6 Years

Courtesy of Netflix, The Orchard, Duplass Brothers Productions, and Arts + Labor.

Hannah Fidell is still a fledgling in the world of Mumblecore, a genre that hasn’t changed much since its inception in 2004/2005. This is only her second full length feature, after her breakthrough “A Teacher,” but she is already proving why her voice is worth noting in the cacophony of angst that is indie filmmaking. The film was produced by the Duplass Brothers, famous for their own innovation and love of the genre.

The story follows two twentysomethings in their final years of college. Having been together for the ungodly length of six years, couple Melanie (Farmiga) and Dan (Rosenfield) are coming to a crossroads that could mean the end of their fragile little relationship or the beginning of the next phase of their lives. Though Fidell captures the fight or flight response of these kinds of couples, there’s something truly inorganic and not conductive about the chemistry, or personalities, of these two characters.

What we are meant to understand from this film is that if you are in a relationship that started when you were a teenager, it is doomed. Completely and totally. Not only is said relationship doomed, but seriously emotional and ridiculous things will happen if you want to stay in it, like say, you will physically injure one another, fight, or get so drunk you are put in a situation where you might be raped. These are things that happen to our two lovebirds, and though some might argue that these actions stem from the characters themselves, I strongly make the point that these characters have no personalities and therefore the plot is strung together on the whims of juvenile torment.

While it’s easy to note that this genre, and the filmmaker, captured the vulnerability and reality of being a college student, the actual plot is so forced that it doesn’t meld together well. There’s nothing tangible to this story, and in Mumblecore, where everything is supposed to feel authentic, that’s the epitome of laziness.