I like Lena Dunham. I like her television series on HBO, Girls. And I like pretty much all things she creates.
Tiny Furniture (2010)
A film by Lena Dunham
Aura (Lena Dunham) is a recent college graduate from a university in Ohio and comes home to live in Tribeca with her mother Siri (Laurie Simmons), a successful photographer and younger sister Nadine (Grace Dunham) who's looking for a good college; as she figures out what she's going to do with her life.
Aura (Lena Dunham) is a recent college graduate from a university in Ohio and comes home to live in Tribeca with her mother Siri (Laurie Simmons), a successful photographer and younger sister Nadine (Grace Dunham) who's looking for a good college; as she figures out what she's going to do with her life.
Aura is not exactly the character you will completely love nor totally hate. She has likable qualities and bad habits. She is a slacker, which I think is pretty normal, especially for a person her age. She cannot care less about her physical appearance. She is not afraid to try things out. She is real. Aura, pretty much, is a perfect representation of a character in between the post-graduate and pre-real world crisis. But way funnier.
I am currently going through this period. Hoping to get some ideas, motivation or any resolution, I decided to see this film. Unconsciously, I learned to love Aura. Well, because I can definitely relate to the character. I understand every inch of the slacker, confused and unmotivated side of her. Though I never got the answer I was hoping to get, the movie shed some light on my semi-soul searching phase. With that being said, I like to share a favorite scene.
*SPOILER ALERT* The film openly-ended with Aura and mom Siri in the dark lying in bed. Siri asked Aura to move the alarm clock farther because the ticking sound was disturbing her sleeping. So, Aura took the clock outside the room. Fade to black. Credits roll. And it was simply awakening.
Aura clearly needs time to figure out what she wants to do. And what better symbolism to use for time than time (by that, I meant the alarm clock) itself. Siri asking Aura to move away the alarm clock is like telling her to not worry about time and rush things. Because yes, not all of us have it all figured out even after college. The realism of the stages of undermining yourself; forcing yourself to figure out what to do; and simply getting by another day. The narrative is a little flat but it perfectly mirrored the lives of (some) just-got-out-of-college people. I loved Dunham's simple and smart humor and the few moments of poignancy.
Tiny Furniture won the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards best-narrative feature (thanks, google!), a genuinely much deserved award for a well-written screenplay.
I'm really mature but every time I come in to your room, I wanna sleep in your bed.
I'd like to put more quotes in there that do not involve sleeping or neediness but I can't. Instead, here are some of the favorite lines in Tiny Furniture on ticketforone.
