A Movie 10 People Have Seen

1. Josh and his long time girlfriend Emily go on a road-trip to pick up an old puffy recliner that Josh won on eBay and bring it to his dad for his birthday. Along the way they stop to pick up Josh’s neo-hippie brother. The three encounter various challenges along the way, and hash out their relationships. The film is directed by Jay Duplass, who co-wrote and produced the movie with his brother Mark Duplass. Mark and Kathryn Aselton star as the couple on the road trip. I have seen this film, and so should you.

2. This was the first feature by the Duplass Brothers. They went to college in Austin, Texas, in the mid 90s. In 2002, they made a short film called “This is John”, and it played at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. This earned them representation from The William Morris Agency. The Puffy Chair was made in 2005, but didn’t reach theaters until 2006, costing only $15,000 dollars to make.

3. The film screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the 2005 SXSW Film Festival. In January 2006, NetFlix and Roadside Attractions bought the distribution rights, and it finally hit theaters on June 2nd, 2006. It only reached seven theaters, and was gone completely that September.

4. There are multiple reviews available. It has a 76% on RottenTomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the film two thumbs up, and the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle are just a few publications that gave the film great reviews. The film’s website is here. I was not able to find a press release :(

5. It grossed $194,523 dollars domestic, but only $26,029 box office dollars from those seven theaters. Only $731 dollars were in foreign markets. On the other hand, DVD sales have been much more profitable, raking in $167,763 dollars.

6. The film's poster is at the top of this post, and the DVD cover art is very similar as well. I don’t think the poster works though, because it doesn’t show what the film is about at all. It does not look like the road trip movie it really is.

Here’s the film’s trailer:



The website is very simple and easy to use, and you can buy the film from there, which is essentially, because this film is tough to find if you don’t have NetFlix.

7. There’s a great article here in Wired Magazine about how this film was able to be picked up and distributed after a few uncertain months of not being bought.

The Duplass Brothers did many things correct, like bringing the film to many festivals and raking in multiple awards. But it’s a very hard movie to market. There are no stars, no budget, the script is highly improved and a part of the mumblecore movement, and there's a lot of shaky camera. This isn’t appealing to most moviegoers, but thankfully NetFlix and Roadside Attractions swooped in and distributed it. They also used indie music throughout the film and trailers, trying to find another niche of people who would find the film enjoyable.

The Duplass Brothers showed that you don't need a million dollars to make a film, just a few grand and a great story to tell.