Michael O'Keefe Putty Hill is a working-class neighborhood in Baltimore. The economic downturn has really hit the city hard and Putty Hill has all but turned into a skid row. Most of the young people of the area have little ambition or future to speak of. News travels fast when a young man is found dead in a vacant house; he is the victim of a heroin overdose. In spite of not being known very well, family and casual acquaintances gather for a modest funeral. The day before, young people wander the popular hangout spots and reflect on their tragic loss.Director Matthew Porterfield filmed over just a few days and relied largely on improvised interviews for this disjointed project. You really have to be in the proper mood to garner anything redeeming from PUTTY HILL. Singer Sky Ferreira is the only actor of note. Others include: Cody Ray, Zoe Vance, Walker Teiser, Catherine Evans, Virginia Heath and James Siebor Jr.

stubtoes94 Wow! Help me somebody! I had no idea boring could go on so long. I have yet to see the point of this movie or is it a documentary? Scenes that were overshot and entirely too long. The sound was awful, I rewound several times to try and figure out what was said. The main character who over dosed is obviously as insignificant as all the other people in the town. It was one boring cigarette smoking person after another (when they weren't smoking weed). Cigarttes must be 10 cents a pack there because everybody smokes and smokes and smokes. Can you say lung cancer.I have yet to get the point. Obviously the film maker was getting off on carrying around a camera and having people ask him if he is making a film. He may have potential, but he needs to save it for when he has a real story and not this ongoing ingrown toe nail.

Sindre Kaspersen American screenwriter and director Matthew Porterfield's second feature film which he co-wrote with screenwriter Jordan Mintzer, premiered in the Forum section at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival in 2010, was shot on locations in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States of America and is an American production which was produced by producers Eric Bannat, Steve Holmgren, Jordan Mintzer and Joyce Kim. It tells the story about a 24-year-old man named Cory who has died from a heroin overdose and his family, friends and those who knew of him.Distinctly and subtly directed by American filmmaker Matthew Porterfield, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints, draws a reflective portrayal of how various human beings are affected by the death of a young man and especially his sister named Zoe who has returned to Baltimore from Delaware to attend his upcoming funeral. While notable for it's authentic and distinct milieu depictions, prominent cinematography by cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier and use of sound, this conversational story where the main character is the only character whom is not physically present centres its focus on numerous characters and their individual and related stories.This humanistic and earth-bounded drama which is set during a summer in a closely connected community in the United States and where an approaching memorial causes contemplation amongst many, is impelled and reinforced by it's loose narrative structure, subtle character development and continuity, abrupt editing, documentary-like style and the naturalistic acting performances by actors and actresses Sky Ferreira, Cody Ray, Dustin Ray, Zoe Vance, James Siebor, Cathy Evans, Ed Sauer and Virginia Heath. A cinematic, atmospheric and modernistic indie from the late 2000s where the style of filmmaking is given more substance than the characters.

oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx This is a drama about a wake that's kind of coalescing just after the death of a young man from an overdose. The cast includes ex-cons, skate-kids, dropouts, long-suffering retirees, generally low status folk sat on the sidelines of modern America doing their own thing. It's shot well enough that it looks like a documentary even though it's not. Lots of folks are interviewed about the dead guy and end up having a karaoke wake. The guys in the movie seem pretty anaesthetised most of the time, they're just trying to get along, and take things as they come.There's some nice stuff, including a memorial graffito sprayed as we watch, of the words Rest in Peace spelled out on three Japanese bridges that look like they could come from a Monet painting.At the end the film unfocuses on a road scene (an old trick) and you get all theses spheres of coloured light dripping across the screen. Like I say, an old trick, but it's done well here, and the unfocus is meaningful for this film, as the folk we see try not to focus too much, for example they go paintballing a week before the service, they just get on with it and don't mope. The wake at the end is actually fairly moving, and fleshes out the film a lot, adds meaning to some of what you see beforehand.I have a lot of love for this film, and I can see what it was trying to do, it's grown on me a lot since the night I watched it.I must warn you though that some shots are held for too long, and I'm a guy who likes long takes, furthermore there was a spalling walkout, which quite astonished me, probably the first time I've seen it happen in a film which wasn't violent, overtly sexual or confrontational. In fairness the film was shown quite late at night, and folks may well have seen several films beforehand and been tired (this was film #4 for me of the day at the Edinburgh International Film Festival).