Greg W. Locke By the time the movie Chop Shop ended I wanted to move to New York and befriend writer/director Ramin Bahrani, simply because his movie was so good and made me feel so much. I thought that would be a one-of-a-kind reaction, but the moment writer/director Andrew Bujalski's third feature, Beeswax, ended, I was looking around online, trying to find his contact info.I gave up on that quickly, instead opting to start the movie over from the beginning. If you've seen Bujalski's other works, you know what to expect: artfully told - and small - stories that feel very authentic. Beeswax, even more than his other films, feels very, very real. And while the story is simple, there's so much nuance in the performances and production style that you feel as if you've seen some grand tale unfold.So, the story. Two twin twenty-something sisters living in the city of Austin, Texas work their way through two very different struggles. Jeannie (played by Tilly Hatcher) is an overachieving boutique clothing/thrift store owner who is worried that her business partner, Corinne (Katy O'Connor), is planning to sue her; all along she spends time with Merrill (Alex Karpovsky), her on-again love who attempts at every turn to help her through her legal woes. Jeannie's sister, Lauren (Maggie Hatcher), is kinda/sorta looking for work and, more or less, just sort of breezing through life - hanging out, getting high and just being all around socially pleasant and fun. We get the impression that Lauren's only real concern (aside from maybe money) is her need to be around for her sister, who, in addition to having problems at work, is a paraplegic young woman with much stress in her life. Both sisters are incredibly kind and soulful people who I came to love through the movie - especially Jeannie. (Also, both of the sisters are absolute knockouts who resemble Juliette Binoche, which can only be a good thing.)I won't say too much more about the story, aside from mentioning that, at most times, you simply feel like you're hanging out with the sisters and Merrill, who, despite tense times, seem to almost always be enjoying themselves - joking and teasing each other in loving ways. The dialogue never feels too much like a movie and the story just sort of falls into place - less a framework than it is a reason to talk. All that said, Bujalski's script is wonderful, and brought to life very well by the solid, very natural cast.I kept thinking that, at some point, I'd feel the wear of Bujalski's style-over-substance approach, as this was my experience with his other two movies (which are both worth checking out). Didn't happen. Not even close. I was very into the story of the two sisters at every moment, not so much caring about where the story was going as I was excited to see what I'd learn next about these girls and their world.And then there's the end. Ohhhhhhh what an ending. I won't say a peep, other than that it was the very rare conclusion that had me simultaneously screaming, shouting, howling and smiling. It was, in a word, perfect. Major, major kudos to Bujalski, his crew and the Hatcher sisters. Great, great work all around; okay, time for a third viewing!

petr-kalafatic No super.. (unrealistic stories, heroes, models etc.), it may happen next to our neighbors, I appreciate that.. + believable actress + camera + story flow= good for me :-)---------Your review does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text. Please see the guidelines. Attempts to pad the comment with junk words can result in your account being blocked from future submissions.---------

jeffreydotfong I have never been so awkward for 100 odd minutes in my life. The dialog was pointless, there was no story and the characters were not interesting at all.Most scenes I was pressing up against the cinema chairs so hard in an awkward squirm I think I may have bent them.The film revolves around flighty no-hopers that you can only feel sorry for. Otherwise, they were so annoying and agonising, I just felt like clawing my eyeballs out with a spoon.I understand this was an alternative film. And I guess a pointless, boring and frustrating film is alternative. But it was by no means enjoyable.Best quote I heard after the film "Eh? I don't get it", "Come on I'll explain on the ferry, hurry up I don't want to miss it. This night has been enough of a disaster already".Thanks to the NZ international film festival for wasting 2 hours of my life. Pretty disappointing.

dom-donald I am trying to think what I can say about this so-called movie, but no matter how hard I try I really can not come up with much. Perhaps I can better explain what it didn't have, rather than what it did. There were no developed characters, there was no plot, no beginning, middle or end. There were no interesting relationships, no questions asked of the audience, no explorations of ideas or emotions. There were no challenging subjects, nothing shocking or controversial. Nothing actually even happened, so there were no events for the characters to even discuss. Even the relationship between the two sisters wasn't explored in any way.The movie just started and then a bit later it finished at some random point (the camera ran out of film?). I am still stunned 12 hours after watching it. If you don't believe my review to be accurate, I challenge you to watch it, for that is probably the only valid reason for doing so!