The New Twenty actress Karen Olivo on Letterman with West Side Story Cast

Village Voice Loves THE NEW TWENTY movie 03-17!

Tracking Shots

Village Voice Review

By Chuck Wilson

Tuesday, March 17th 2009 at 2:34pm

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The New Twenty
Directed by Chris Mason Johnson
Opens March 20, Quad Cinema

• Is Foie Gras Torture? (111)
• No U2 Schadenfreude, Baby (16)
  A mediocre album from this band is bad news whether you’re a lover or a hater
• What Cooked the World’s Economy? (12)
  It wasn’t your overdue mortgage.
• For the Gentry: Whiskey Sunday Bar-BQ (8)
  A new barbecue spot in the land of rotis
• Guantanamo’s Final Days (7)
  The infamous Prison Camp ain’t dead yet

• Zack Snyder Didn’t Ruin Watchmen
  He just sapped it of its superpower.
• The Average Giuseppes of Organized Crime in Gomorrah
• James Gray Gets Goofy in Two Lovers
• Examined Life According to Slavoj Žižek and Crew
• The Last House on the Left‘s Exploitation is Quaintly Nostalgic
  Rape revenge. Yawn.

In his sleek and accomplished debut film, writer-director Chris Mason Johnson tracks the lives and loves of a cadre of 29-year-old Manhattan college friends who betray themselves and each other by abusing the Big Three—sex, money, and drugs. At the center is Andrew (Ryan Locke), a lean, blond alpha-dog investment banker whose beautiful Asian fiancée (Nicole Bilderback) may be his match in the world of business. Among those circling this golden couple are Ben (Colin Fickes), who’s gay, overweight, and addicted to online sex sites (there’s a great moment when a trick comes over to Ben’s apartment and the two men reject each other on sight), as well as the drug-addicted Felix (Thomas Sadoski) and commitment-phobic Tony (Andrew Wei Lin). We have been here many times before (see 1966’s The Group), but Johnson and co-writer Ishmael Chawla have a light touch that keeps things from turning overly melodramatic. (No vases get thrown.) Supported by veteran New York actors such as Terry Serpico and Bill Sage, the strong ensemble of young actors create fully defined personas, thanks in large part to their director’s willingness to linger after a dramatic peak and observe the characters in private, take-a-breath moments. He’s got something, this guy, and I’d hate to see a movie this ethnically and sexually diverse fade away on today’s dead-end gay release circuit. After all, for better or worse, every generation deserves its own St. Elmo’s Fire.

Time Out NY Loves THE NEW TWENTY movie 03-18!

Movie review

From Time Out New York

Chris Mason Johnson’s ensemble drama could’ve been just another earnest time capsule about friends in their late twenties; what saves it from devolving into mere mumblecore is a broader-than-average outlook. Life trajectories send the quintet in disparate directions, among them Ben (Fickes), who takes to his couch with a bottle of Lubriderm, and Andrew (Locke), who’s in an equally wankworthy situation at Morgan Stanley. Unlike this genre’s usual shtick, the film includes something rarely seen onscreen: close friendships between gay and straight men. And though the camera may be overly fond of pore-counting close-ups, cinematographer David Tumblety is smart enough to draw it back and show the bigger picture, too, with twinkly sunsets over East Village water towers.

Author: Anna King

Time Out New York Issue 703: March 19-25, 2009