Tendaberry

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Themes of loneliness and isolation have been explored in stories of NYC and Tendaberry does have issues on feeling scattered and dry but as a whole, the core emotions, the direction, and a strong lead performance from Kota Johan.

Filmmaker Haley Elizabeth Anderson direction on capturing the themes and atmosphere was pretty good as Anderson's approach to the writing felt realistic and nature. The dialogue between the characters and so forth felt poetic and nature to what is happening in the scene which creates a nature yet realistic vibe to the setting. The camerawork and presentation is pretty good but personally, there were some shots that were a little off-putting and there were too many close-up shots.

The performances are solid as many of the performances, while might not be perfect, are good on capturing the essence of loneliness and reality. The narrative has strong elements which I liked but I think it does get a little stuck and too scattered through it's second act as if it feels a little lost. The characters were okay to observe but I wasn't fully able to connect with them emotionally as if I would like to.

As a whole, despite it's flaws, it still remains strong.