Smiley Face

Araki did a fricking great job with this The entire intro looking like it was made on MS paint, using really bright colors, interesting visuals, and fitting music really did feel like i was on psychedelics, I think that’s really cool I believe the editing in this movie is some of the best i’ve seen, it feels dumb saying it because it’s obviously poorly made, but I think it fits the movie so well. To me it also gives me a homemade type of vibe that I love seeing in movies, it gives me a comfortable feeling kind of homy, because it reminds me of old videos I used to make. Was the Gregg on weed? JIM RASH?! this movie has so many one off characters that became huge in the industry, like little cameos except they weren’t big back then. talking heads song used, awesome. Styx song used, awesome. The soundtrack to this movie is actually really good. Seeing John Krasinski jerk off thinking about playing a game was definitely something I needed to see. I am so surprised by the writing in this movie, it is actually so good. The dialogue is realistic and the story is extremely entertaining. Everything is so funny and every scene is memorable. I am really surprised because the story to its core is pretty simple to begin with, but the shit Jane gets herself into just spirals into straight nonsense, this is some of the funniest stuff i’ve seen all year. Wrap it all up with that magnificent ending, wow. I see this point of Smiley Face being compared to John and Benny Sadie’s Uncut Gems. I completely understand it, both films have really similar stories while still being different in their own ways. In both movies we see how the protagonists self destructive behaviors destroy their life, but yet they keep trying as to make their life somewhat better. In Smiley Face, Jane was obviously under the influence of weed the entire time, but at the end of the day that was her choice. We see moments where Jane is this intelligent economically educated woman. She graduates from college and she has a bright future ahead of her, she does say it doesn’t work out but she still had the choice to keep trying. We see her also mess with her own future as she had a movie audition she needed to do, she completely fails during it and even offers that casting director weed. Jane has opportunities, it can’t be said that she doesn’t, but in an attempt to fix everything her own way she ruins everything. Again, Jane had a choice to not get high, attempt the audition or just get a job relating to economics and pay everyone she needs to back, instead she does the worst choices imaginable that lead to the end of the movie. In Uncut Gems, Howard is also in extreme debt and when he has the opportunity to pay his debtors back he digs himself into a deeper hole, his need for success and his want for more leads him to lose everything he already had. It’s really cool to see how both films tackle this topic, Smiley Face being a stoner comedy and Uncut Gems being a grittier darker drama.  This film alone got me excited for the rest of Gregg Araki’s movies, im definitely a fan of him now. I should rewatch this movie if i’m ever high.