Drama Queens

Two from our gal Alia Shawkat:

DUCK BUTTER (B) - Just a lovely love story between two young women who decide to take on the grand arc of a long-term relationship squeezed into 24 hours of intense bonding. It's a gimmick but a fun one. Alia Shawkat here writes the script with Miguel Arteta ("Beatriz at Dinner") and stars as Naimi alongside the appealing Laia Costa as Sergio in this roller-coaster comic drama.

With the hint of the artificiality of a theater exercise, Shawkat and Costa are all-in for this one. The dynamic alternates between intense and droll. They vow to have sex every hour on the hour. Naimi, in a nod to the conceit, complains during the second half of the experiment, as the bickering begins, "We haven't had sex in two-and-a-half hours!"

The result feels both workshopped and lived-in. It would not work without the dedication of the two actresses and the steady hand of Arteta.

PAINT IT BLACK (C) - Shawkat stumbles here in the awkward directorial debut of actress Amber Tamblyn. This is yet another drama about a mother and girlfriend distraught over the death of a young man. The great Janet McTeer tries her best to bring sense to the role of the grieving, conniving mother, but even she cannot find the right tone.

Shawkat, looking unnaturally skinny, also can't hit the right pitch of this pseudo-horror melange. Tamblyn exhibits a flashy style, and she has an eye for visual hooks. But her story (she co-wrote it with two others, including the author of the source material) is hollow. We don't know enough about the young man to appreciate why Shawkat's character would be so aimless and his mother would attack her. (Except that they both seem to do a lot of drugs and alcohol.) Throw in a nonsensical ending, and you have a missed opportunity from Tamblyn.

BONUS TRACK
From the opening of "Duck Butter," the band Hinds with "Garden":