Portland Public Library

Frownland, story + direction, Ronald Bronstein ; production, Marc Raybin

eng

videorecording

Frownland

461032586

story + direction, Ronald Bronstein ; production, Marc Raybin

107

A return to the rugged aesthetics of 1970s independent cinema, Frownland plumbs the life and neuroses of a young New Yorker and his failures to communicate. Devoid of plot, and relying largely on lead actor Dore Mann's array of tics, stutters, and mumbles, this grainy, do-it-yourself film is sure to divide audiences with a portrait of life that is by turns hopeless and comic. "[A] pitch-black character study of Keith Sontag, a neurotic, manipulative, stridently unlovable New Yorker whose pitiless roommate aptly describes him, to his face, as 'a burbling troll in his underwear.' With the most basic elements of human communication a struggle, Keith lurches his way through an uncaring city, attempting to aid a suicidal friend, evict his unctuous roommate, and simply attain some measure of self-respect."--Container

animation