Review: Confusions of an Unmarried Couple

I must admit that over the first few moments of Confusions of an Unmarried Couple I was getting a strong whiff of it simply being a wannabe Clerks. There is the lead male character awakening in a state of funk before going about his routine, chapter dividing titlecards (here Polaroids) and a very basic static camera style in limited locations emphasizing verbose characters cleverly hashing words with dodgy acting ability. All of this has an implicit sense that there is an audience watching the performances of talky, talky, talky boy-girl sparring. The Butler Brothers can put Kevin Smith to shame in terms of frugal budgeting (Confusions cost a reported $500 to make, and is a Canadian indie production in the truest sense of the word: no government funding). But then a miraculous thing happened; their film rapidly rose out of this reviewers snap assumptions. The kind of a hybrid of faux documentary, fly-on-the-wall self-confession yields a satisfying result - amidst all the obvious artifice arises some pretty damning and hilarious truths on the human condition. It may be cheap looking, ugly-duckling and occasionally stilted, aesthetics-wise, but this dovetails nicely into the subject matter: The awkward post-break-up confrontation.

Dan (played by co-director Brett Butler) has been working up the nerve to confront his fiancee after they had a severe falling out. Crashing at his brothers (?) place and subsisting on a steady diet of beer he has been ticking off the calender dates and making a list of his stuff that he wants to reacquire from his ex (a short but diverse one consisting of his wedding ring, Pretty in Pink LP and Great Porn Tape #3 amongst other things). His brother seems to delight in filming Dan in his misery, and apparently has taken video-diaries of Dan and Lisa thoughts on each other at some point. These candid to-camera monologues are intercut throughout the story which consists of a single-afternoon encounter between the formerly engaged couple.

This incredibly simple set-up is staged in such a way that it feels in part like the tradition of Canadian mockumentary such as Fubar and Trailer Park Boys (and indeed Dan’s fashion sense could put him in either the Alberta or Nova Scotia locales of those two works, despite the film being anonymously set in Toronto). It only tips its hat once in a fourth wall break that this is the case. The bulk of the film plays out far more like a Richard Linklater or Neil LaBute expletive-laden evaluation of gender politics and personal hang-ups. The picture even has a nice suspense hook. It is always up in the air whether Dan is there to a) pick up his stuff. b) get back together c) break up for good (he walked out without a word on their initial severing) or d) simply just get another lay. Lisa (Naomi Johnson whose voice cracks in the same charming manner as Scarlet Johannson but is (sadly for the film) inconsistent in performance - her acting is terrible during the argument parts yet encaptivating in the confessional diaries) is no push-over here, calling Dan on his self-absorbed bullshit, even as she stews in her own insecure juices. Confusions of an Unmarried Couple focuses its evaluation not so much on the details of the break-up or who was cheating on whom and when and where (although much of these details do drop over the confrontation), but rather the hang-ups, motivations (the why) and social awkwardness of how the whole mess can move forward.

Certainly a picture to be watched with a significant other (the closing credits disclaimer aptly reads ‘Similarities with these characters to people real or fictional, is strictly coincidence…but don’t be too disturbed if you can relate to these characters’) because it will likely add a beautiful layer of meta to the proceedings. Each gender (in most cases) is bound to lay aspects of their partner over one of two conflicting parties and yay or nay evaluations of Dan and Lisa’s argument stratagems and sallying points. Few romantic comedies ever function as a such a concise litmus test in manner. Furthermore, for any couples considering a threesome, Confusions has the sharpest breakdown of the benefits and drawbacks of bringing a third person into the mix. I cannot think of a film since High Fidelitythat delightfully de-glamourizes the thin line between comfort and discomfort that exists in an ongoing non-marriage relationship; well at least one well past the courtship phase.

In the end, in a distinctly unromantic rom-com fashion, the 70 minutes or so spent with Dan and Lisa bickering, confessing, and emotionally jousting for their relationship and for the viewer is a refreshingly awarding experience which defies expectations in all the right ways. After Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies and Videotape confessionals, the lion-share of reality TV, heck the Uma Thurman/John Travolta cut-scene from Pulp Fiction and if you’ll indulge me even more of a stretch, the glut of recent ‘found-footage’ sci-fi and horror films, there is a temptation to declare this type of conscious video-gazing dead. But The Butler Brothers‘ brew (if Spike Lee can have Joints, these guys can have Brews, and besides, judging from the various bottles on display in the intertitle-cards, they have good taste in the lager department) makes a strong case for me to stop ignoring the growing mumblecore movement and dive in headfirst.

Note: Uber-indie Confusions of an Unmarried Couple is the closing film of the RealHeART International Film Festival in Toronto June 16-21, 2008.