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By Brian Lafferty
November 12, 2010 (San Diego) – The Freebie has a simple story, and it runs only seventy-eight minutes, but director Katie Aselton has crafted a movie that is more than mere premise. In addition to having two likeable characters and dialogue that is real, honest and rich, the movie also kept me guessing until the very end.
Playing at the Ken Cinema starting today, Aselton and Dax Shepard play a married couple who realize they haven’t had sex for months. They decide to try an experiment: for one night, they will have sex with another person. They agree not to tell each other what happened but as in all movies in which characters have an affair, keeping quiet is difficult. When they finally open up to each other it causes complications that may destroy their marriage.
There are many directions that Aselton could have taken with this premise but she elects for a choice and tone that isn’t obvious. The movie works because the characters are honest and their decision to experiment a genuinely innocent one. There is no twisted subtext or deviant motivation behind their behavior. It is a simple experiment, nothing more, nothing less.
The semi-linear structure at first looks like a gimmick employed by Aselton to invigorate the story. But upon further examination, it benefits it. After they propose the idea to each other, the aftermath of the one-night stand is shown. Aselton comes home but nothing much is said. That gives a sense of mystery. I wanted to know what happened. Was it good? Bad? Maybe the latter, based on Aselton’s blank expression as she walks absently down the road but there is no way to know for sure. Afterwards the events leading up to the experiment are shown.
Some of the events are predictable but Aselton matches the number of those scenes with those that totally surprised me. It is written in stone that after that night, the relationship would turn fragile because they would discover it was a bad idea. Just when it looks like the film will lead us down the familiar clichéd path and just when we think we have learned everything, Aselton throws us not just one twist but another on top of it. And even after that we’re not sure if we finally know everything or if things will really be the same.
The movie is in the Mumblecore vein. This isn’t surprising, given that one of the producers is Mark Duplass, a veteran of the movement who also co-wrote and co-directed last summer’s successful Mumblecore film, Cyrus. In The Freebie, the dialogue is largely improvised. The actors manage to consistently keep each conversation not only afloat but interesting, genuine, and real-life. It also helps that the two main actors have experience with improvisation. Aselton is a regular on the F/X series The League, which is semi-improvised and Dax Shepard, according to the production notes, was a member of The Groundlings, a Los Angeles improv troupe.
The Freebie also has great production values. From the colorful cinematography (particularly the bar, with hues of orange and red) to the soft lighting that lends it a graceful feel, Aselton puts enough effort into the film without looking too ambitious.
From the characters, story, dialogue, and look, The Freebie is a film that clicks on every level except for the music, which for the most part feels disorganized, a mishmash of piano keys and chords. But in the end I didn’t care about that. Just as good things come in small packages, great things come from small movies.
Follow Brian Lafferty: twitter.com/BrianLaff
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