'Cyrus'Review: 3/5
Don't be mislead by the headline. The Duplass brothers' raw, though ultimately genuine, study of the darker and more unassuming upper middle-class 'City of Angels' is delicately charmed, with an abnormal touch of gloom. It's peculiar trio of paranoid, anxiety-ridden Los Angelenos oscillate consistently between gentle confidence and humor-inducing self-deprecation. Each primary player has their own emotional baggage; from Cyrus' (Jonah Hill) borderline oedipal complex to John's (John C. Reilly) alarming emotive boldness, they each share a bizarre sense of realism shadowed by an all encompassing insecurity that fuels the film's most humorous moments, as well as the brutally honest departures into humanity.
Structured and shot adhering to the new 'mumblecore' vogue, the Duplass brothers are evidently trying to table their reliance on flat, faux-eccentric dialogue that serves no distinct purpose other than to add a sense of artificial authenticity to the 'mumblecore' avant-garde. In 'Cyrus,' it's clear that the directors have acknowledged their past flaws (if one can refer to them as such), and have centered their attention on a very simple story about a man vying to escape his loneliness. Many spectators can relate, I presume.
The film, with its overwhelmingly indie predisposition doesn't offer much in terms of aesthetic flavor; it's a bland palate of stale blues, greens, and greys. That's not to say the visual style doesn't work completely. Aside from the annoyingly self-reflexive camerawork (at times it seems cinematographer Jas Shelton is attempting to mimic the 'Bourne' aesthetic with unmotivated pop-zooms and deliberately unfocused establishing shots). Nonetheless the film aspires to be open and heartfelt, and, for the most part, it is.
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