Terri

Saw Terri, a touching and funny coming-of-age film. Its protagonist, Terri, is a hugely fat kid with incongruously nice hair. He is mocked by his classmates and has retreated from the world behind a wall of apathy and indifference. His family is composed only of an ancient, doddering old man he calls "Uncle." The film is a series of events which slowly penetrate his bulky shell. The film does a good job of conveying his feeling of utter indifference and vague suspicion that a good life is not for him. At one point he spies on a pretty girl from behind a literal wall of food (which is a bit on-the-nose, I feel.) Unusually for a coming-of-age film, the adults are mostly competent and knowing. When Terri deflects teasing away from a girl by purposefully making a fool of himself, the teacher calms the class and smiles at his back. One teacher is visibly upset with herself for not standing up for Terri when he's being bullied. The exception however is the goofy but fairly competent guidance councilor who Terri befriends.

The guidance councilor is very funny. At one point Terri feels bad for eating meat and ponders becoming a vegetarian. "Let's not go crazy here!" the councilor cautions. The film is full of understated bits of humor. Another example: at a funeral, the priest reads the eulogy all the way to the amen and then suddenly looks down at his bible as though he'd never seen it before and then toddles off. It's not a big setup/punchline joke, but it's wry and funny. The film is a mix of comedy and angst, erring usually on the comedy side but giving the angst its due. I usually find comedies too glib and pat to be really enjoyable and I didn't feel that way for this film. Its a little too highschool-y for me to really enjoy, but I dug this film. It's not bad.