24 June 2008

What sounds like a torture device employed by Monty Python's version of The Spanish Inquisition is the title of the debut feature for the Duplass Brothers, winner of Best of the Fest Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Audience Award at the SXSW Festival, and described by Variety as "laugh out loud funny" and as "the funniest, hippest relationship drama of the year" by the Daily Mirror.

Josh (Mark Duplass) is a failed New York City indie rocker turned failing booking agent. He likes to save money whenever the opportunity presents itself and always has to be on time. He also likes to dominate the small things in his world. His younger brother, Rhett (Rhett Wilkins), likes to film lizards in the bushes outside his apartment and to talk at length about honesty and bad mojo and how both can feed on your energy. Emily (Kathryn Aselton), Josh's girlfriend of three years, likes to make sweeping statements about what she believes to be the essence of marriage. Her favourite movie is Sleeping In Seattle.

One of Josh's key abilities is being able to find the potential for a small victory in a really bad idea. With his father's birthday approaching, he decides to purchase a 1985 Lazy Boy armchair from eBay just like the one his dad had when he and Rhett were kids. His plan is to drive cross-country with Emily to pick up the chair, staying at Rhett's house along the way, and then to deliver the chair to his father as a surprise birthday gift. What Josh doesn't count on is Rhett insisting on coming along for the ride. With three people and a giant purple puffy chair crammed into a tiny van on a misguided road trip, it's only a matter of time before one of them has to go.

Filled with "cherishable comic moments" (BBCi), The Puffy Chair "captures the awkwardness and frustration of young adulthood with loving accuracy" (The Guardian) and heralds the arrival of the Duplass Brothers as a pair of bright new indie filmmakers to watch.

The Puffy Chair will be released on UK DVD by Scanbox Entertainment on 1st September 2008 at the RRP of £15.99. Sound and picture details have yet to be confirmed, and it does look as though