Jason says: “Give the
latest wave of young independent filmmakers this: They seem to
recognize that they don’t yet have much life experience to mine for
movie plots, and the films they make show that awareness. It doesn’t
stop them from making things like TIGER TAIL IN BLUE that never really
advance its characters beyond being blank slate, but at least it means
that this particular example is not weighed down by a mistaken estimate
of its own significance.
“It focuses on a young married couple in the Chicago area. Melody
(Rebecca Spence) is a first-year high school teacher; Christopher
(Frank V. Ross) is a writer, which means he waits tables every night
and spends more time hanging out with the quiet restaurant’s pretty
bartender (Megan Mercier) than his wife. It is, as yet, unclear
whether their opposing schedules are doing more to put a strain on
their marriage or keeping a different sort of strain from building up.
“Frank V. Ross writes, directs, edits, and makes the unfortunate
misjudgment that the character he plays is the one that will capture
the audience’s interest. Christopher is kind of a self-centered little
twerp, the kind who gets upset enough to rant about thoroughly
innocuous things and could probably stand to be a lot more considerate
of his wife’s schedule, but he’s not enough of a jerk to rise to the
level of ‘a real piece of work’, and as such never really becomes
interesting. Meanwhile, the audience is seeing hints of a story around
Melody’s everyday life; the rookie teacher who doesn’t know if she can
handle the job or if it will even be around next year isn’t exactly a
new or innovative story, but at least it gives the viewer a hook (Ross,
like many writers, profoundly overestimates how much sympathy the broke
young writer waiting tables and engenders among non-writers), and that
viewer can at least see it affecting her.
“It speaks well of Rebecca Spence that Melody is able to get some hooks
into the viewer despite less screen time and fewer chances to define
herself in relation to people other than her husband. She does nice
work, though, showing how the long hours and responsibility she’s
shouldering tend to mute Melody’s innate cheerfulness and optimism
without ever really losing it. Ross isn’t quite her match as
Christopher, although he never hits a false note in the role, and even
if he may come off sour to the audience, there is some actual chemistry
on display between him and Spence. Megan Mercier clicks with him, just
enough.
“These characters may be in a thin story, but Ross does all right to
construct it out of believable, often interesting moments, and there
are very few scenes that just feel like marking time. Although the
soundtrack by John Medeski & Chris Speed is fairly nice, Ross and
cinematographer Mike Gibisser sometimes have trouble making things
look, often shooting from across the street and finding the exact wrong
angle to make an afternoon’s sledding seem as fast or dangerous as it’s
described as being. That scene is one of a number that emphasize how
Christopher and Melody have barely entered adulthood – there’s also how
his stories can only draw on childhood experiences and how she can be
hard to pick out in a classroom full of teenagers, and more – and it
makes for a well-articulated theme.
“It just happens to be a theme that Ross doesn’t actually do much
with. TIGER TAIL IN BLUE serves fine as a snapshot, and isn’t nearly
as dull as other movies about twenty-somethings trying to figure out
their lives. It could still use some sort of different focus, though,
whether that is on a different character or some sort of event that
serves as a more obvious and interesting turning point. 2.8 cats
“Seen 8 March 2014 in the Regent Theatre Underground (Gathr Previews,
digital)” |
