City Baby (2013)

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Blistering performances.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I really enjoyed this film. Interestingly, I think for the same reasons some of the other reviewers here did not. The characters seemed all intentionally unlikable - yet they were interesting - at least to me. Also, it was not a heavily plotted film, but more of a slice of life. Personally, I enjoy watching films that are not so heavily plotted but are more like a small window into a world that we get to peek into for a little while. And here, form seems to follow function. In other words, the story just kind of meanders along as do the characters in the film. So, for me, the "structure" of the story - or rather lack there of - really suits the subject matter and theme of this film, which is a group of lost twenty somethings aimlessly drifting about their lives. I also feel that the director did a great job setting the mood and tone of the story - the music, the art direction, the lighting and camera work were all really cohesive and gave me a good feel of the world that these characters inhabit. I've never been to Portland, but the attitude felt a lot like my hometown. Everyone wanted to go to New York too - really just for the sake of going. If you left the small town to go to the big city, that was an accomplishment in itself. I get that from these characters here - but their real problem is that they have no real goals or any true intention to achieve them. I think the intention of the film is to cast a light on a lazy, aimless generation that expects everything for nothing and Cora Benesh's character and performance capture this attitude perfectly.

For the most part I agree with some of the others, just maybe not as harsh. The main criticism I have is that the movie looks a whole lot better than it is. Thirty years ago a film like this one would have been made with a super eight camera or even on home video, but today, because of the easy access to Canons and Red and Epic cameras, it's fairly easy for even the greenest of new filmmakers to make a movie that looks pretty good if only on the surface. Bottom line, there's way too much attention given here to composing a slick look and not enough to imagining a passionate story with convincing, memorable performances. The music helps you get through it.

It is really hard to like anyone in David Morgan's me generation debut film about absolutely nothing. With all the people dropping dead in Africa and Syria where do people come off making movies as meaningless as this one. The lead female part, played by a Portland model, can't carry a film, and the character of the stupid gay theater manager, played by City Baby producer Timothy Whitcomb, feels like someone dug up from the 1970's trying to be Nathan Lane. The camera work is competent, but it never rises above antenna television. Production design was okay too, but nothing to write home about. I love indie movies and watch a lot of them, but this one felt really out of touch. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what this is about.

As US Indies go, this one's cup is certainly more half empty than full. Sure, not a terrible first effort, but really nothing here you won't see much better in many a student film. The problems really begin with the lead actor, the very beautiful but completely underwhelming Cora Benesh. A performance so lame you have to wonder what the director was thinking in casting her. Are people in Portland really this mindless or is she just someone David Morgan managed to get within his meager budget. And then there's the meandering story without any substance whatsoever. It leaves you wondering what the point was in making the movie. I saw City Baby at Dances with Films in Los Angeles. It didn't catch much fire there either, but I guess it will need to screen at more established festivals before it finds its way or not.