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Beeswax
With all the think pieces about the supposed influence of mumblecore—a series of DIY indies that typically chronicle romantic anxiety among twentysomethings—it’s easy to forget that the movement’s figurehead actually makes terrific movies. In Funny Ha Ha (2002) and Mutual Appreciation (2005), Bujalski created portraits of postgraduate uncertainty that felt utterly convincing in their aimlessness. In Bujalski’s universe, conversations don’t flow easily. Relationships and histories reveal themselves gradually. His characters always say too little or too much.
Although it’s still concerned with awkward hookups and hangovers, Beeswax represents something of an evolution in the Bujalski universe. This crew is a little older (and in Austin), and legal and financial matters have intruded on their dreams of personal satisfaction. The central dynamic concerns two sisters who live together (real-life twins Tilly and Maggie Hatcher)—one who fears being sued over the vintage clothing boutique she owns with an increasingly distant friend, the other weighing a job offer that involves relocation to Nairobi. Still clearly an idealist in some sense, Bujalski has a taste for whimsy that allows the movie to go down smoothly, but the air of tentativeness feels more ominous this time. His strategy of building narratives out of desultory incidents is genuinely radical—he dissects his characters’ most intimate frustrations without ever resorting to histrionics or seeming to intrude.
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