6 Years

6 Years depicts young love with the naivety, tumultuousness, and consistent uncertainty that so often plagues it. It concerns Melanie Clark (Taissa Farmiga) and Dan Mercer (Ben Rosenfield), a college-aged couple that has been together for six years and finds themselves still entranced by great conversations, great understanding for one another, and great sex. However, their relationship doesn't come with a total pass from its own fair share of hardships; we see early on in the film a simple fight between Mel and Dan turns into a physical fight, with Mel pushing Dan into a dresser, where he gets a head wound serious enough to warrant a hospital visit.

Nonetheless, all is forgiven and the two maintain the same love and affection for one another they've had for years. Mel and Dan frequent parties together and are clearly enjoying one another's company while it lasts. Yet, Dan has bigger plans, potentially getting him and his band signed to a record label and moving to New York City, much to the dismay of Mel, who has reworked her life revolving around Dan and their agreed plans to live together. The two wind up facing more arguments and animosity than they ostensibly faced before, and the pressures of life and preconceived plans find themselves at a crossroads now more than ever before.

6 Years asks the question if the person we fall in love with when we're young is the same person we'd be keen on spending the rest of our lives with, and in most situations, that could go both ways. If a person can handle you during high school and college, some of the most stressful and nervewracking times of your life, then perhaps that same person is worthy of you for the rest of your life. However, if that person can handle you during those times, but holds you back and/or limits you during the times that could make or break your personality for the rest of your life, are they really getting and supporting the whole you or the current, half-baked version of you?

The film depicts one character, Dan, as someone who is consistently moving forward, looking towards forming a band, a career, and a life, hoping that the girl he's stuck with for six years now will come with him on this incredible journey. However, Mel's plans don't involve big moves to New York City, nor do they foresee huge changes. They see slow assimilation into every day conventionality, possibly involving a small, sufficient home and satisfying careers that may be what calls for the momentary situation, but not what calls for long-term, sustainable happiness. Mel makes the mistake of making Dan her whole life, while forgetting that he, indeed, has a life to attend to and she, in addition, has serious career choices she needs to make, as well, before she's stuck in a rut of which is impossible to get out.

Now more than ever, young people are realizing their ability to make it far without committing to one person, and that, while presenting serious cons to the concepts of serious dating and commitment, are strong for the ideas of self-reliance and personal dependency. 6 Years focuses on what happens when dependency, while comforting and possibly the only thing somebody has known, can be detrimental to the future of a person.

The film was directed by Hannah Fidell, known for her work on the heavily understated and fairly strong film A Teacher, which depicted a teenager's illicit relationship with his teacher. Despite hefty criticism for that film, Fidell seemed hesitant to change anything with 6 Years. This is a film heavily built on understated drama and situations that most mainstream films would overplay to death; while it didn't entirely work for A Teacher, Fidell wisely keeps things very low-key here. Farmiga and Rosenfield do strong work as the leads, particularly in the way they handle the minimalistic, sometimes downright impressionistic (the ending, the abuse scenes) scenes of the film with great conviction. The film's high level of romanticism also comes into play during key love-making and heartfelt scenes between the two actors that shows a great sense of passion. From these, we can tell, without being explicitly told, that while these characters may not be the best at communicating what's really on their minds, they've made up for it in the way they make love and show each other unmatched affection.

6 Years is a film that shows the animosity and sheer impossibility of young love, possibly questioning whether or not it's inherently doomed, like a star-crossed idea, bound to fail if even initiated. It reminds me of high schools, when I saw some couples tough it out for two, three, and, one particular couple, four years. "How does it feel to go on for longer than most marriages," I'd casually, but seriously, ask them.

Starring: Taissa Farmiga and Ben Rosenfield. Directed by: Hannah Fidell.

