Natural Causes (2008) watch online HD

Natural Causes is the story about a relationship, and is punctuated by numerous one-liners and humorous scenes to add some much-needed levity, but it is not your average romantic comedy.

The romance in Natural Causes is presented in a series of slices. Nearly every one holds a biting, often awkward core of truth that anyone who has been through a relationship will recognize. While they are nearly universal themes, these are the things we rarely talk about, and rarely see on screen: the awkward coldness of a conversation in which one of the participants is too distracted to care, or an attempt to displace relationship strife with lovemaking that fails after one half-hearted kiss. While these scenes can be a bit of a downer, audience members who have had similar experiences will find them almost comfortable despite their awkwardness, and bordering on nostalgic (provided the viewer is thinking back to a long-ago folly with perfect hindsight and not nursing a harrowing recent breakup).

You can do naught but root for the main characters as they travel the length and breadth of a multi-year relationship, knowing that the mistakes they make are sometimes classic, and that at the same time, they can do nothing else but make them. Where else but in a relationship are we each, one and all, seemingly destined to make the same mistakes over and over again? When all is said and done, even these mistakes can't be pointed to as the true reason for the couple's troubles. Indeed, some relationships simply meet their demise when their number is up.

The movie is well written and acted, especially by it's principle actors, Jerzy Gwiazdowski and Leah Goldstein. Filmed on a shoestring budget in record time, the sound and camera work does suffer in some places, especially in outdoor scenes and shots involving lots of movement. Overall, an excellent first offering from Cannon, Lerman and Cannon.

Jerzy Gwiazdowski (David) and Leah Goldstein (Cara) co-star in a heartwarming romantic drama as twenty-something young adults who meet quite randomly, flirt, date, get intimate, break up, and question their future.

The directing/writing/producing triumvirate of brothers Alex and Paul Cannon and Michael Lerman conceived "Natural Causes" after their own failed relationships. During a pivotal scene about halfway through the film, Kate MacCluggage (Amy) tells Gwiazdowski's David that early relationships are meant to fail to provide a backdrop for reflection and compatibility.

I watched "Natural Causes" as part of Boston's International Film Festival, and while understanding that the film was intended as a series of vignettes of a relationship interrupted by black screens to signify elapsed time, I would have enjoyed the film more if the blackness was either shorter or nonexistent. I was struck by the amazing cinematography and location shoots throughout the New York-based film, but there were a few outdoor scenes that were very choppy due to unsteady hand cameras; this sort of footage reminded me of "The Blair Witch Project." Aside from some of the camera shots and the blackness in between the vignettes, my only other complaint is the soundtrack appeared music-intensive. While some music was appropriate to set a scene or segue into another scene, there were other points when music was played for no apparent reason.

I did enjoy many aspects of symbolism, such as the sound of heavy thunder to accompany relationship conflict and scenes of David and Cara driving on a very curvy road to signify their unknown future, neither one knowing what's behind the next curve.

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing this movie during the SXSW film fest in Austin. From the opening scene, the film carries you with a both brilliant and delicate use of wit and timing that subtly builds empathy between the audience and the main characters. This emotional connection allows the audience to share in the joys and trials of their relationship, feeling for both characters, yet never singly routing for either of them. The script is wonderfully balanced in this regard, displaying the issues each of the characters has in the relationship and allowing the audience to relate to their mindset; sometimes with something as small as a look or a change in expression.

Some of the brilliance of this film comes through in how the script talks "around" what is going on between the two main characters. There are some very strong scenes where one of the main characters is speaking to something which is unrelated to his or her main train of thought or is acting in a way that seems to portray a certain mindset, only to have his or her subsequent actions counter this impression a moment later. (***spoiler*** A specific example of this is the scene where David surprises his girlfriend with a CD, and while she seems to be very uncomforatable with his presence, her attitude changes in an instant showing a real conflict of emotion.***spoiler***)

The only critisisms I have of the film are very small. There are some scenes where the camera shot is held on an empty scene for effect after an interaction between the characters, and sometimes this is done for too long. The street "argument" scene is an example of this. Once the characters leave the shot, it is held for an inorderantly long time.

The other criticism I have comes from the only confusing scene of the movie. (***spoiler*** There is a scene where David gets suited up and looks like he is excited to be meeting his girlfriend only to have it end badly, but there is an oddity to it in that they end up talking in a place that appears to be her work and lends question to where they were going in the first place.***spoiler***). It seemed as if there was a scene cut here.

Other than these minor comments however, the film was incredibly moving and had such simple brilliance in its cinematography, script, and character interactions to leave you talking about it for hours after.

I don't think I've seen a film before that is as real and easy to relate to as "Natural Causes" is. It was exactly what we all go through at some point or another. The trials and tribulations that seem so specific and completely our own happen to everyone whether or not we want to admit it. It was great to be able to "live" experiences like that with the characters on the screen and an entire theater of people. Most people go through relationships thinking what they feel is completely unique and no one can even fathom even a portion of the joy or pain they experience. While that may be true in some respects because what one feels can never exactly be felt by another, there are parallels and situations that everyone goes through. If you put ten people in a room and have each tell their best and worst relationship experience and each person will completely relate and agree with each person while still holding onto their own feelings knowing they are different. This film made me realize that as awful as a breakup or bad relationship can be, there's a kind of comfort in knowing you're not the only one who's dealt with it. It was an amazing look into something so raw and human, a film anyone can relate to because everyone has been every character in it at some point.