Zach Flanary’s gritty microbudget indie Gifts of Disposition drops the viewer into the rough life of George (Zach Flanary), a heroin addict who makes some coin hustling chess games. He’s befriended by Vivienne (Ragan Flanary), a 12-year old who lives in the section 8 housing near where George sleeps outside. Vivienne has aspirations of becoming an actress.
While Vivienne busies herself with school and auditions, George prowls the streets with his associate Jimmy (Cody McBride), running his game to make enough cash to stay high and avoid people he’s pissed off. He winds up in several scuffles due to his charming interpersonal skillset, and the angry people he has swindled.
When Vivienne asks George for help preparing for a screen test, he involves her in sketchy scenarios to give her experience and test her readiness. She is seeking structure and hope for the future in an insane world. With George’s help, she impresses a casting director at an audition, and it looks like things are going to move in a better direction for her. We are concerned for her, but she proves that she can stand up to the challenges of her world, and has a good chance of getting out.
The film is chaotic. A great deal of screen time is focused on characters either being agitated with each other or engaging in pointless, pedantic conversation. This is intentional, according to Flanary, who wants the film to be “… deeply rooted in the raw and unscripted moments in life, inspired by the principles of Cinéma vérité.” This is either artistic genius or dull filmmaking, depending on your tolerance for the low signal-to-noise ratio of narrative progress. The production is reminiscent of films like Tangerine and The Florida Project (both directed by Sean Baker).
” … 12-year old Vivienne befriends a heroin addict named George. “
The real life relationship between Ragan Flanary and Zach Flanary is not documented, but one suspects they are daughter and father. Ragan is a powerhouse, and not just for a teenager. She has natural screen presence that actors many times her age would kill for.
The cinematography is dark and erratic, sometimes shaky, with the action often obscured, but that contributes to the overall grit of the squalid world these characters inhabit. The sound is uneven, sometimes too loud and other times muffled, but the incidental music and sound effects (by a composer who goes by the name Pineapple Nightmare) are both excellent. The film also features several solid punk songs that fit the mood.
Even at just 78 minutes runtime, the film still feels too long. Establishing the seedy environment comes fast. We get it in just a few minutes. There are too many lingering shots of characters being instead of doing. This might have worked better as a 30 minute short.
Zach Flanary seems to have a Clerks-like naiveté about artistic expression versus wasted motion, and again, the beauty (or not) will be largely in the eye of the beholder. The film is more about the characters’ relationship than anything they are doing or saying. It worked for Kevin Smith, so there must be something there.
Learn more at the official Gifts of Disposition website.
"…deeply rooted in the raw and unscripted moments in life"
