Aptly named art house-film studio Indican Pictures provides current milleninals a very relatable film and Gen Xers good nostalgia regarding their post-college years with "Never," which is (or will be) playing at your local cinema pub. This film also gives fans of (the Unreal TV honored) the late and truly great Robin Williams a chance to see his daughter Zelda in her feature-film premiere. This real-life Mearth is believable as 25 year-old hipster Nikki in Seattle who realizes that reality (what a concept) sucks.
"Never" is worth checking out and has a good leading man in attractive but guy in the next-door apartment looking (including a prominent birthmark) Zachary Booth as 20-something Seattle-newbie graphic designer Denim. He pulls off being geeky but very likable.
The one word of caution is that "Never" starts out on a very poor note that may make you not want to wait for the few minutes that it takes to get on a proper track that will draw you into the film. The opening scene has Nikki hysterically (but without any actual tears) wailing on the telephone with her just-broken-up with girlfriend. Although the mixed words of anger and distress ring true for this 20-something aspiring indie singer/songwriter, the emotions do not. It sadly comes across as a badly executed exercise in a high-school acting class.
We then see that Part 1 of "Never" is titled "Denim" and meet the titular nice guy at work. The interaction with his colleagues, including "work wife" Julianne is realistic in dialogue and execution. An early charming scene has Denim discussing his move to Seattle as an adventure and Julianne inviting him to join her and some of her friends for a concert that night.
The realism continues with the group meeting and chatting in a manner that is consistent with the first years in the real world being a transition from collegiate life to full-fledged adulthood.
Nikki comes back into the picture as the person giving the concert. In the 20-something spirit of the film, it turns out the friends of Julianne at the concert live La Vie Boheme (sans any deadly diseases) with Nikki and a rotating group of other artists in a large house.
Inviting Denim to the uber-hipster party at the house later that night allows him to meet Nikki and start their "its complicated" relationship; a subsequent gap of a few months occurs in the interim between this meeting and Part II, which is titled "Nikki," of the film.
The final portions of "Never" revolve around both Nikki and Denim hitting low points in their lives and turning to each other for emotional support and other assistance. Everyone can relate to the disproportionate impact that these setbacks have due to this being the first time that they are experienced.
Denim is especially sympathetic regarding his extended and painful pattern of not being able to successfully transition from friendship to love and back again if the spark that causes the first progression fades. His frustration climaxing (ABSOLUTELY no pun intended) in a horrible manner is very emotional for both him and the audience members.
For her part, Nikki must contend with a stalled music career that requires keeping her day job as a barista and with her own search for true love. Having her almost universal roommate problems escalate during this career crisis additionally allows the audience to feel her pain.
All of this is not-so-funny because it is true and is told by individuals who are just like our friends, friends of friends, roommates, and residents of the "cool" house full of "freaks" where no one seems sure which people currently live there and some form of action is always happening. This is also the period in which we go out to do something cool and/or quirky almost every "school night," rather than come right home form work and watch a few hours of television before being in bed either alone or with the same pet(s) and/or person(s) by 10.
On top of this, developing strongish feelings for the nice person who takes the same bus as you or lives down the hall seems to be as much of a rite of passage as that relationship not working out as you hope. This is contrast with the baby boomers who seem to have their careers and relationships on track by their early 20s only to often have both derail by their 40s.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Never" is encouraged to email me; you can also connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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