Exit Elena (2012) - Nathan Silver

A strangely transfixing study of familial dysfunction, Nathan Silver's Exit Elena is an ultra-low budget film with large ambitions hiding underneath the surface of its awkward, relatively uneventful narrative.  Exit Elena may at first feel inconsequential, but its awkwardness is a vessel for capturing humanistic truths in this profoundly unorthodox study of social unease, embarrassment, and self-doubt.  Having not even a shred of exposition, the backstory related to Elena is unknown yet inconsequential in the scope of this narrative, as it's clear she herself is struggling internally, a character whose relationship with the monarch of the family she works for is becoming more and more maternal- a situation which seems to deep down serve both these individuals' emotionally.  While the film's low-quality, lived-in aesthetic feels more a function of financial limitations than creative decision at first, as Exit Elena progresses one begins to notice how much this aesthetic perfectly matches the themes of the film, making one wonder if it was a deliberate choice, regardless of financial implications.  The home video sheen, with its grainy, claustrophobic feel evokes the emotional claustrophobia felt by its main character, a woman whose general unease and awkwardness is felt in every frame of this story.  She is a character who has been injected into a family with various dynamics as an outsider; she is embraced by the mother and monarch of the family, yet this place can only be temporary for her, a visitor whose not a member of this group.  Using comedic tension to elicit universal truths about both family and the human condition itself, Exit Elena specifically exhibits our need as human beings for some form of a shared experience.