A week of blind dates
December 5, 2010 12:33 PM Subscribe
Short Film: A New Flavor -- Sometimes you need a best friend to take the ice cream away and make sure you don't give up on love. (mildly NSFW.)
Giving it a 7.5/10. The acting quality was good, but parts of the writing felt so rote. There were also a couple noticeable/awkward cuts and the purse drop felt contrived.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 1:24 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 1:24 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well, at least Lifetime is trying out some different plot turns.
posted by koeselitz at 1:26 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by koeselitz at 1:26 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
the purse drop felt contrived
A contrivance of the character, I think, rather than of the director.
Well, obviously, the whole thing is sortof a contrivance of the director, but you probably get my drift.
posted by namespan at 1:30 PM on December 5, 2010
A contrivance of the character, I think, rather than of the director.
Well, obviously, the whole thing is sortof a contrivance of the director, but you probably get my drift.
posted by namespan at 1:30 PM on December 5, 2010
Well, at least Lifetime is trying out some different plot turns.
There was a plot? There were turns?
Someone needs to tell this filmmaker that stories need conflict. It took 8 minutes to tell 15 seconds of story.
posted by dobbs at 2:00 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
There was a plot? There were turns?
Someone needs to tell this filmmaker that stories need conflict. It took 8 minutes to tell 15 seconds of story.
posted by dobbs at 2:00 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Did the story come across as poorly-executed wish-fulfillment to anybody else? I don't mean to snark - the acting was allright and the filming wasn't bad at all, it's just... the whole straight girl "swearing off men" and turning to her hot attractive and available bestie is a little hard to believe. At least among gay men I know, it's a popular fantasy (and very uncommon reality).
posted by Zephyrial at 2:13 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Zephyrial at 2:13 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
Just realized that "hot attractive" is redundant. Oops.
posted by Zephyrial at 2:21 PM on December 5, 2010
posted by Zephyrial at 2:21 PM on December 5, 2010
As someone who has given up on love, stop taking my F-ing ice cream.
posted by Menthol at 4:18 PM on December 5, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Menthol at 4:18 PM on December 5, 2010 [4 favorites]
So, her friend is wonderfully manipulative and cunning. The friend gets rejected when she touches the protagonists arm, so the friend constructs a series of dates, one worst than the next (except the cute Asian girl, what was wrong with her? Just that she was Asian?), until the last one who was able to create doubt as to the protagonist's straightness. However, due to the friend, the last date rejects the protagonist. Afterwards, the friend sets up a date with the two of them and successfully gets a kiss.
All that we need is a different soundtrack.
posted by Knigel at 4:34 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
All that we need is a different soundtrack.
posted by Knigel at 4:34 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Zephyrial: “I don't mean to snark - the acting was allright and the filming wasn't bad at all, it's just... the whole straight girl ‘swearing off men’ and turning to her hot attractive and available bestie is a little hard to believe. At least among gay men I know, it's a popular fantasy (and very uncommon reality).”
Yeah, actually, to be honest, that seemed the most shocking thing about it. I think this is a major difference between the gay male and lesbian subcultures; while that's seen as a relatively innocuous and somewhat common fantasy to many gay males, to most of the lesbians I know it's downright obnoxious. This probably stems from the fact that being bi/curious is totally socially acceptable (and sometimes exploitatively so) for women, but not so much for men.
Maybe it's just me, and this could probably do with some actual lesbian perspective, but tentatively I'll just say that I have a strong feeling most of the lesbians I know would find this whole thing quite annoying. Here are a few things I have a feeling lesbians might not like about this short film:
* "Guys are jerks" is not really a reason to become a lesbian. Sure, fine, try it out, that's good; but lesbianism isn't just a fallback position, and you should be prepared for the fact that women have their own little issues too.
* Having nice feelings about and kissing a woman – having sex with and dating a woman – these are two completely different things. And it's fine that you find this whole thing wonderfully exciting to explore, but please keep in mind that there's still a 90% chance that you are straight. Sorry.
* Most of all, this is not how healthy, normal people explore their sexualities and consider options. Maybe I'm just not being imaginative, but let's please be practical; if you're actually bisexual, you figure that out by exploring fantasies on your own for a while, doing some soul-searching, thinking about your sexual proclivities, and generally just contemplating the thing for a while. That's a necessary step. You do not just go on dates with women and see if there are "sparks."
Again, I'd be happy if an actual lesbian illuminated this a little more (it's not exactly a bisexual guy's sphere of expertise) but it seems to me there are concrete reasons why most lesbians are a bit put off by the vast majority of women who are just absent-mindedly "checking out" lesbianism. The simple reality is that there's a high probability that such women are just going to figure out they're not really into women after all, what little sex there is will be awful, and they'll go running back to guys.
