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Review: Tiny Furniture

Lena Dunham makes herself at home
By BRETT MICHEL  |  December 7, 2010
3.0 3.0 Stars

 

Writer/director/star Lena Dunham's portrait of post-graduate haze finds her character, Aura, moving back to her "photo-artist" mother's TriBeCa loft/studio. There, the pleasantly plump young woman battles her clothing almost as much as she fights with her family, who're played by her real-life mom (artist and photographer Laurie Simmons) and younger sister (model and poet Grace Dunham). Aura's friend and bad influence Charlotte, who greets her with a hard slap to the face, is fabulously portrayed by Dunham's real lifelong friend Jemima Kirke. When Aura crushes on Keith (David Call), the cook at her new job as a daytime hostess in an eatery that doesn't serve lunch, Charlotte recommends that Aura "just take him somewhere and grab his cock." Less a cock grabber than an aimless wallflower, Aura stands in the shadows waiting to blossom. It may sound hopelessly autobiographical, but Dunham has made an accomplished movie. She's one to watch.

Related: Review: Shutter Island, Review: Ajami, Review: The Good Guy, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , TriBeCa, movie review, Tiny Furniture,  More more >
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