I think this is stronger in the first half than the second, but even with that criticism, I don’t want to completely write off Bujalski and what he is doing here. He has said in interviews about his hesitation to call “There There” his COVID movie, but it is. The Zoom/webcam aesthetic, the strangely siloed monologues, the fact that everyone shot their scenes separately…it should have been prime territory for him to maximize the interpersonal cringe that has become his pet subject as a filmmaker. Instead, it reveals that his penchant for awkward social dynamics emerges out of situations, not aesthetics. It doesn’t help that this time around, Bujalski has written all situational specificity out of this movie. The result is a frustrating watch whose value mainly lies as a reminder for why Bujalski’s previous films were so great.

I think this is stronger in the first half than the second, but even with that criticism, I don’t want to completely write off Bujalski and what he is doing here. He has said in interviews about his hesitation to call “There There” his COVID movie, but it is. The Zoom/webcam aesthetic, the strangely siloed monologues, the fact that everyone shot their scenes separately…it should have been prime territory for him to maximize the interpersonal cringe that has become his pet subject as a filmmaker. Instead, it reveals that his penchant for awkward social dynamics emerges out of situations, not aesthetics. It doesn’t help that this time around, Bujalski has written all situational specificity out of this movie. The result is a frustrating watch whose value mainly lies as a reminder for why Bujalski’s previous films were so great.