Alex Ross Perry directs himself, Carlen Altman and Kate Lyn Sheil in this indie comedy where an awkward brother helps his abrasive sister move out of her ex’s apartment.

Alex Ross Perry is a rising director whose output doesn’t quite match his reputation. You can see potential in all his films but only the recent Her Smell actually deserved the attention lavished on it. I have no doubt he’ll get there but seeing this debut compared to the French New Wave is baffling. I mean… it is in black and white… and it is pretentious. The Color Wheel is far closer in spirit to the Gen X calling card debuts of Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley, Whit Stillman or Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith, actually being the closest. You keep catching glimpses of something bubbling beneath the surface while the grating siblings embarrass themselves and bicker. The fact that Perry actually breaks with conformity and goes there in the end… well its a shock if not a complete surprise. He should be applauded for making you care for the daring choice the story fades out on. And I did chuckle a few times during the build up. A curio, not a classic.

5

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