Skills Like This

Skills Like This loosely blends mumblecore aesthetics with hints of the plot of Godard's Breathless to varying degrees of success. Specifically we follow the adventures of a young man with a gun hooking up with a foxy chick after he robs a bank. All of the actors are spot on in their characterizations and the look and soundtrack scream hip in this indie feature made in Denver by filmmaker Monty Miranda. The situations are heightened and slightly unreal not unlike a television sitcom but with more of a sense of the absurd.
White guy with a tremendous fro Max (Spencer Berger, also the writer) feels like a reject after his play about an onion dance (you have to see it to believe it) suffers a disastrous opening. Hanging out at his favorite burrito lunch pad Max seeks solace from his friends Tommy (Brian Phelan as a softie who acts tough and who bears a sharp resemblance to Hal Hartley leading man Martin Donovan) and Dave (a nebbish wimp who has a beast residing within, lovingly etched by Gabriel Tigerman). On a whim, literally acting on the spur of the moment Max robs the bank across the street. It's here he first meets Lucy (a seductive role played with allure by Kerry Knuppe) who later bumps into him at a bar. Romance ensues but not before some witty dialogue and navel gazing.
All things not being equal Skills Like This works best as a short term diversion. It's never as fun as In Search of A Midnight Kiss although it's as delirious, and it's not as ambiguous as Alexander the Last but it offers its share of insight regarding rejection and scruples.
Skills Like This certainly has charisma and while it lacks media clout and notable stars it smells fresh and casts a spell over the viewers in the way that only a small unassuming film can. Skills Like This is playing in a brief and exclusive run at the downtown Angelika.