The Art of Getting By premiered in 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival under the title Homework. It is the first full feature film from writer-director Gavin Wiesen.
The film's main character is George (Freddie Highmore), a lonely teenager consumed with what he perceives as the hopelessness and stupidity of modern existence. Sally (Emma Roberts) is a wise-beyond-her-years "label-defying" type of adolescent who is also captivating and beautiful. She befriends George and so follows a movie exploring whether she can pull him out of the emotional well George has let himself fall into, and whether his teachers and parents can get him to care about passing high school.
Strong Performances
Freddie Highmore is a talent to watch, with a unique acting style driven a lot by non-verbal screen presence. Also the character he plays in The Art of Getting By is an often uncommunicative teenager who is fairly troubled with life. His emotions are played close to the chest, but show through in body language and monosyllabic responses. Although his character here is basically an oversensitive spoiled teenager, Highmore brings an added dimension of inner experience to what could otherwise be a tiresome, stale portrayal.
Abercrombie & Fitch model Emma Roberts does very well also in her role as a girl who takes an interest in Freddie's character George. Although high school movies are prevalent and cliches inevitably have cropped up, some of the situations are timeless and Roberts conveys a distinct feeling of being just the type of girl that could shake George loose from his misery, if anyone could.
Michael Angarano is also quite good as struggling artist Dustin. His nice guy role and personality is complicated with just the right edge of unhappiness and selfishness to give him the complexity and moral ambiguity needed for what happens in the film.
Well-Written Screenplay
The screenplay of The Art of Getting By is quite well written, though fairly typical of teen dramas. Certain flourishes of writing brilliance show at times; for example, in George's use of language far beyond his years (showing his intellectual abilities and depth of experience) or sudden brilliant exposition of an assigned novel that everyone in class believes he has never read.
The Art of Getting By manages to say a lot between the lines, and especially in this sort of film, that is often the hallmark of a well-thought-out script. By letting naturally-unfolding situations and raw inner development be the chief catalysts for character development, Wiesen pays homage to the kind of engaging film making that has connected so well to audiences in this genre since Rebel Without a Cause.
Overall Impressions
The Art of Getting By, despite some flaws of depending a bit much on cliche and pop culture convention, is well worth a look. It is a film with a good heart and a pair of highly-talented actors at the helm. By setting up how a character changes based on their interactions with each other and with themselves, Wiesen achieves that classic high-stakes selectivity of a film that manages to take a meaningful look at the one relatively short space of time in which a young person's life and outlooks change the most they may ever change. The Art of Getting By is essentially about getting to a point where life is more than just "getting by."
7.5/10
Film Details:
Gigi Productions
Released: July 28, 2011
Paul Brian - Paul Brian is a videographer and freelance journalist specializing in country music and politics. He recently completed two internships in ...
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