Family drama a ‘myth-take’> ‘Fingerprints’ lacks soul

“The Myth of Fingerprints,” written and directed by Bart Freundlich. Running time 90 minutes. Rate R (for sexual situations, adult content and language). Nightly, Nov. 10-13, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

About 15 minutes into “The Myth of Fingerprints,” one thing becomes painfully clear: Bart Freundlich, the film’s 27-year-old writer-director, does not have the life experience to pull this project off.

His trite and uninteresting film, which is a New England family’s rampant dysfunction, makes the mistake of only skimming the surface of that dysfunction. As we watch the film, we see that this family does have its problems, but Freundlich doesn’t bother to tell us what those problems are. Indeed, he is more interested in filming an angry glance or shooting a quivering bottom lip than he is in exploring the roots of his family’s anger. The unfortunate result is 90 minutes of unflagging whining by a group of boring misfits who band together to unwittingly star in this year’s ultimate cinematic Quaalude.

“The Myth of Fingerprints” takes place over an emotionally chilly Thanksgiving weekend in Maine. Hal (Roy Scheider) and his wife, Lena (Blythe Danner), have welcomed back into their home their adult children who haven’t gathered together as a family unit for three years.

Their son, Warren (Noah Wyle of “ER”), arrives first and the weekend’s negative tone is cast: Hal meets Warren at the door, glares at him through the window, and silently turns away without letting him inside. Immediately, we are intrigued — why the cold shoulder, Hal? Unfortunately Freundlich’s answer rests in a ridiculous subplot involving Warren’s brooding old girlfriend, Daphne (Arija Bareikis), her chaste hallway encounter with Hal, great fits of laughter (from ourselves), and a shattered coffee table, on which rests Hal’s bruised head.

As the film pushes forward and Warren’s unlikable siblings are paraded out in an ugly procession of angst, it becomes clear that director Freundlich must have been an orphan whose only contact with families was through bad television shows and Sunday morning comic strips. He doesn’t care about any of his characters, thus neither do we. He doesn’t understand the inner workings of a family, thus his film suffers with stilted dialogue, a thin and uninspired plot, an inability to grasp the deeper issues at hand, and a humorless cast of characters, all of whom seem to have been carved from great blocks of ice — and none of whom melts into a fully realized individual by film’s end.

In his novel “Anna Karenina,” Leo Tolstoy noted that while “happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” If only Freundlich had had this insight and explored it in his film, the result would have been infinitely more interesting and perhaps would have won him all the awards he lost at this year’s Sundance Festival.

Grade: D

Video of the Week

“Party Girl,” written and directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer. Running time: 98 minutes. Rated R (for language and adult content).

Parker Posey, who stars in Daisy von Scherler Mayer’s irreverent comedy, “Party Girl,” was last seen in Greg Matolla’s excellent film, “The Daytrippers,” and has forged a successful art-house career by portraying the Holly Golightly of the 90s. Scattered, slightly desperate and neurotic, she is Hollywood’s idea of the quintessential Generation X woman.

Witty, clever and genuinely bright, she is Generation X’s idea of a gifted comedienne.

In “Party Girl,” Posey plays Mary, a plucky, hip young woman who lives for fashion (“Behold Chanel?”), works for no one (I am not a waitress!”), and who pays for her Manhattan apartment by throwing “rent parties.” The problem is that the rent in Manhattan has soared as high as that season’s miniskirts, and soon Mary is faced with the cold reality that her rent parties just aren’t the cash cows that they used to be. Indeed, she has run out of money and is forced to do the unthinkable: get a real job — fast — or lose her apartment.

Enter Mary’s godmother, Mrs. Lindendorf (Sasha von Scherler), who takes a risk on this “screw-up” by hiring her to be a clerk at the local library. There, Mary’s life gradually gains some sense of order as she conquers, of all things, the Dewey Decimal System — and falls in love with Mustafa, the good-looking owner of a sidewalk falafel cart who wins her heart.

Well-written and, at times, extremely funny, “Party Girl” is a standout because it has genuine style, quotable lines and an infectious urban groove that never takes itself serously. If you’re looking for something different, this is the film to rent.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith, a writer and critic who lives in Brewer, reviews films each Monday in the NEWS.