Tiny Furniture

Tiny Furniture is a 2010 American comedy-drama film

Tiny Furniture
written, directed by, and starring Lena Dunham. The film
premiered at South by Southwest, where it won the award
for Best Narrative Feature,[3] screened at such festivals as
Maryland Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the
United States on November 12, 2010. Dunham plays Aura,
an aimless, jilted film school graduate who returns home on
what she hopes is a temporary basis. Dunham’s mother,
artist Laurie Simmons, plays Aura’s mother, while her real
sibling, Cyrus Grace Dunham, plays Aura’s on-screen sister.
The actors Jemima Kirke and Alex Karpovsky would also
appear in Dunham's television series Girls.

Plot
Having been dumped by her boyfriend after graduation,
Aura (Lena Dunham) moves back home to her mother's loft
in TriBeCa for the summer. Aura's plan is to save money
until her friend Frankie finishes her degree at Oberlin Theatrical release poster
College and can move to the city so that they can be
roommates. Aura's mother Siri is a successful photographer Directed by Lena Dunham
who takes pictures of scenes using tiny furniture. She is Written by Lena Dunham
aided by Candice, her assistant, and Aura's teenage sister,
Produced by Kylie Martin
Nadine. Siri is initially supportive of her daughter's return
home while Nadine appears condescending toward her. Alicia Van Covering
Upon moving back into her old room, Nadine commands Alice Wang
Aura to replace a lightbulb. While searching for one, Aura
Starring Lena Dunham
stumbles upon her mother's journals from when she was
Aura's age, and she begins reading them clandestinely. Laurie Simmons
Grace Dunham
Shortly after arriving home, Aura goes to a party where she
meets Jed, a mildly successful filmmaker who puts his work David Call
on YouTube. She also runs into her childhood friend Alex Karpovsky
Charlotte (Jemima Kirke), a recovering drug addict. She
Jemima Kirke
and Aura return to Charlotte's apartment that night, where
they smoke marijuana. Charlotte also helps Aura land an Amy Seimetz
$11/hour (no tips) job taking reservations at a restaurant. Merritt Wever
The news that she has landed a job is quickly overshadowed
Cinematography Jody Lee Lipes
by the fact that Nadine has won a prestigious poetry prize
for high school students. Aura begins to feel anxious in Edited by Lance Edmands
comparison to her put-together younger sister and resents Music by Teddy Blanks
the close bond between Nadine and their mother.
Production Tiny Ponies
company
Depressed, Aura begins to spend time with Jed, who is
couchsurfing as his agent tries to land him a TV Distributed by IFC Films
development deal, and flirts with Keith (David Call), a Release dates March 15, 2010
junior chef at the restaurant. When her mother and sister
(SXSW)
leave for a week in order to tour colleges, Aura invites Jed
to stay with her. Together they discover that Aura's pet November 12, 2010
hamster Gilda has died, and they store it in the freezer in a (United States)
plastic bag until Aura can bury her. Jed and Aura ultimately
neglect to take care of the apartment while drinking most of Running time 98 minutes
Siri's wine and eating frozen dinners. Siri eventually Country United States
confronts Aura about these things upon her return, which Language English
Aura first lies about before throwing a tantrum in front of
her mother and sister. Despite this, Aura later asks her Budget $65,000[1]
mom to let Jed extend his visit by having him stay on an Box office $416,498[2]
inflatable mattress in her room. She is eventually forced to
kick him out after he annoys Siri with his entitled attitude.

Meanwhile, Aura's flirtation with Keith hits a snag when she discovers he has a girlfriend and only
seems interested in her ability to obtain prescription pills through Charlotte. After Keith stands her
up when they make plans to get high together, Aura impulsively quits her restaurant job. Later that
night, Nadine has a party in their loft while their mother is out for the night. Aura becomes upset,
ostensibly by the number of drunk high schoolers at the party, and calls Charlotte to help deal with
the situation. Upon arriving, however, Charlotte merely joins the party as well. Nadine eventually
confronts Aura over her immaturity, yelling at her to grow up. The next morning, Aura's mother
finds the frozen hamster in the freezer, which Aura promptly disposes of. Aura also tells a
bewildered Frankie that she no longer can move in with her, offering the excuse that her mother
needs her too much.

Unsure of what to do with her filmmaking degree, Aura lucks out when Charlotte asks a curator
friend to put one of Aura's college videos in his gallery. At the exhibit, Charlotte is annoyed when
Frankie appears to discuss living arrangements with Aura. Charlotte encourages Aura to leave
Frankie in order to spend time with Keith, who also showed up. Ditching Frankie, Aura goes with
Keith and the two smoke marijuana in the street. Encouraged by Charlotte's earlier advice to be
spontaneous, Aura makes a move on Keith who, despite still being in a relationship, responds with
passion. As Keith still lives with his girlfriend and Aura cannot bring him to her mother's
apartment, the two crawl into a pipe in a construction yard where they have unprotected sex.

Returning home, Aura fights with her mother but eventually apologizes. She later climbs into bed
with her and tells her about her evening with Keith. Aura confesses to having read her diaries,
though her mother calmly replies she is not upset over it. Aura uses the opportunity to get to know
her mother, and asks her about what she was like when she was Aura's age.

