ATM: My Dinner With Andre

I think this film is a masterpiece. In my opinion, it is flawless. Even though it is just two people talking, it is very compelling and entertaining. A really intelligent film. 10/10 for me.

I just finished watching. The first 30-minutes Wally's face pretty much summed up my reaction. It's like a TEDTalk disguised as a movie, but this time the YouTube commenter strikes back, and finally thrown into a deep existential crisis (at least for awhile before the next video autoplays).

That said, I quite enjoyed it as it is and it reminds me of Leo Tolstoy book I read some time when I was in college. The tittle escapes me right now, but I'll get back to that in a moment. The structure and setting of the movie also reminds me of a similar conversational --umm, can I say... genre?-- of another movie starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones tittled The Sunset Limited (2011). The later is more religious themed, but I think what Andre described could also be said as (pseudo)-religious anyway.

So, what makes you say it's a masterpiece? Is it changing your life somehow?

Edit: The book was "The Pilgrim Progress" by John Bunyan, not Leo Tolstoy. My bad.

There is no reason for this film to be good. It's two guys talking during a meal. Happens thousands of times a day.
All I know it is good. In fact it's great.

My favorite parts are the subtle comedy.
Andre goes on with his stories either Wally is not interested or doesn't buy what he's saying.
So he grasps onto some little tidbit. Is he still thin or have you seen Violet's are Blue.
Disagreeing about an electric blanket.
Each man obviously has different views on life. They still listened and respected each other.
It goes to show you can have discussions, disagreements and still leave as friends.
A lesson that a lot of the world can learn from.

I guess I'm going to be the one to swim against the current. I was not impressed with this film. There's nothing wrong with the concept, but I was bored by the conversation. The only thing I can remember is Andre making some absurd comment about sleeping in frigid Chicago in the winter without an electric blanket. Something about making him feel alive or something. I give it a 6.5/10. Sorry.

I actually liked Wally Shawn much better in "The Princess Bride". "Inconceivable!"


😎


"He's dead."

Thank god for this group, otherwise I don’t know when I would’ve gotten to some of the movies on my own time! Anyway, on to the movie.

This is the type of film I like in principle. I like the concept behind it. It’s really gutsy for a whole film to be just one long conversation. And that, I suspect, brings its own set of challenges in regards to “how do you make two people, talking, visually interesting?” On that note, the film was expertly shot.

I also have to commend the performances. Shawn and Gregory make this feel like a real conversation, from the line delivery to their reactions. And those were a lot of lines, especially for Gregory. I’m sure writing the movie helped with that.

All that being said I had a hard time with the actual contents of the film. Now, I have been exhausted this past week, so that may have something to do with it, but twice I start the film, and 20 minutes in I fall asleep. Not since Stalker has this happened to me, and a Tarkovski is a much tougher watch, so I don’t know what happened here. Also, I found my gaze drifting on occasion, which is never a good sign.

Much of the conversation wasn’t that engaging to me. I didn’t find much of what Andre had to say all that interesting, and I wasn’t much fond of his worldview to be honest. The only moments that I really liked through that long conversation were when he was talking about losing his mother and when Wally finally said that he wasn’t buying what Andre was selling (in a manner of speaking). Which is how I felt though-out the whole film. Maybe that was the intent though. And in general I fall more on Wally’s side of things and I could empathize with him grasping at little things to keep the conversation going.

...