The Mend
Director: John Magary
Year Released: 2014
Rating: 1.0
A "website designer"/bum (Josh Lucas) moves into the apartment of his brother (Stephen Plunkett), who comes back (unexpectedly) from a trip to Canada that ends badly - together, they wander around NYC, talk, drink, eat and look lost. Most likely inspired by the films of John Cassavetes - grown men behaving badly - except without Cassavetes' exception insight into issues with masculinity and power (and skill with actors): this is shapeless and unfocused, drifting to its non-conclusion without revealing much about its two leads who, despite taking different paths in life, both end up in an emotional dead zone. I'm not opposed to self-indulgence granted that self-indulgence leads somewhere: by the end of this, neither Plunkett nor Lucas' pathetic lumps want to go anywhere (so keep drinking!).