6 Years is a movie that feels more like a draft than a final product. Everything feels underdeveloped, especially the two leads. Mel and Dan are both awful people, and it feels like Hannah Fidell herself doesn't empathize with her characters. These are the people we're supposed to at least be invested in, but what's the point if neither the filmmaker nor the audience likes these people or wants them to be together? I get that this isn't a love story, but there still should be a certain level of empathy for the characters. However, there is none, and they're both careless without any sense of self-awareness.

To be fair, Taissa Farmiga and Rosenfield both do very well with the material they're given. They improvised just about everything, though they couldn't do much beyond what Fidell gave them. Even though I'm writing this a few years after the film's release, I still hope they have lasting careers. They're believable as a couple, and they sell the final scene.

I also think Fidell herself deserves some credit for exploring unhealthy relationships. Though I think it could have been done much better, unhealthy relationships are not often portrayed outside the Lifetime lens, so for her to create complex characters in this situation deserves commendation.

Do I recommend it? I dunno. I cried when I watched it, but that was likely because I'd just had a breakup. If you've got time to kill, go for it, but it's not going to be the thought-provoking, life-altering experience it clearly wants to be.

Hannah Fidell writes and directs her third feature film 6 Years, a film about the youngest love and what happens when it arrives at a pivotal crossroads.

We all know someone or have experienced that first love, it feels ideal and true, almost too much so, and 6 Years examines that relationship when the persons in the relationship begin to evolve.

6 Years could not be more indie in content if it tried. Okay, that's a bold faced lie, but it is very 'indie'. It has a mundane but appreciable quality in its grasp on real and un-exaggerated relationship dynamics. The events that transpire are unremarkable but contain weight and merit in their impact on the couple, Dan and Mel. Mundane is not necessarily bad, however those wishing to use cinema as a form of escapism should look elsewhere.

Both Hannah Fidell's writing and the performances of Taissa Farmiga and Ben Rosenfield make 6 Years incredibly engaging and honest. The characters are flawed, neither innocent as their relationship becomes increasingly volatile, and at times they can be purely irredeemable. Their emotions are pure and some more elder actors might learn a thing or two from these gifted talents.

Less experienced independent film watchers tend to have a problem with complex characters who exist rather than trying to win over the audience. Further, when it comes down to the plot and drama in the film, it is quite youthful in its simplicity. Twenty-somethings should be able to see themselves in the film and appreciate its sincere approach to love and relationships.

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I am bothered considerably to note how familiar I found this story. It's not the first film to portray a young romance filled with passion and volatility. But most lack the authenticity of 6 Years.

The characters are RAW. There is no hero here. Not since Blue Valentine have I seen characters expose such intimate flaws, while still maintaining empathy.

Credit for this should be awarded to the improv heavy style and insanely talented actors. Rosenfield is effortless perfection. His bargaining pleas were heartfelt and his retaliations so cold. Farmiga shone as both victim and aggressor. The grief and the rage and regret in her face felt far too real.

I think this movie will gain more favour with those who find it relate-able. Well worth the watch for me.

While it starts off, relatively cheerful and upbeat, the protagonists (Taissa Farminga and Ben Rosenfield), play a young couple in college who have supposedly been together for 6 years. There relationship is whimsical at best, fleetingly showing any signs of chemistry or real passion towards one another.

While yes, this is an indie picture, the timing and plot are unerringly slow and nonsensical.

The supporting cast, are awful. Not helped by your immediate disdain for their characters, while Farminga's college friends play a highly stereotypical 'white girl wasted' college students, they do not grate as much as Rosenfields, 'hipster', work colleagues. In what world, would any self-respecting, reasonable audience member watching this film believe that firstly, they resemble anything similar to a real person, let alone this aloof, "bring us another beer" cool, music, hipster adults.

While, the main protagonists are certainly in appearance alone OK for this film, they're acting is not. Farminga spends the whole film either crying, or touching her hair. I would love to know how many times she literally ran her hands through her hair in this film, but that would mean I would have to watch the film once more.

Overall, I would definitely give this film a miss, the fact that Netflix spent £1m, buying the rights to this film, show's only that they are too successful.