Cast
Lena Dunham as Aura
Laurie Simmons as Siri
Cyrus Grace Dunham as Nadine
Jemima Kirke as Charlotte
Alex Karpovsky as Jed
David Call as Keith
Merritt Wever as Frankie
Amy Seimetz as Ashlynn
Garland Hunter as Noelle
Isen Ritchie as Jacob
Mike S. Ryan as Homeless Man
 Alex Ross Perry as Ashlynn’s Friend

Production
The film was shot on the Canon EOS 7D. Filming took place in Tribeca and Lower Manhattan. The
film was shot in November 2009.[4] Dunham says she wrote a "tight script" to which the actors
were faithful.[5] The soundtrack included music by Teddy Blanks of The Gaskets, Domino (Domino
Kirke, and Jordan Galland), Rebecca Schiffman and Sonia's Party! & The Everyone's Invited
Band.[6] The soundtrack is downloadable for free on the movie website.[7]

Home media
Tiny Furniture was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in 2012 as part of the Criterion
Collection.[8]

Reception

Critical response

Tiny Furniture received positive reviews from critics and holds an 80% approval rating on Rotten
Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 98 reviews. The site's critical consensus
reads, "Agonizingly funny, Tiny Furniture marks an observant study of a failure to launch and an
auspicious debut for writer-director Lena Dunham."[9] On review aggregator website Metacritic,
the film received a score of 72 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable
reviews".[10]

Joe Leydon of Variety gave the film a positive review, writing "Winner of the narrative feature
prize at the SXSW Film Festival, Tiny Furniture should strike a responsive chord in anyone who
remembers — or is experiencing — that post-college period in life when you’re impatiently eager to
invent yourself, yet hesitant to get started. Written and directed by newcomer Lena Dunham, who
also plays the lead role, this technically polished indie often feels like a semi-autographical effort
by a filmmaker trying to work out issues in her art that she’s still confronting in life. But that, too,
may help the pic connect with auds during limited theatrical exposure."[11]

Accolades

Lena Dunham won for Best First Screenplay at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards.[12]

References
1. Renee, V (March 16, 2014). "Filmmaking Tips from SXSW: Some of Indie Film's Biggest
Movers & Shakers Sound Off" (http://nofilmschool.com/2014/03/filmmaking-tips-from-sxsw-indi
e-films-movers-shakers-sound-off). No Film School. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
2. "Tiny Furniture" (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=tinyfurniture.htm). Box
Office Mojo. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
3. Renninger, Bryce J. (March 17, 2010). "SXSWdaily: Tiny Furniture, Marwencol, and More
Winners on the Web" (http://www.indiewire.com/article/sxswdaily_tiny_furniture_marwencol_an
d_more_winners_on_the_web/). IndieWire. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
 4. Carr, David (March 19, 2010). "Young Filmmaker's Search for Her Worth Is Rewarded" (https://
www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/movies/20tiny.html). The New York Times. Retrieved June 29,
2011.
5. Piotrowski, Angeline (July 29, 2010). "Traverse City Film Festival: Tiny Furniture Sweet Talks
Traverse City" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120425075301/http://community.mynorth.com/pr
ofiles/blogs/traverse-city-film-festival-395). MyNorth. Archived from the original (http://communit
y.mynorth.com/profiles/blogs/traverse-city-film-festival-395) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved
3 January 2012.
6. "Official website soundtrack and credits" (http://www.tinyfurniture.com/assets/presskit/TF_Soun
dtrack.zip) (Zip). Tinyfurniture.com. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
7. "A Film By Lena Dunham" (http://www.tinyfurniture.com/). Tiny Furniture. 1985-04-26.
Retrieved 2013-10-07.
8. Jagernauth, Kevin (April 5, 2011). "Lena Dunham's 'Tiny Furniture' Headed To The Criterion
Collection In 2012" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110811194409/http://blogs.indiewire.com/th
eplaylist/archives/lena_dunhams_tiny_furniture_headed_to_the_criterion_collection/).
IndieWIRE: The Playlist. Archived from the original (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archiv
es/lena_dunhams_tiny_furniture_headed_to_the_criterion_collection/) on August 11, 2011.
Retrieved June 29, 2011.
9. "Tiny Furniture (2010)" (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tiny_furniture-2009/). Rotten
Tomatoes. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
10. "Tiny Furniture" (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tiny-furniture). Metacritic. Retrieved May 1,
2016.
11. Leydon, Joe (March 23, 2010). "Review: 'Tiny Furniture' " (https://variety.com/2010/film/markets
-festivals/tiny-furniture-1117942455/). Variety. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
12. "26th Independent Spirit Awards Winners - 'Black Swan' Gets Four!" (https://www.firstshowing.
net/2011/26th-independent-spirit-awards-winners-black-swan-gets-four/). Firstshowing.net.
Retrieved June 29, 2011.

External links
Tiny Furniture (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1570989/) at IMDb
Tiny Furniture (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tiny_furniture-2009) at Rotten Tomatoes
Tiny Furniture (https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v513013) at AllMovie
Tiny Furniture (https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=tinyfurniture.htm) at Box Office Mojo
Tiny Furniture (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/tiny-furniture) at Metacritic
Tiny Furniture: Out There (http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2149-tiny-furniture-out-there/)
an essay by Phillip Lopate at the Criterion Collection

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