Customer Reviews

The Puffy Chair

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Duplass Brothers' "The Puffy Chair" requires some getting used to. The camerawork is amateur in quality, the acting seems mostly improvised and the story is simple.

It is about a man named Josh wants to purchase a La-Z-Boy recliner for his father as a birthday gift because it is similar to the one his father owned when he was a kid. After a small spat with his girlfriend Emily, he asks her to join him on a road trip to pick up the recliner. While initially planning to pay a short visit to his brother (Rhett), Rhett decides to tag along, adding to the tension between Josh and Emily.

After the expository information is out of the way, "The Puffy Chair," and the simplicity with which it is presented, becomes a thoroughly engrossing film. The recliner itself becomes something of an empty signifier (like the monolith in "2001" or the harmonium in "Punch-Drunk Love," objects that are filled the meaning(s) the viewer is willing to make out of it). To me, it represents (for Josh) a return to the simplicity of his youth, before a passion for music inevitably lead to being in a band that would break up, or before romance was doomed to the same fate. Throughout the film, the recliner makes Josh, a stable, likeable "dude" on the surface, feel elation, disappointment and anger. At times he is driven into a violent rage when the recliner is defaced, figuratively or literally.

Though some might find the subject matter or the approach tedious, the film's power comes from its minimal approach to filmmaking. Appearing more like a documentary than, say, a light version of Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage," the realism of this film, with its inattention to lighting, framing and sound, add to the tension it ultimately revels in. I definitely recommend this film to anyone interested in the storytelling ability that can be found in low-budget cinema.

I sat down to watch THE PUFFY CHAIR, knowing it would be a road flick and expecting a comedy. The preview I read for it sounded like a comedy: A young man takes his high maintenance girlfriend and nature loving brother on a trip to deliver a birthday gift. Road trip plus odd ball characters in my mind usually equals comedy. Maybe it's because I had just seen LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE which uses a similar formula that I expected a few laughs. It's not a comedy, but I wasn't disappointed because it is compelling.

The film is the story of a road trip and like all road trip films, at least those that are good, self discovery happens along the way. The film was written and directed by brothers Mark and Jay Duplass and Mark stars in the film as Josh. We learn at the beginning that Josh dreams of a musical career but comes to the realization that while a career in music is not impossible, it is unlikely he will ever be a performer. His girlfriend Emily (Kathryn Aselton) doesn't understand his predicament. She has more pressing concerns on her mind: the future of their relationship. Josh explains that he needs to get away and is leaving to deliver his father's birthday gift: a replica of a Lazy-boy chair his father once owned. He searched E-bay and found an obscure furniture maker in North Carolina who has the item and plans on leaving the next day, alone. Reluctantly he agrees to take Emily and along the way the two visit his brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins), an extreme New Ageish nature loving who decides to join them. Their experiences along the way make up the core of the film and saying much more would reveal the plot twists.

THE PUFFY CHAIR maintained my interest but when it was over, my initial reaction to the characters in the film was mixed at best. For one thing, I had a difficult time warming up to Josh and his travails. All I could think was that he was approaching thirty, grow up already. He was ill-tempered in a self absorbed way, dishonest, and rather stuck on himself. Yet Josh as a character maintained my interest which only happens with good writing and acting. Emily had my sympathy throughout the film. Of course other reviewers will probably have the opposite reaction to mine. I know a few people who saw it agreed with me and others vehemently disagreed. Again this only happens when a story is compelling. Rhett was a bit too much of a stereotype to me: Birkenstock and earth loving crunchy in an almost severe way, but he does add some interesting aspects to the film.

I was interested in the film and was drawn into its world which alone is makes it a good film but I'll have to admit, I really enjoyed the bonus feature of the DVD. The two brothers do a mock interview where they explain the concepts behind the film. While the finished product is not perfect, it is well done and a credit to the brothers who produced their first full length film. The project was a labor of love and my guess is that young film makers will find the two inspiring. My guess is that the Duplass brothers will make an impact on the film scene, most likely the independent film scene in the years to come.

