Who knew that the drummer of sublimely underrated indie rockers Phantom Planet would become one of the coolest kids in film? If you look at his lineage, it may have been obvious (he is a Coppola kid, after all), but Jason Schwartzman has steadily risen from Rushmore to become one of the great enigmas working on screen today. He’s that kid you knew in high school who you let copy your test in calculus because you thought he could get you into Friday’s party or that wet blanket townie who snuck into an art school party that could talk about one or two Tom Waits albums before he excused himself to bum a smoke from every other person in the room. He’s brash, sharp and simultaneously everything you love and hate. Perhaps this is sounding a bit too much like Schwartzman now – quite bizarre, slightly obnoxious, almost pretentious and a lot like his new film 7 Chinese Brothers.
7 Chinese Brothers, the latest film from veteran Austin filmmaker Bob Byington, follows the misadventures of Larry (Jason Schwartzman), an apathetic prankster in between employment at Buca di Beppo and a local oil lube place. He balances his social time between his French bulldog Arrow (Schwartmen’s own dog Arrow), his elderly grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) and his best friend Major Norwood (TV on the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe). Though he finds himself enjoying his new job, he struggles to find love and meaning in life through his cynical life lenses.
Who knew that the drummer of sublimely underrated indie rockers Phantom Planet would become one of the coolest kids in film?
It’s a slacker comedy that nods to fellow Texan filmmakers Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater – a character study of an amiable prick more interested in delivering absurd humor than social normalities. Larry is never particularly funny when he speaks – not much of his dialogue makes much sense to begin with – though he is undeniably charming and it’s easy to run with his – or rather Byington’s – oddball humor. Unfortunately for Larry and the audience, it doesn’t get the character of the movie anywhere. Schwartzman has his moments, though what 7 Chinese Brothers lacks is any real sympathy for Larry – the character feels like a caged zoo animal watching everybody else is his life wander elsewhere.
For this reason, it is rather hard to sit with the film. It’s brisk and light on its feet. There are few great supporting characters (Alex Ross Perry makes a great cameo as “Hats at Cars” – a man whom scolds Larry for, you guessed it, throwing a hat at his car). However, it’s far too formless as a narrative and even as a simple, low-budget character study, it feels all too unmotivated. Not unlike that kid in high school calculus class. 7 Chinese Brothers is quite cool, though in the end, it isn’t going to actually get you anywhere.
But at least it has some good taste in music…..
7 Chinese Brothers opens this Friday at Sundance Sunset Cinemas.
