The Color Wheel (Alex Ross Perry, 2011): USA

Reviewed by Daniel Matthew Harrington. Viewed at AFI Fest 2011.

    Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel is a romantic comedy with a twisted sense of humor. Shot in black and white grainy film which compliments its retro effect. This film has many cutoff scenes as well as scenes that seem to be like improvised, but is artistic in its use of the camera.

The Color Wheel is a film about a woman named JR (Carlen Altman, Co writer) and her brother Collin (Alex Ross Perry, Director and writer) they don’t get along too much but Collin decides to go with her to her ex-boyfriend’s house, who was her college professor. When she arrives she finds her ex and his new girl, then things go bad so JR decides to take a walk. While out on a walk clearing her mind from the drama she runs into an old friend who tells her of a party she is having. During the conversation JR mentions her anchor auditions and her friends tells her that her cousin is a casting agent, so Jr makes it her mission to get her big career break. At the party JR finds out that her friends cousin didn’t show so her dreams feel crushed. Collin is getting attention from JR’s friend until he finds out that she didn’t want his sister to come she mainly wanted him. JR and Collin decide to leave and are surprised with their final experience.