I don't want to oversell the charms of "The Puffy Chair," which some might label amateurish due to its modest scope and limited budget, but I actually found this little relationship picture to be supremely well done. Made with heart, if not a lot of money, "The Puffy Chair" exemplifies what you can do with a solid, finely nuanced script. Simple, lovely, observant and sometimes hysterical--I identified, in a surprising way, with many of the elements of this film. This sleeper had me from the start and kept me enchanted throughout.

Written and directed by Mark and Jay Duplass (respectively), their first feature film also stars brother Mark as its central character Josh. Josh is on a quest to pick up a recliner that he purchased on Ebay. That's it, that's the whole plot. Along for the ride is his girlfriend Emily (Kathryn Aselton) with whom he shares a playful, but sometimes volatile, relationship. Having been together for some time, they are at that stage in their relationship where they feel the pressure of making real commitments. Picking up his brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins) adds a dynamic to the trip that is unexpected. Rhett is a simple soul at peace with the world, which contrasts nicely with the overthinking Josh. Idealizing the chair as a memory and connection to the past, to simpler times, they then plan to take it to their parent's house as a gift. (They had a chair just like it growing up.)

Along the way, they share some good times and some misadventures--almost every one of which I identified with! One particularly amusing (but very real) bit involves Josh paying for a motel room as a single and then trying to get all three of them in. It is, at once, utterly preposterous and absolutely believable. Other tribulations include the chair being not quite what they had in mind and a whirlwind romance for Rhett. All of these small moments provide us with tremendous character insight--but more, within the film's trio of characters, they reveal aspects about one another that may change relationships forever. In slight, and refreshingly subtle ways, you see as perceptions are changed and small observances shift the character interactions.

All three of the leads lend great credibility to their roles. In an almost improvisational style, the cadence of real speech is perfect (at least this represents how people I know talk)! The relationships are believable, especially the central romance as well as the brotherly link. I admired how much this little film could accomplish and how astute its observations are about how people communicate. Of course, everyone learns a little something about themselves--and find out that it isn't a chair that connects them at all. I recommend this film, seriously, and hope it means as much to you as it did to me. KGHarris, 02/07.

When I saw this film I got a little seasick from the hand held camera, and I thought it was a little light diversion. But I found that the characters stayed with me and I kept thinking about it. And months later it is still with me. My son recently asked me if I thought it would work to rent a motel room for 2 and sneak in another person and I just started laughing, and I ordered the DVD for him. It turns out the characters are still with me, and I am extremely fond of this movie.

The Puffy Chair is the kind of movie that loose usage of the term "Indie film" in recent years is all but killing off. A truly independent film, made on a budget of $15,000 (compare to $8 million for Little Miss Sunshine and even $400,000 for Napoleon Dynamite) with no recognizable actors. Without costly equipment and well-known names involved, The Puffy Chair focuses entirely on the story and the acting. The result is amazing. Every frame feels like a slice of painful reality.

The amazing part is that there's so much comedy involved as well. Stars Mark Duplass, Katie Aselton, and Rhett Wilkins manage to play some heavy material without weighing the film down with drama. After seeing this film, I can't imagine that the three of them will stay unknown for long.

I really don't want to go into the plot of the film at all, because this film seems like it would be much more enjoyable going in wondering what will happen. Throughout the film metaphors are thrown at the audience that are subtle enough not to be noticed until the film is over. And really, if they weren't noticed at all, the film still seems complete. Basically, it's the kind of film you think about afterwards and realize how much more to it there was than you originally thought.

The DVD is one of the most complete DVD presentations I've seen in a while. The special features include a self-filmed interview with the Duplass brothers, deleted scenes and outtakes form the film, 3 short films they made (all 3 with Mark Duplass starring, 2 with Katie Aselton), a director commentary track, and then 4 short vlogs showing them promoting their movie in various ways.

The whole film and DVD presentation show just how much passion goes into making a successful independent film. I wish I would have seen this movie in the theatre, but now that it's on DVD I will recommend it to everyone. Go buy it, rent it, or borrow it from one of your friends. If you're here on Amazon looking at this review, then you at least have some interest in the film, I promise it's worth your 85 minutes.

And Duplass brothers, if you're reading, give me an audition please.

Beyond the work of Andrew Bujalski ("Funny Ha Ha", "Mutual Appreciation")I've been disappointed with a lot of the Mumblecore films I've seen. Whereas Bujalski's films utilize tight scripts, interesting cinematography, careful dialogue and interesting characters studies, it seems that many of his contemporaries rely too heavily on the shaky handheld and quirky actors to make their films and forget about the rest.

