Some Days Are Better Than Others

Narrative Feature, Narrative Competition
D: Matt McCormick; with Carrie Brownstein, James Mercer, Renee Roman Nose, David Wodehouse

Featuring indie godheads Mercer (the Shins) and Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney), along with fine actress Nose, Some Days Are Better Than Others brings a Northwestern sensibility to the Slacker genre. As aspiring reality-show star and animal-shelter employee Katrina (Brownstein), temp worker and bohemian polemicist Eli (Mercer), and withdrawn thrift-store sorter Camille (Nose) drift through Portland and environs on their chosen quests, images of consumption and abandonment build up to an almost unbearable level; sadness takes the form of discarded things, projects, pets, and people – including their cremated remains. Director McCormick, known for his videos and visually driven shorts, imbues this somewhat despairing theme with a palette of arresting imagery and some gorgeously wrought scenes of the Oregon coast, making sure we realize there is beauty in all of those things.

Friday, March 19, 7:15pm, G-Tech

This article appears in March 19 • 2010.

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