Also, I have to say that the person I liked most in this little film was the last blind date she had, the nice, interesting woman who high-tailed it out of there when she figured out that the girl was just "checking it out." I actually started to think that Knigel's theory was correct at that point; everything that we see the friend do in this video from the condescending attitude with the barista on was kind of awful, and the dismissive way she talked about the last blind date – "I should have warned you, she can be a bit dramatic" – was downright odious. Dramatic? Geez, woman. You didn't tell her that she was going on a date with a straight girl, and you say she's dramatic? She did exactly the right thing, walking off like that. And she was right; who wants to go on a date with somebody who's "shopping around"?
posted by koeselitz at 5:37 PM on December 5, 2010 [4 favorites]
Yeah, actually, to be honest, that seemed the most shocking thing about it. I think this is a major difference between the gay male and lesbian subcultures; while that's seen as a relatively innocuous and somewhat common fantasy to many gay males, to most of the lesbians I know it's downright obnoxious. This probably stems from the fact that being bi/curious is totally socially acceptable (and sometimes exploitatively so) for women, but not so much for men.
Maybe it's just me, and this could probably do with some actual lesbian perspective, but tentatively I'll just say that I have a strong feeling most of the lesbians I know would find this whole thing quite annoying. Here are a few things I have a feeling lesbians might not like about this short film:
* "Guys are jerks" is not really a reason to become a lesbian. Sure, fine, try it out, that's good; but lesbianism isn't just a fallback position, and you should be prepared for the fact that women have their own little issues too.
* Having nice feelings about and kissing a woman – having sex with and dating a woman – these are two completely different things. And it's fine that you find this whole thing wonderfully exciting to explore, but please keep in mind that there's still a 90% chance that you are straight. Sorry.
* Most of all, this is not how healthy, normal people explore their sexualities and consider options. Maybe I'm just not being imaginative, but let's please be practical; if you're actually bisexual, you figure that out by exploring fantasies on your own for a while, doing some soul-searching, thinking about your sexual proclivities, and generally just contemplating the thing for a while. That's a necessary step. You do not just go on dates with women and see if there are "sparks."
Again, I'd be happy if an actual lesbian illuminated this a little more (it's not exactly a bisexual guy's sphere of expertise) but it seems to me there are concrete reasons why most lesbians are a bit put off by the vast majority of women who are just absent-mindedly "checking out" lesbianism. The simple reality is that there's a high probability that such women are just going to figure out they're not really into women after all, what little sex there is will be awful, and they'll go running back to guys.
Also, I have to say that the person I liked most in this little film was the last blind date she had, the nice, interesting woman who high-tailed it out of there when she figured out that the girl was just "checking it out." I actually started to think that Knigel's theory was correct at that point; everything that we see the friend do in this video from the condescending attitude with the barista on was kind of awful, and the dismissive way she talked about the last blind date – "I should have warned you, she can be a bit dramatic" – was downright odious. Dramatic? Geez, woman. You didn't tell her that she was going on a date with a straight girl, and you say she's dramatic? She did exactly the right thing, walking off like that. And she was right; who wants to go on a date with somebody who's "shopping around"?
posted by koeselitz at 5:37 PM on December 5, 2010 [4 favorites]
Anyone who liked this movie should check out Kissing Jessica Stein. It's the same thing except funny and with good acting, direction, and writing.
posted by dobbs at 6:02 PM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by dobbs at 6:02 PM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
mildly NSFW
I am disappointed to say that I disagree.
posted by grouse at 10:09 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
I am disappointed to say that I disagree.
posted by grouse at 10:09 PM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
I don't understand what we learned here. Women can be manipulative "Nice Guy" friends too? Lesbians who don't like to be "tried out" are "dramatic"?
posted by Anonymous at 11:10 PM on December 5, 2010
posted by Anonymous at 11:10 PM on December 5, 2010
except the cute Asian girl, what was wrong with her? Just that she was Asian?
I think that was the point the music was trying to convey with the gong and psuedo-Asian harp. Though they really missed an opportunity to use the riff from "Kung Fu Fighting."
posted by speicus at 10:48 AM on December 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
I think that was the point the music was trying to convey with the gong and psuedo-Asian harp. Though they really missed an opportunity to use the riff from "Kung Fu Fighting."
posted by speicus at 10:48 AM on December 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
Anyone else get the feeling the main character just broke up with Tommy Wisseau? I don't know where to start with how bad this was.
posted by es_de_bah at 2:02 PM on December 6, 2010
posted by es_de_bah at 2:02 PM on December 6, 2010
Beautifully put, koeselitz. I felt a little nauseous when I finished this. This sort of shit is why most of the lesbians I've known in my life think bisexual women like me are trouble--they think we're just playing around, trying out a new flavor, as it were, but we don't have to pay the social price of being a lesbian, and we'll lose all interest as soon as a cute guy shows up.
posted by WorkingMyWayHome at 7:38 PM on December 6, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by WorkingMyWayHome at 7:38 PM on December 6, 2010 [3 favorites]
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