"The Puffy Chair" was a welcome surprise & a reminder of what a good Mumblecore film can be. The actors are perfect for their roles, the plot is well-paced & the director drags you through the gambit of emotions (the film is laugh-out-loud funny in parts, downright depressing in others & everything else in between). It was also the first non-cop out ending I've seen in a narrative film in quite a while.

Highly recommended.

The Puffy Chair is a fine addition to a growing body of films that abandon the polish of big studio productions, but replace it with a raw honesty that is rarely seen in the cinema. Sometimes called "mumblecore" films, the most distinctive feature of the movement is the emphasis on realistic dialogue with all its awkward pauses and absurd moments. The silly things lovers say to each other to be endearing, that are almost embarrassing to observe as an outsider, are on full display here. The kind of unfiltered revelations that are often employed by documentarians to give an outsider look on a peculiar way of life, are depicted here as not at all peculiar but as characteristic of how most of us do in fact for the most part interact with one another, especially when stress levels rise. This is combined with a documentary style of videography -- that in this film amounts to a frequent use of zooming and autofocus, that could seem amateurish but is so consistent it begins to resemble a deliberate style and, for me, made the intimacy of the film more plausible. The general approach is similar to that taken in the sitcom "The Office," which can be a bit frustrating at first but adds to the distinctive feel of the show that makes its style of humor possible. It is similar in The Puffy Chair: after a while it really comes to feel like this is not a film but a document -- one that the characters would be embarrassed to show, but still a document.

Josh finds and purchases a recliner online, just like the one his father loved in their childhood home. His plan is to make a road trip home, and pick it up on the way in time to deliver it for his father's birthday. He is reluctant to bring along his girlfriend Emily, though his reasons for this are not immediately apparent. Eventually, he relents, and along the way they pick up an estranged brother, Rhett, who picks up on a local when they get stuck waiting for the chair to be repaired. The film can be quite funny, but the prevailing mood is one of awkwardness -- the kind of awkwardness that comes from not knowing what to say to someone who is supposed to be close, because the romantic notions that underlie most films and stories don't really sustain or hold water. That, in the end, is really what the film is about: the search for something stable, the search for something that can sustain a belief in the possibility of friendship and love being more than just what we do to avoid the awkwardness of separation. Josh hopes to find something like this at home, to learn something from his parents, to find some of the old connection to his brother, to see whether there is something that he can be for Emily that matches her dreams of having babies and growing old together. At the backdrop of Josh's worries, apart from his general anxiety about being "locked down" -- and this is part of what makes the film as insightful a depiction of contemporary romance -- is his own insecurity about a future, about his own goals and plans, and about his own financial security. When Josh asks his father how he knew it was right with his mother, the answer is revealing. They went to a wedding between two people who had no future, who had no clear vision, and, the subtext is clear, who lacked the ambition to secure a financial future for themselves, and, his father and mother thought: we're more put together than they are, we ought to get married. Nothing magical, really, is behind the dream to live happily ever after behind a picket fence except the commitment to make it work and the financial wherewithal to make it happen.

This is a promising first film, by a team of brothers (Jay and Mark Duplass) who have a bright future. Their follow-up film -- Baghead -- was also a lot of fun, a mumblecore horror that is very funny and even has a few scary moments.

We view this film as a scathing indictment of EBay practices... Ir is enough to make you sick, the way ordinary people get ripped off and you turn on your computer, go online, log on, and see a picture of a beautifully restored La Z Boy, and then when you get the item in question, well, -- no spoilers here-- it is radically different than the item in the photo.

How much longer can a system built on deceit triumph in a world built on capital? Another reading of this film would reinscribe its Marxist ideology by pointing to the scene when Josh, Rhett and Emily pull up to the motel, and cheap Josh decides he will cheat the motel's management by booking the room at the lower one-person rate and sneaking in his brother and his girlfriend later. The motel manager, a weary, seen-it-all Gloria Grahame type, is wise to his tricks and effectively prevents him from parking close enough to the cabin to smuggle them in effectively. Instead he embarks on an impromptu plan that depends on Emily putting on his pants and hoodie, and acting butch, carrying in the suitcases, etc. The scene is played for laughs, most of them at Josh's expense. When he takes off his pants behind the wheel, for example, he reveals the tightest and most raggedyass pair of jockey shorts this side of Borat--and later makes a hundred yard underwear rush to the motel room under cover of darkness. All to save ten dollars.

