REVIEW - RESULTS (ANDREW BUJALSKI)

A great idiosyncratic talent, proving their worth as a figure of genuine artistic significance in the American cultural landscape by demonstrating their versatility. Andrew Bujalski's Results is his most informal, unstructured piece yet, and a departure from the rigour of his former works - the ease with which he makes this stylistic transition, from formalistic drama to knockabout rom-com, is remarkable, though the change itself is so abrupt and so severe as to represent as pure and as strategic an artistic choice as anything Bujalski has devised before. Results may have the looseness of form and the casual character of an improvised ramble, the kind of film that only gets by on the accidental charm of its comedy, but the precision of the execution of its central concern - human interaction - betrays the detail that went into its construction. Between Bujalski's writing and the performances of the cast, right down to the smallest ensemble player, Results carries a gentle yet profound air of verisimilitude about it, one released in the most minute aspects of the mise-en-scene and in the slightest of gestures by the actors, even as Bujalski's narrative machinations let him down. What's most admirable about the film is its comedic achievement, as little authenticity is sacrificed in the pursuit of a good gag; as a rom-com, it's wholly uncommon in ways that will surprise you, which may be what makes its deference to romantic convention a tad deflating toward the end. Guy Pearce is strong, if somewhat schematic in his appreciation of his role, while Cobie Smulders and Kevin Corrigan - underused in later scenes - deliver committed, vibrant performances, worthy of the film, and indeed informing its quality.