Donald Cried (2016)

Donald Cried (2016)

IMDB rating 7.1/10  

 Peter Latang left working-class Warwick, R.I., to reinvent himself as a slick Wall Street mover and shaker. Fifteen years later, when he's forced to return home to bury his Grandmother, he loses his wallet on the trip. Stranded, the only person he can think of to help him out is his neighbor and former childhood friend Donald Treebeck. Donald hasn't changed a bit, and what starts as a simple favor turns into a long van ride into the past.

Director: Kris Avedisian (as Kristopher Avedisian)

Writers: Kris Avedisian (as Kristopher Avedisian), Kris Avedisian (screenplay)

Stars: Jesse Wakeman, Kris Avedisian, Louisa Krause

1h 25min | Comedy, Drama | 12 March 2016

 Read IMDB review Here

A Wall Street banker has an uncomfortable reunion with his emotionally arrested former best friend in Kris Avedisian's dark comedy. 

If you’ve ever run into an old friend who you absolutely never wanted to see again, you’ll find much to relate to in Kris Avedisian’s indie comedy that perfectly captures the painful aspects of such an unfortunate encounter. Ironically, the film captures them too well. Viewers may find themselves as eager to get away from the titular character as his former buddy with whom he reunites. Donald Cries demonstrates that cringeworthy isn’t necessarily the same as funny.

The film succeeds in its presumed goal of keeping the viewer off-balance trying to figure out the dynamics of the relationship, with Donald acting in alternately hyper-friendly, passive-aggressive and fully hostile fashion. But little of it rings true, from the contrived plotting (does the financially savvy Peter really have no other recourse to procure funds?) to Donald’s exaggerated man-child aspects, which less resemble arrested development than the sort of comic grotesqueries that have become an indie movie staple. This feature was adapted from a previous short film, and it’s not difficult to see how the character would have been easier to take in a much smaller dose.

That’s not to say that Donald Cries doesn’t have some insightful moments. Peter’s inconsistent responses to Donald’s provocations — alternating between affection, indulgence, irritation and anger — have the ring of truth, suggesting an underlying guilt over having rejected his former friend so completely.

To his credit, Avedisian fully commits to his role, stressing Donald’s repellant qualities rather than trying to make him falsely endearing. Wakeman makes for an effective straight man, thankfully not overdoing his character’s boorish tendencies. But their efforts aren’t enough to make this squirm-inducing dark comedy any easier to sit through.

Read full review at Hollywood reporter

Reunited, and It Feels So Awkward  

Observing the reunion of two former high school friends in Kris Avedisian’s squirm-inducing comedy “Donald Cried” is like watching an ostensibly friendly game of catch in which the players tossing a baseball throw it so hard that it becomes a potentially lethal weapon. At first you root for one side to knock out the other, but the balance of sympathy slowly shifts.

The movie forcefully reminds you that the past you thought you had left behind still hurts, and that the old wounds you imagined had healed have simply been covered over. Returning to the place where you grew up, your younger, more vulnerable self takes over whether you like it or not.

 “Donald Cried” is an acutely insightful, exquisitely written and acted triumph for Mr. Avedisian, who understands how the past permanently clings to us. The childish Donald, whose bedroom walls are plastered with horror-movie and heavy-metal posters, lives in a state of arrested development and works for a musclebound goon who verbally abuses him. His most precious possession is a signed picture of a porn star.

The town, through Peter’s eyes, is a suffocating Nowheresville peopled with losers idling their time away. As you learn more about Peter, he emerges as a gloomy middle-age man riddled with guilt about abandoning his grandmother for big-city pursuits. Donald, although pathetic in many ways, has maintained a sense of moral responsibility, however warped and childlike.

A movie of intensely compressed emotions that barely misses a note, “Donald Cried” puts you excruciatingly in the moment. You long to flee, but it’s so good that you can’t avert your gaze.

 

Read full review at New york times

Kris Avedisian’s absurd and poignant ex-buddy movie demonstrates that the reason people shun old friends is not so much because they don’t like them but because they don’t like who they were when they knew them. In the case of Donald Treebeck (Avedisian), however, both reasons may apply. He lives at his family home in Warwick, R.I., with his bong, porn, and action figures, and the same uncensored, passive aggressive puerility he perfected in the 1980s. For former best bud Peter Latang (Jesse Wakeman), Donald embodies all the reasons why he took off for New York 15 years ago. But now Peter is back in town to tend to his recently deceased grandmother’s ashes. He loses his wallet and, to his dismay, Donald is his last resort for a lift and a loan

Read full review at Boston globe