In a world where two brothers and the woman who loves one of them are forced to humiliate themselves by driving thousands of miles from New Jersey to Atlanta, in order to deliver a chair to their dad, EBay practices come under scrutiny a la the best 60 minutes investigate journalism. Michael Moore, eat your heart out.

All I can say is that I first saw this film in 2005, and still have the promo button they handed out pinned on my pants. In fact, I am wearing those pants right now. My Puffy Chair promo button is right here on my pants pocket. I tell people about it all the time. At shows, concerts, coffee shops, parties...

Anytime someone asks about it.

The Puffy Chair has been in my Netflix waiting list for a year. It's inspirational to see such a great story borne out of so little money. It's also great to see an Indie film get the distribution it deserves. This is what film making is about. This is a great movie.

To be fair, it's not the best movie I've ever seen or anything, but it's damn good, and definitely worth buying.

The Puffy Chair is a fine addition to a growing body of films that abandon the polish of big studio productions, but replace it with a raw honesty that is rarely seen in the cinema. Sometimes called "mumblecore" films, the most distinctive feature of the movement is the emphasis on realistic dialogue with all its awkward pauses and absurd moments. The silly things lovers say to each other to be endearing, that are almost embarrassing to observe as an outsider, are on full display here. The kind of unfiltered revelations that are often employed by documentarians to give an outsider look on a peculiar way of life, are depicted here as not at all peculiar but as characteristic of how most of us do in fact for the most part interact with one another, especially when stress levels rise. This is combined with a documentary style of videography -- that in this film amounts to a frequent use of zooming and autofocus, that could seem amateurish but is so consistent it begins to resemble a deliberate style and, for me, made the intimacy of the film more plausible. The general approach is similar to that taken in the sitcom "The Office," which can be a bit frustrating at first but adds to the distinctive feel of the show that makes its style of humor possible. It is similar in The Puffy Chair: after a while it really comes to feel like this is not a film but a document -- one that the characters would be embarrassed to show, but still a document.

Josh finds and purchases a recliner online, just like the one his father loved in their childhood home. His plan is to make a road trip home, and pick it up on the way in time to deliver it for his father's birthday. He is reluctant to bring along his girlfriend Emily, though his reasons for this are not immediately apparent. Eventually, he relents, and along the way they pick up an estranged brother, Rhett, who picks up on a local when they get stuck waiting for the chair to be repaired. The film can be quite funny, but the prevailing mood is one of awkwardness -- the kind of awkwardness that comes from not knowing what to say to someone who is supposed to be close, because the romantic notions that underlie most films and stories don't really sustain or hold water. That, in the end, is really what the film is about: the search for something stable, the search for something that can sustain a belief in the possibility of friendship and love being more than just what we do to avoid the awkwardness of separation. Josh hopes to find something like this at home, to learn something from his parents, to find some of the old connection to his brother, to see whether there is something that he can be for Emily that matches her dreams of having babies and growing old together. At the backdrop of Josh's worries, apart from his general anxiety about being "locked down" -- and this is part of what makes the film as insightful a depiction of contemporary romance -- is his own insecurity about a future, about his own goals and plans, and about his own financial security. When Josh asks his father how he knew it was right with his mother, the answer is revealing. They went to a wedding between two people who had no future, who had no clear vision, and, the subtext is clear, who lacked the ambition to secure a financial future for themselves, and, his father and mother thought: we're more put together than they are, we ought to get married. Nothing magical, really, is behind the dream to live happily ever after behind a picket fence except the commitment to make it work and the financial wherewithal to make it happen.

This is a promising first film, by a team of brothers (Jay and Mark Duplass) who have a bright future. Their follow-up film -- Baghead -- is not yet released in theaters, but played at Sundance in January 2008, and is both scary and hilarious. Watch this one first, and then watch out for Baghead when it plays at a theater or on a college campus near you.