“Mutual Appreciation” sounds like your typical indie. It’s about a young guy, a musician, who splits from home for New York City to form a new band and mine for musical gold. All the while he’s dealing with a new awkward relationship, unemployment and a mutual attraction between he and his friend’s girlfriend. Oh yeah, and it was shot on grainy, black and white film. Kinda get the feeling that we’ve been there and done that before, right? Sure, but director Andrew Bujalski and his amazing cast create such a unique and addicting experience that these 110 minutes go by in no time at all and the only thing you want when it’s all over is more.
Partially scripted and largely improvised, the cast of “Mutual Appreciation” brings such authenticity to the, dare I say, “quirky” relationships between these characters that you’ll no doubt recall frighteningly similar conversations between yourself and your friends. Authentic and hilarious. This film sparks with a natural comic rhythm. With films like these, you normally want to step into the screen and live with the characters, but you’ll be reminded so much of your own friends that when the movie is over, you’ll go find them and give them a great big hug.
