August at Twenty-Two

Mumblecore is a subgenre that peaked in popularity in the mid-2010’s. August at Twenty-Two premiered in 2023. Though everything about the film suggests to me this movie was in production way longer than that. The issue with being late to the mumblecore party is that there’s already such an established pantheon of great mumblecore films. Even LGBTQ mumblecore films. And unfortunately for August at Twenty-Two, I don’t think it’s ever going to be listed as one of the greats in the mumblecore subgenre.

August at Twenty-Two is about messy millennial bisexual, Cal. I mean, assuming her age is 22 and given the film’s release in 2023, that actually makes her firmly Gen Z. Except everything about this whole movie is deeply entrenched in millennial culture. Cal is a recently graduated aspiring actress. At a party, Cal meets one of her best friends from childhood, Jacob. Cal has long fostered a crush on Jacob which reawakens the moment she meets him again. Unfortunately for Cal, Jacob has a girlfriend named Emily. But as Cal spends time with Emily, the two women grow incredibly close themselves. Close enough to talk about things like their mutual unrealized bisexuality, and the fact that Emily and Jacob are thinking about opening their relationship.

One of the reasons I think this movie is so deeply millennial is the dialogue. This dialogue genuinely made me uncomfortable. Because the speech patterns of these lead characters is upsettingly close to my own. Sometimes I see a movie and I say that I feel like I know these characters. For moments of August at Twenty-Two, I felt like I was these characters. Or at least, would have phrased things exactly the same way as them. The dialogue is a real highlight of the film. Mumblecore focuses on naturalistic dialogue and August at Twenty-Two absolutely nailed that. And it did so without too much filler or general boring dialogue that I often critique films that try their hand at naturalistic speech.

But then Cal would do something awful and I’d stop feeling like I was literally her. Not that I’m not awful myself, but it’s in a different way. I think a main deterrent to people (including myself) really enjoying August at Twenty-Two is how unpleasant the lead character is. Cal is staggeringly entitled. She’s selfish and self-involved. You know, like a 22 year old might be. But because it’s not that kind of movie, we don’t see her grow from this. She treats her best friend, Bobby so poorly. But because he’s the helpful gay friend in this film, that relationship is repaired with little effort on Cal’s part. The complicated web of relationships in August at Twenty-Two adds good drama and character work. But you’re left wondering how a person as unpleasant as Cal has so many people that want to kiss her.

The bisexuality content in the film comes late. It’s largely developing the platonic relationships between both Jacob and Emily with Cal. Which in its own way, makes it a very equal film. Yeah, Cal only kisses a woman once in the film and it’s near the end. But that’s true with her relationships with male characters as well. The film does largely end after Cal’s big, messy bisexual night out. Which again, is more or less a hallmark of mumblecore, but left me wanting more. At times, August at Twenty-Two feels like an extended pilot. And this is a good thing. I think these characters successfully filled a film’s running time. But it also makes the film feel incomplete and like there’s potentially more story to tell. And if that’s the case, it makes some of the film’s slower moments feel frustrating.

The issue with doing a mumblecore film in the 2020’s is that this subgenre is not only establish, it’s almost passe. August at Twenty-Two feels incredibly dated. It honestly works as a period piece of 2014 without a single change. August at Twenty-Two came too late in the mumblecore subgenre to be a classic. But even if it had a release ten years earlier, I doubt it would’ve been then either. The dialogue in the film is very good. But the story is too small and feels too unfinished for me to imagine this would ever be anyone’s favourite film or even, favourite mumblecore film.

Overall rating: 5.5/10

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