Tiny Furniture (2010)

Director:

Lena Dunham

Writer:

Lena Dunham (written by)

Release Date:

30 March 2012 (Ireland)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Aura would like you to know that she is having a very, very hard time.

Plot:

About a recent college grad who returns home while she tries to figure out what to do with her life. |

Plot Keywords:

Oral Sex | Video | Intellectual | Art Gallery | Tattoo

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Lena Dunham	...	Aura
Laurie Simmons	...	Siri
Grace Dunham	...	Nadine
Rachel Howe	...	Candice
Merritt Wever	...	Frankie
Amy Seimetz	...	Ashlynn
Alex Karpovsky	...	Jed
Jemima Kirke	...	Charlotte
Garland Hunter	...	Noelle
Isen Ritchie	...	Jacob
Sarah Sophie Flicker	...	Julia
David Call	...	Keith
Jody Lee Lipes	...	Bus Boy
Charlotte Istel	...	Drunk Girl
Peter Rosenblum	...	No Pants Kid
Paul Warneke	...	Ipod Boy
John Newman	...	Philippe
Isabel Halley	...	Gallery Girl
Kyle Martin	...	Keith's ;Boy'
Anna Bak-Kvapil	...	Ashlynn's Friend
Nick Bentgen	...	Ashlynn's Friend
Lance Edmands	...	Ashlynn's Friend
Alex Ross Perry	...	Ashlynn's Friend
Alice Wang	...	Ashlynn's Friend
Teddy Blanks	...	Gallery-Goer
Jennifer Brown	...	Gallery-Goer
Durga Chew-Bose	...	Gallery-Goer
Zach Clark	...	Gallery-Goer
Jesse Klein	...	Gallery-Goer
Kathryn Sanders	...	Gallery-Goer
Nat Sanders	...	Gallery-Goer
Natalie Bergner	...	High School Reveler
Nile Berry	...	High School Reveler
Wyeth Birch	...	High School Reveler
Alexander Davis	...	High School Reveler
Dash Davidson	...	High School Reveler
Amanda Greenbaum	...	High School Reveler
Kate Gill	...	High School Reveler
Calla Hastings	...	High School Reveler
Matthew A. Jacobs	...	High School Reveler
Pablo Marvel	...	High School Reveler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mike S. Ryan	...	Homeless Man (uncredited)

Directed by
Lena Dunham

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lena Dunham		written by

Produced by
Kyle Martin	....	producer
Alicia Van Couvering	....	producer
Alice Wang	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Teddy Blanks

Cinematography by
Jody Lee Lipes

Film Editing by
Lance Edmands

Art Direction by
Jade Healy

Set Decoration by
Chris Trujillo

Art Department
Paige A. Flash	....	art production assistant (as Paige Flash)

Sound Department
Micah Bloomberg	....	sound recordist
Timothy Cleary	....	additional sound
David Fisher	....	foley artist
Kenji Calderon Miyamoto	....	sound effects editor (as Kenji Calderon)
Gene Park	....	sound editor
Gene Park	....	sound re-recording mixer
Mike Silvestri	....	additional sound

Visual Effects by
Benjamin Moses Smith	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Josh M. Allen	....	electrics (as Josh Allen)
Joe Anderson	....	focus puller
Joe Anderson	....	still photographer
Nick Bentgen	....	electrics
Andrew Engert	....	grip
Anna Farrell	....	grip
Jeff Peixoto	....	gaffer

Editorial Department
Sam Daley	....	colorist
Gordon Holmes	....	second assistant editor
Patrick McGuinn	....	post-production project manager
Tomas Vengris	....	assistant editor
Richie Roefaro	....	final cut pro technician (uncredited)

Music Department
Patrick Albertson	....	additional musician
Patrick Ford	....	additional musician
Annie Pearlman	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Josh Braum	....	distribution advisor: Submarine Enterainment
Desiree Brown	....	production assistant
Jeffrey Cristiani	....	set operations (as Jeff Cristiani)
André Des Rochers	....	legal services: Gary Krauss Des Rochers
Lisa Kjerulff	....	pre-production coordinator
Julia Newman	....	script supervisor
Teddy Blanks	....	title designer (uncredited)

