Indie film brings up a lot of controversial issues

I am not a big indie film buff, but saw this movie for a class I am taking. From my knowledge, indie films are basically any film that is not made by a studio- regardless of how much it costs to make. The film "The New Twenty" cost about 500k dollars.

When I sat down to watch “The New Twenty,” the only thing I knew about the film was the title. I went into the screening with a completely open mind, and had no idea what I was getting myself into. This film, about five best friends living in New York City, was written and directed by Chris Mason Johnson. It was produced in 2009, and filmed in New York City. “The New Twenty” follows the lives of five late- twenties people who have been best friends in college. It shows the ups, and downs of their friendship, and their ultimate separating of ways. The movie is set in the year 2006, just seven years after the five characters all graduated from college. There are two gay men, one woman, the alpha male, and a heroine addict. The alpha male, and the woman announce their engagement, at the beginning of the film, and for the next seventy minutes or so, we are shown a glimpse of each of the characters lives, at that moment in time. We watch two men fall in love, another man desperately seeking companionship, the self destruction of another character through his drug dependency, and a couple break up.

In this film, Chris Mason Johnson is trying to make several, very subtle, yet loud statements about a lot of different issues. The most noticeable to me was that he wanted to show how people, no matter how good of friends, will ultimately separate. Be it through time, or other circumstances, all friendships are probably going to end. The film shows how one circumstance, one person, can change an entire dynamic between friends. A lot of mainstream films and television shows depict friendships that last through unthinkable events. In reality, people change, grow apart, and I think that Johnson really shows this well in “The New Twenty.”

I feel like casting and character development played an extremely important role in telling this story. There was a very diverse cast which consisted of the not- so- typical “Hollywood” type actors. The characters seemed very real. They were not extremely good looking, and were very believable in this setting. The ensemble consisted of a brother and sister, Tony and Julie, who are Asian American, Felix, Andrew, and Ben. Ben and Tony are both gay, while Felix and Andrew are straight. Johnson wanted to show that gay men and straight men can be friends, without any awkward jokes, or typical “gay man falls in love with straight friend” type situations happening. This was another one of the subtle issues he touched on in “The New Twenty.” There is such a huge stigma in society today that gay and straight men can not possibly have a normal friendship, and Johnson wanted to show that this is not true.

Johnson also wanted to bring to the screen a gay relationship, especially because it is so rare in the mainstream. Of course it is definitely becoming more common and more accepted, it is still way underrepresented. The gay topic is very relevant in today’s society with all of the hype surrounding Proposition 8 and gay marriage. He doesn’t really bring any of these issues into the movie, but by having a gay couple, and gay characters in the film, he is definitely making a statement about it. He seems to just want to show that gay people are normal, and love just like everyone else.

For a nanosecond, the film mentions the disease almost always associated with gay men- HIV. There is a brief second where Tony is confronted with the news that his boyfriend is positive, and must decide how important he is. He freaks out for a minute, but then comes to the realization that his feelings are stronger than the disease, and they work out their issues. Despite the fact that his boyfriend Robert has tested positive, he is healthy, and Tony deals with it. The film comes back to this topic just a few times throughout the movie, but it is downplayed compared to many of the other things going on.

One of the other issues brought up in this film was the use of heroine. One of the characters, Felix, clearly has a problem with the drug, but none of the other characters want to admit it. Because he does not “shoot up” he does not necessarily have a problem. There is a scene where two of the characters are talking to another friend, and she calls Felix an addict. They both become very defensive and say that he is not an addict, and does not have a problem with the drug. It is this same night that he overdoses, and almost dies. A lot of people who have friends that use this drug do not believe they have a problem because they are not injecting it. The only people who are addicts use needles; everyone else uses the drug for recreational purposes. This film draws a new light on the subject, a subject that I knew literally nothing about before watching.

Through the intertwining stories of these five characters, we can see how circumstances changed the way they viewed each other and their friendships. While stressing this main issue, Johnson was able to tackle a lot of smaller issues. He then tied them all together to show just how people who are very different can coexist and become friends. I really enjoyed the cast selection, and felt that the actors did a good job portraying each of their different characters. I loved the diversity of the cast, both ethnically, and socially, and how Johnson seemed to blend them so well. The characters were very believable as friends, and I didn’t necessarily feel like I was watching a movie. I felt more like I was a fly on the wall of these people’s lives and watching in real time. Because it was an indie film and none of the actors were big stars, I was able to really let myself get into the movie, which does not happen as often in mainstream films.

I liked how the film showed something so real, and did not try to change anything. I liked how real the film felt, and I really enjoyed the New York setting. The film feels extremely New York, and if it had been set somewhere like Los Angeles, it would be completely different. I think that Johnson was able to really bring up a lot of very relevant issues, without throwing them at you head on. I like the subtlety of the movie, and how it made very heavy issues a little lighter, without actually taking away from them. Not to mention, the film had an amazing soundtrack. Overall, I would recommend this film to a friend.


please visit thenewtwentymovie.com to view the film credits and trailer