The Street (2004)
"The Street" really only has one
thing going for it and that is a strong cast, in particular
Jamie Iglehart as Aram, the wispy, charming and likeable
protagonist of the piece. Iglehart is a sweet and
talented young actor who looks like the bastard child
of Andrew McCarthy and Jack White. His character in
this film, Aram, lives in a squalid apartment in New
York and flirts with beginning a career as a writer
and an actor while dealing with his emerging problems
with sexual intimacy. The character is thinly drawn,
sometimes obvious and contrived, and often disappointing,
but Iglehart somehow manages to keep us interested
in the film. It doesn't hurt that he spends a bit
of his screen time half undressed as well.
But to be sure, writer/director
Noam J. Christopher's film is a very slight piece
of storytelling. "The Street" (and this film really
has nothing to do with a street) goes all over the
place with Aram dealing with all sorts of pointless
characters and issues that never really amount to
much. He spends time with his troubled but pleasant
sister, his distant and obtuse father, his flirty
and oblivious mother, his crass and abusive stepfather,
and meanwhile engages in a succession of disappointing
amorous encounters with random females. (I won't mention
the one brief scene with a male admirer that is so
contrived and ridiculous it borders on offensive).
None of this really goes anywhere of import. Aram's
too solid of a guy to not work through these minor
foils.
Aram doesn't really have a job but
has enough of a trust fund apparently to live in New
York and spend a few hours in therapy. Eventually,
he jets off to L.A. and almost lands a gig as an actor
in a proposed remake of "The Graduate." To be kind,
I won't suggest that Christopher is implying that
his film is in any way comparable to that massively
important cinematic masterpiece or that Aram is in
any way similar to Benjamin Braddock. That would just
be foolishness.
Eventually, Aram spends some time
with his sister and father in London and seems to
grow more assure of himself and more calm and focused.
But, to be honest about it, "The Street" really goes
nowhere, says nothing and doesn't have any reason
to exist really. Except as a vehicle to introduce
us to the charms of the engaging Iglehart, this film
is completely useless.
Note:
The Internet Movie Database does
not have an entry for this film but Iglehart is listed
there and his only other acting credit is in a TV
series called "She Spies," which I have never even
heard of.
Viewed in October 2004 as a part
of the Austin Film Festival at the Hideout.
