Benten's Quiet City + Dance Party USA.

Andrew Grant and Aaron Hillis, prez and vice-prez, respectively, of Benten Films, are friends. So if I go on and on about the painstaking care they've put into their second release - two films by Aaron Katz, his first and second features, Dance Party USA and Quiet City - that belies an almost fetishistic attention to design (gorgeous) and completeness (director and cast commentaries, extra clips, shorts, a trailer, sharp essays), my words would shrivel in all the salt you'd take with them. So let me turn to James McNally, who writes in Toronto Screen Shots, "Benten are quickly becoming the Criterion of the indie film world." An idea that's occurred to Matt Dentler as well.

Updated through 1/30.

But what about the films themselves? Quiet City "is filthy with intimate images of the kind that epitomize cinema's infectious glow," writes Michael Atkinson at IFC News, while Dance Party USA "makes up for its weightier degree of awkwardness with sharp-edged sexual frisson."

"The other moviemakers in Katz's orbit - Swanberg, Bujalski, and so on—all have talent and ideas," writes Glenn Kenny. "But none of them have Katz's eye, or anything like Katz's sensibility. This is the second release from my friends at Benten and it's one of the most sensitively, beautifully constructed packages I think you'll see this whole year."

"Both films are about a young boy and girl who venture out into urban spaces looking for an authentic experience," writes Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog. "What sets them apart from traditional coming-of-age stories is, in part, the patience Katz shows in allowing his characters to take the time to settle into a tentative trust together. The films are both languid and totally economical; in terms of action, virtually nothing 'happens,' and yet if there's any fat to cut on either, I can't find it."

"Katz distinguishes himself by embodying their anxieties rather than merely observing them," agrees Sam Adams in the Los Angeles Times. "Shots of traffic lights changing in perfect harmony or an airplane cutting through a burnt orange sky resonate with a depth of feeling the movie's protagonists can only express in the furtive spaces between words."

"This 2-disc release is loaded with quality extras that start with the 10-page accompanying booklet that includes an essay by Chicago film critic Ray Pride on Dance Party, USA, and another on Quiet City by film scholar Ray Carney," writes Chris Neilson at DVD Talk. "In the interests of disclosure, I'll note that I'm a fan of professor Carney's writings on John Cassavetes and independent cinema, and I was impressed to find that this generally, but not wholeheartedly, favorable review of his was included in the booklet."

And you can read that essay in full at Filmmaker.

Online viewing tip. You may remember this one; now, as Bilge Ebiri notes at New York's Vulture, it's an extra in the set: Joe Swanberg's Quiet City, "a six-minute lark, hilariously lo-fi and shot on a dime, and it manages to poke some gentle fun at all the key style points of Generation DIY. As such, it'll probably unite mumblecore lovers and haters alike."

Earlier: Reviews of Quiet City from August and reviews of Dance Party USA from November 06.

Update, 1/30: "[I]f the evidence displayed in Dance Party USA can be trusted, Aaron Katz has already carved a place for himself among the new voices of American independent film," writes Dennis Cozzalio. "I can't wait to see where he takes me on that second disc, and in the many fine films he's likely to make in the future."

Posted by dwhudson at January 29, 2008 1:20 PM