as Moe, an artist who decides to quit his boring day job, but changes his mind because of a sudden promotion to assistant manager. Moe walks through a mind battle for accepting this unwanted position, and for all those years wasted on this job that doesn’t have any meaning to his interest in life. Friendship is an essential element in the film, which was represented by a group of other great actors like Ajay Naidu (OFFICE SPACE), plays Sanjay, as an inept co-worker. Caroline Hall, plays Sallie, as a waitress who Moe has a crush on, and Randall Jaynes plays Randall, as his rebelliously roommate. When a co-worker commits suicide, the group of four decides to get drunk as a solution to the depression they were filled with. Leading Moe to break out of his shell and finally becoming the artist he wanted to be, not the assistant manager, whose life choose for him to be. Crapping on the boss’s chair is the end of Moe’s battle of getting over this crappy job and opening a new page in his life as an artist. Larry Fessenden plays Palichuck, the alcoholic-controlling boss, who always has a handy bottle of liquor in his pocket. The film was shot in and around NYC’s East Village, the perfect place for such a story with all its complications and different characters. It was also shot in a middle class surrounding, which represent the normality of the characters. Comparing to other low budget films, The settings were wisely chosen according to budget and creativity. The characters evolve gradually with strong emotions, Which lead to dramatic changes in their personalities. Moe is a calm, ambitious, responsible and hard working person. His life style and day job has blinded his ambitions to be an artist. Moe feels like a big loser most of the time, which burst his anger at the end of the film. The Roommate Randall is the type who is usually misunderstood and considered to be a freak. He is a big complainer and a nosey person, however he’s a good friend. Sallie is the easy going type who has a crush on Moe. She is also one of the encouragers and the fans of Moe’s art. Sanjay is a peaceful, nice, respectful and friendly person. He is originally from India. He has a philosophy degree and a goal to be a university teacher, but doesn’t feel ready yet. Moe and him go through a big argument discussing the fact that they need to “go for it”, which leads them to think more about their problem. All the characters interact together and influence each other’s personalities. Although they all have different goals in life, they all share living in it. The reality of those characters and the actors’ ability to wear them made it easy for the viewer to relate to “The characters are just everyday people and maybe you know someone like them.” (www.imdb.com/title/tt0238743/usercomments). A good comparison would be with “Office Space”, a similar film genre; both films explored the day job environment and the modern life stress in a comedic style. However the budget difference is obvious in all aspects. “Office Space” was filmed with a high cost cameras and equipments, which appears in the quality of the picture. In comparison to “You are here” the low budget settings and filming equipments played an essential part in giving a feel of believable reality, almost like a reality show. The characters are also realistic and unexpected, unlike “Office Space” where the characters are extreme and stereotypical. In both films the characters have lots of similarities in their relationships. “Office Space” was made to be a big box office hit with its simple and funny story, however “You are here” was made from an artistic viewpoint with large doses of reality. Both films shared the same actor, Ajay Naidu, in an almost similar character, however he did a good job showing the slight differences in his characters. The fact that “You are here” was written, directed and edited by (Jeff Winner) helped complete the film as an original masterpiece, which reflects one man’s visions. Simple smooth visual transitions between scenes helped understand the story step by step with no confusions. Very few or no sound effects were added to sustain the realistic feel to the film. The sound track was appropriate for the film scenes and served as a Unifying Filmic Device for the overall film style “The sound track is great and really lends the movie through an emotional journey.” (www.imdb.com/title/tt0238743/usercomments). A considerably slow developing tempo was chosen for the film to satisfy the viewer, keep them interested and give more time for the characters to prove themselves. The film has successfully communicated with people and related to their problems, “ It’s like hanging out with your friends.” (www.amazon.com). “Great movie. Basically my life.” (www.imdb.com/title/tt0238743/usercomments). After grabbing the viewer’s attention and proving the believability of its characters, the film starts dropping it’s messages and philosophical values slowly along the way, and continually stimulating the viewer’s mind to think. When you dig closely in the movie one main philosophical theme is found, which implies; “Don’t let life do the driving, Life should be driven by you.” In other words, choose your own destiny. Lots of other sub messages can be found in between the script lines such as “Go for it.” “Don’t hesitate” and “be yourself”. It also engages some social and ethical aspects like the importance of good friendship. The filmmaking industry is very rich with great movies, however this movie can be considered a great example of real life movies in the history of filmmaking “ Finally a Real Life movie.” (www.imdb.com/title/tt0238743/usercomments). Having a low budget cost didn’t affect the film negatively instead, it provided an essential element to the film. The characters are the average people who can easily be related to. Comparing to “Office space” this movie is more artsy and original. The editing was done cheaply by Jeff Winner himself to complete his vision. Several philosophical, social and ethical messages are hidden in the context of the film waiting for the viewer to dig in. In my opinion this film is worth seeing for all the fun, drama, good acting and mind tickling. After watching the film I had to stop for few minutes thinking about my own life, which in my opinion declared the success of the film. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member A very terrible, cheap attempt to recreate "Office Space." Parts of this movie were quite realistic, but overall, it was extremely boring. The music was pretty good, though. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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