Lynn Shelton's "My Effortless Brilliance" is a study in the relationship between cocky, fussy, thoroughly-city-mouse author Eric (Sean Nelson) and his ex-best-friend, the tersely powerful journalist and wood-chopper Dylan (Basil Harris). Dylan, fed up with Eric's self-involved antics, dumps him and disappears to live in a log cabin in the woods of Eastern Washington; two years later, Eric arrives (sporting a Prius, white sneakers, and a fear of spiders) to mend the friendship.
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Do you ever wonder what it would be like to bury an axe in someone’s head?
The final film for me in Lynn Shelton’s filmography. It makes me melancholy knowing we’ll never get to see her generous touch on screen again. My effortless brilliance is peak mumblecore era, a typically unremarkable and insecure main character who tests his friend’s patience endlessly, with remote woodsy vibes, and a naturally very intimate point of view. Which is everything Lynn was great at. Especially giving us that feeling we’re inside the film. One day I’ll probably watch Lynn’s films again and be sad again. But until then I just hope she rests in peace
I had visions, I was in them
I was looking into the mirror
To see a little bit clearer
The rottenness and evil in me
RIP Lynn Shelton
Man, I loved this. Lo-fi aesthetic meets lo-fi story, more interested in exploring the little delicacies of long, strained friendships than in plot or incident. Often very funny moment-to-moment, too. I think this is my first Lynn Shelton film, and now I need to see everything else immediately.
Director Lynn Shelton's first stab at mumblecore is the repartee-filled comedy My Effortless Brilliance. A bearded lumbersexual named Dylan (Basil Harris) is chillin' at his remote log cabin home when he gets an unexpected visit from Eric (Sean Nelson, of Harvey Danger fame), an estranged friend. The two are definitely oil and water, as the urbane, wise-cracking Eric is clearly out of his element in the country. Over the course of the film, the two work to repair their long-ago rift, and it helps that Harris and Nelson have great comedic rapport. The trajectory of Shelton's career would change with this effort, and her next, Humpday, remains one of my favorite mumblecore movies. The hilarious My Effortless Brilliance is not far behind.
Em honra de Lynn Shelton (1954 - 2020).
Bonito pequeno filme sobre as intermitências da amizade, quem já teve brigas sérias com grandes amigos pode totalmente sentir esse filme.
DVDRip no MakingOff.
This is not my favorite of hers and it’s IMO her weakest film but then again, it was only her 2nd feature-film at the time. It’s a barely passable one-time watch. But nevertheless, Lynn Shelton was such a unique & skillful filmmaker. When I heard she passed away, it really hurt me. She wasn’t just my favorite filmmaker of the mumblecore genre but she was getting started and was getting better every year, improving & adding some areas of her directing skills. It’s so heartbreaking. I really loved her, man. She was such a gifted filmmaker and so young, too. RIP Lynn 😔🙏🏼
I love the ideas here of exploring this type of dead friendship, it’d be very relatable to uncover, unfortunately the characters are not interesting beyond this concept, the dialogue feels aimlessly improv and the rough visual style doesn’t help. The lead character crosses over to grating asshole territory which made it harder to follow. Still, this makes sense as it was only Lynn Shelton’s second feature.
Not to be yet another review starting off about how much of a bummer it is to lose Lynn Shelton but this is my last of her movies and my appreciation for her has only gone further the more I’ve watched her and it’s sad she’s gone.
Read a review calling this a first draft at Humpday but I sorta felt the reverse, this is a more focused attempt at the same ideas. There’s just such a genuine understanding of broken friendships here. Every painful conversation between Eric and Dylan is spent feeling out old jokes and sentiments and trying to find if the other is at all the person they knew. Perhaps because it’s in the title of the…
Sean Nelson is really funny in this, he needs to do more. And if there ever was a film title to sum up Lynn Shelton it would be this. If you watch this on DVD make sure to catch the 12 minute making of featurette for a nice hit of serotonin. One nit, this may be an unpopular opinion but while the tikka masala at Taste of India is great, real Seattleheads know that the best is down the street at Chutneys.
In 77 minutes, Shelton is able to completely break the shell and exterior of the purely fragile male ego. It feels slow and drawn out, but it does it in such an efficient amount of time.
It's not perfect, but it's a wonderful experimentation.
Most likely my least preferred of Shelton's work so far, unfortunately. But even with that said, there's a lot to love here. It depicts a unique friendship beautifully, the main performance is exhaustingly believable, and the woody landscape looks gorgeous. The more of Lynn Shelton's work I watch, the sadder I am that she's gone.
One can see the origins of Humpday in this. The use of the locations in Washington make it fun to watch.
