Fur

A number of my friends praised this film a great deal, so although I loathed the director's previous effort, Secretary, I gave Fur a try. I'm extremely pleased I did and, as pretentious as this may sound, I'm even more pleased that I didn't not like the film—I think a year ago, I would have not had the patience for it nor the willingness to follow the director's lead. I think the fact that I actually did like Fur says in some small sense that I've matured as a film viewer.

Fur's a very diffident film, but beautifully so, and probably takes its spirit from the interplay between Shainberg (the director) and Harry Downey, Jr., who is marvelous here. Fur eschews prestige moments for the most part—there are moments of heightened dynamics or emotionality, but they are arrived at and left so smoothly that one never feels prodded or even provoked, despite the "freakish" content of the film and the completely earnest artificiality of the plot. I give it the Seal of Approval.