Littlerock is an actual place located in California, in the Los Angeles county. Atsuko and her brother Rintaro find themselves forced to stop in Littlerock after the car they rented breaks down. They are journeying alone through the American province and have travelled all the way from Japan to reaffirm their identity through a visit to the camp of Manzanar where their grandfather was imprisoned during World War II. Their need to rediscover their roots through historical acknowledgement of their ancestry clashes against Atsuko’s longing for a diversion as she finds herself temporarily stuck in Littlerock. Rintaro and Atsuko are driven by opposite motivations. Rintaro is firm in his original plans, the ones that inspired his journey in the first place; Atsuko’s dispositions and desires appear to be completely futile and preposterous, even under a spell of totally egocentric self-assertion.
Following too strictly the aesthetics of hipster movies that heavily rely on language taken on loan from more commercial media like TV series – Dawson’s Creek anybody? – and music video clips rather than from cinema itself, with a smart but unnerving use of indie music to make everything more appealing – Ott even dared to include Icelandic amiina in the soundtrack, claiming they are his favorite band but not caring about misspelling of their song’s title in the ending credits, succeeding in the impossible task of making their music sound unbearably irritating – Littlerock recounts with insipid banality all the commonplaces of the North American province: little stories of juvenile debauchery unfold before doe-eyed Atsuko (Atsuko Okatsuka). Unable to communicate adequately with the crowd of slackers and maladroit petty delinquents she intentionally confuses for her friends, she eventually discovers herself alone and surrounded by strangers she has entirely misunderstood. Her tendency to introspection had been foolishness all along. And as spectators we feel we were foolish as well, trying to concentrate on almost ninety minutes of gibberish pronounced by awkward characters like the logorrheic Cory or his so-called friends, instead of doing something more constructive with our time.
After the screening of Littlerock a lady in the audience affirmed, talking to director Mike Ott, she had been afraid the whole time for the life and well-being of Atsuko, the leading character. Others felt the same way – yours truly included. Well, afraid is a big word, to be honest. Rather than being afraid for the character in itself, I was afraid of being forced to sit through some hideous racket involving violent behavior perpetrated against the leading lady. Thankfully nothing like that happened. As a matter of fact, Ott managed to steer clear of some of the easiest rhethorical solutions that are much common in the genre of “indie kids” drama. Those solutions often tickle the prudery of an otherwise easily distracted or totally obtuse audience, managing to hide in the eyes of the majority huge deficiencies in the plot or in the characters’ development. Ott – and I assume also the other screenwriters involved, Atsuko Okatsuka and Carl McLaughlin – wisely decided they didn’t need to resort to this kind of tricks to save the movie from itself. A dull movie is a dull movie however you look at it, with or without flashy sexually arousing scenes and absurd display of violence for youngsters with a severe puberty crisis or for middle-aged persons with too much boredom to get rid of and lack of imagination. But that’s about it. Apart from this single note of cleverness the movie doesn’t really seem to shine.
Title: Littlerock
Year: 2010
Director: Mike Ott
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Runtime: 84 minutes
Language: English, Japanese
In regard to this movie… in a word, “shallow”.
Pure conjecture, but I dare say the motive behind casting a young, attractive Japanese woman as the central character was gimmick that perhaps evolved from the simple idea of a foreigner in a mutually foreign environment (At least this much the director claimed in regard to conceiving the plot during the Q&A).
Because in the indie logic: Anything Japanese equals cool.
I felt Atsuko’s lack of English-speaking skills worked against the movie; Unless one has some familiarity with the Japanese language, the audience is just as confused and disoriented by the dialogue as the characters she speaks with, since during these moments of the film her dialogue was was not subtitled. This may have been for humorous effect, but cheap laughs were all that was spurred, and totally obstructed any real development between the characters.
I also found Cory to be an especially awkward and annoying character; a well-meaning, but ultimately irresponsible, self-centered, sex-deprived moocher. And the fact that he owed some rather crude, sketchy characters money didn’t really go anywhere plot-wise.
As an American watching this film, if the director’s intent was to expose the unappealing side of America, with its crass locales inhabited by one-dimensional, beer-guzzling, party-obsessed twenty-somethings, then he achieved just that. But the inane plot and lukewarm acting (or over-acting, especially at the end of the film) surely won’t save this movie!
Oh Naoto. I’m far from annoying.
Cory, you mean you were not acting? Anyhow, part of the audience seemed to like the humor of your character. What I did not like about the movie was the OTHER guy Atsuko falls in love with – which, by the way, looked (and behaved) a bit like an Icelander.
I liked the movie, it was simple and nice, the music was good.
I was afraid of the well-being of the leading carater because she was a foreign nice looking young lady so i always thougt that something bad would happen, but i liked the ending of the film, the phonecall between Cory and Atsuko.
Im from iceland and I dont look or behave like the OTHER guy.. But you know alot of icelander act and look like that, and alot of german, polish, american and other guys around the world.
Sry for the bad spelling btw..
Haukur, I now realize I posted a very rude sounding ending line in my comment… I meant the guy looked and behaved like an Icelander I KNOW, not like all Icelanders! I would never generalize like this, I am sorry, and I get along very well with my Icelandic friends.
Everybody, thanks for the comments. I wish we had more people adding their reviews like you did! I did not like the movie as a whole, as well, but I did love the Mexican guy character.
I just watched the movie at the VIENNALE and I enjoyed it a lot.
Mike Ott should have brought Cory with him to the screening : )
I watched the movie in Ghent (Belgium) at ‘The Filmfestival’, last Tuesday.
I really liked it !!!
And to Naoto: Not the movie is shallow, you are.
Because you are an American, everything has to be shown as perfect about America? Well, it’s not… face it.
That’s why we watch movies, to learn and see different from what we think.
Cory’s character made the movie so good.
The movie was simple and true, and good music.
I think Naoto has the rights to express his negative opinions, as you have rights to express your positive ones. I also think Naoto has never criticized the fact the movie is not showing America in a flattering way. I don’t think Littlerock is so poignant and to the point in expressing American imperfect face. It’s sort of watered down and sugar coated kind of take on the question at the core of the film, but I found it very weak even from a more intimate point of view. I found it in fact a little too “apologetic” of the problems of provincial America and very inconclusive, without being programmatic about it.
Well, I loved the movie (:0) and thank you Harry, I loved the Mexican guy as well. R
Roberto, if it is really you, you are welcome, and I am very happy to see you posting here. I really loved the humanity of your character and the way you portrayed him: with honesty and good heart. And charisma. So, thank you!