Thanks
Zach Clark	....	thanks
Isabel Halley	....	thanks
Barbara Jean Kearney	....	thanks
Karina Longworth	....	thanks
Isaac Mizrahi	....	thanks
Annie Pearlman	....	thanks
Mike S. Ryan	....	thanks
Nat Sanders	....	thanks
Ti West	....	thanks
Thadd Williams	....	thanks
Paul Zucker	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Tiny Ponies

Distributors

• IFC Films (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Independent Film Channel (IFC) (2010) (worldwide) (theatrical) (except for the U.K., South Africa, Germany, France, Benelux, New Zealand and Australia.)
• Criterion Collection, The (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2012) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Film1 (2012) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Independent (2012) (UK) (all media)
• Indomina Releasing (2011) (non-USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Adorama  camera
• CHIPS  title design
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Eastern Effects  grip and electric
• Film Emporium  insurance
• Film Emporium  production and E&O insurance
• Gray Krauss Des Rochers  legal services
• Handheld Films  camera
• Post Factory NY  additional titling
• Submarine Entertainment  distribution advising

Also Known As:

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Ireland:16 | UK:15 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

DUMBO, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Tiny Ponies

Trivia:

Lena Dunham and Nora Ephron were fans of each other's work, and Ephron's half-hour -long interview with Dunham is featured on the DVD version of this film. In it, Dunham explains how especially influenced she was by Ephron's own autobiographical movies, Heartburn (1986) and This Is My Life (1992).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Aura:Honey, I'm home... Family?
Candace:Downstairs...
Siri:Can you turn your right toe slightly towards me?
Nadine:It hurts.
Siri:Perfect.
[click]

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

Hide and Seek

Tiny Furniture written and directed by Lena Dunham will need determination to finish to the end but worth a watch

TINY FURNITURE by Val Turner 15 Cert, 119 min; director; Lena Dunham; Starring Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, Jemima Kirke.

Lena Dunham wrote and directed this smart comedy drama about a media student, Aura, who after graduation returns to the family home in New York, unemployed, adrift, overweight and plain. It is obvious from the thread of conflict that runs through the film, that her successful photographer mother (Laurie Simmons) and pretty intelligent sister (Grace Dunham) see Aura as an intrusion in their perfect, trendy life.

As Aura drudges from one scene to another, allowing her self-centred friend Charlotte (Jemima Kirke) possible boyfriends Jed (Alex Karpousky) and Keith (David Call) wipe their feet as they walk all over her, you find yourself willing her to get a grip and take control.

In truth nothing really happens in the film and a standard beginning, middle and end structure does not apply. However, despite the fact that it feels that Aura is swimming through a bowl of blancmange, this is her life and it is this sludge that holds you steady waiting for something to happen. There are poignantly funny moments particularly the conflict between mother v daughter and sister v sister and Aura's pathetic attempt to get herself into the arty scene by posting a Youtube film of her in her undies washing her teeth in a fountain.

In fact Dunham spends as much time as possible in her underpants and baggy shirt, which does not flatter her unflattering shape. It is this self-effacing, actually closer to self-deprecating characteristic of Dunham that should feel refreshing but actually she does scrub up quite well and you are left irritated with her for not making the best of what she has.

The film was named as Best Narrative Feature at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival. It also won Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards and New Generation Award by the LA Film Critics Association along with nominations for Best Cinematography and Best First Feature. Recognition has catapulted this young writer/director into the limelight and has since produced "Girls" which on the face of it appears to be a sequel to "Tiny Furniture" given that Dunham and her friend Kirke play very similar characters. It's not and you do wonder how much the audience can take of this hapless young woman.

Tiny Furniture is poignant and in these present economic times the story will resonate with graduates in similar positions. Perhaps they should all do what Lena Dunham has done and make a docudrama which may suck them out of the abyss and throw them into stardom.