I have always said that film reflects society and that couldn’t be proven more accurate than with indie comedy Fort Tilden. It’s labeled a comedy, surely it’s supposed to be funny, but is it rarely funny when the two female characters in the film accurately reflect the type of hipster / millennial that fills the streets of New York City (and Urban Outfitters). “I’m so inspired right now. I can’t ignore that,” Harper says, noticing a crop top at a clothing warehouse she has to have. Fort Tilden takes everything (cell phone obsession, spoiled behavior, lack of self-worth) most people detest about young people and amplifies it to a nauseating degree. This is the love child of Frances Ha and Lola Versus. I think this film could be a drama, comedy or tragedy depending on the audience.
Harper (Elliott) and Allie (McNulty) met a guy and his nerdy friend at a party the night before and have invited themselves to join their beach day at Fort Tilden. Expressing their need to have a relaxing day where they don’t spend any money, Harper and Allie spend the entire morning delaying their trip, arguing over how to get there, what to wear, meeting up with friends, showing their apartment, buying a $200 barrel that was thrown out as junk. Once they find bikes, begin their journey from Brooklyn to Fort Tilden they encounter even more delays with a near accident involving a baby, stolen bikes, only to arrive at their destination with the day nearly gone and still lost.
Fort Tilden takes everything most people detest about young people and amplifies it to a nauseating degree.
In the first ten minutes of Fort Tilden I really began to hope this was a horror film, where Harper and Allie were just the introductory characters who would be violently killed before the title credit appeared. That never happened and by minute 17 I hated everything about these two characters and wished nothing but the worst would happen to them, except the worst does happen and it just makes them more annoying. “I want this place to be sex ready,” Harper says, attempting to set their apartment in order before they leave. Yet they plop the wooden barrel in front of their steps before leaving because they are too lazy to carry it up one flight of stairs.
The more I suffered through this film I realized that writer/directors Sarah Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers are actually making very sharp commentary on the type of youngsters portrayed in the film. For instance one of the running jokes is how Allie advertises her decision to join the Peace Corps in Libya, yet she can’t even get from Brooklyn to the coast of New York without personal tragedy and a near total meltdown. It’s supposed to be humorous that these girls think they are so cool, beautiful, sexy and interesting when everything they do and say proves the opposite. I doubt even Adam Sandler or Kevin James could deliver a film more frustrating and annoying as what Harper and Allie accomplish on screen, simply because those guys are fictional and these girls are really out there somewhere.
Final Thought
Fort Tilden explores the degradation of society through Harper & Allie, one conversation at a time.