Sundance 2010 Review: ONE TOO MANY MORNINGS
Score: 8/10
Writers: Anthony Deptula, Stephen Hale, Michael Mohan
Director: Michael Mohan
Actors: Anthony Deptula, Stephen Hale, Tina Kapousis
ONE TOO MANY MORNINGS tells the tale of two longtime friends, Fischer (played by co-writer Stephen Hale) and Peter (played by the film’s other co-writer Anthony Deptula). Two manboys living very different lives, yet both at a breaking point in their quarterlife crises. Fischer, a bit of a deadbeat alcoholic, lives in a church. In exchange for room and board, he locks the doors and lets there be no light every night after closing time. Peter, on the other hand, has a normal job and a normal relationship with his girlfriend Rudy (Tina Kapousis). Or so it seems. After Peter and Rudy have a falling out, he decides to unexpectedly drop in on Fischer and pay his old pal a visit. What happens over the next few days in their crossroads of life is a learning experience involving cougars, binge drinking (in the church), little league soccer and a lot of self-discovery.
First time director Michael Mohan (and the films third co-writer), pulls off an unconventional black-and-white aesthetic beautifully in this low budget indie dramedy. Films of this caliber regularly have an air of cheap unprofessionalism about them, yet here, the filmmaker uses the resources available to create a rich textured and beautifully heartfelt tale of two friends trying to figure out their futures as they dissect their pasts.
And in this budding bromance of sorts, Hale and Deptula play the two with an earnest and genuine quality of true love for each other mixed with despair for their own selves. Which is exactly the thing that works so well in the film. We’ve all had friends like these two and, maybe even quite possibly, you are one of these guys or girl. Hell, maybe you are even a cougar looking for love in all the young places.
Whatever you may be, ONE TOO MANY MORNINGS is a film that gets to the heart of getting older. It’s that feeling where you sit there as life occurs in front of you, passing you by. As it plays out almost in a silent or black-and- white movie sort of way, with all the color and sound and vibrance of your life absent, you say to yourself “So, this is growing up…”
Or as Bob Dylan once said, "For I'm one too many mornings, And a thousand miles behind."
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