Between Something & Nothing

It had bright moments coupled with sad ones. Students attend a college for Visual Arts by day and engage in typical college social life by night. It's a good film and I found the acting outstanding.

I though that this Verow film was not as good as his others. The script is a bit disjointed, and goes really ... nowhere. I DO, however miss Brad Hallowell as Joe. It seems to me that this role belonged to him ... and he is SOOOOO good. ... one of the most natural actors I’ve seen. It is not that Tim Swain wasn’t good in the role - the script was just not as good as most of Todd’s other films. It seems that the production values are at least getting a little better. I’ve always been disappointed in the audio production, especially, of Todd’s other films ... it is a tad better here.

I managed to watch this for free with Amazon Prime, and am glad I didn't waste any money on it. Between Something and Nothing is about an art student going on a twisted hedonistic binge at a demanding arts college. It's a coming of age film where some young people make some hard choices to survive in a bleak world. There are lots of drugs, theft, prostitution, and other bad choices to go around for everyone. None of the characters are likable. The main story follows an art student pursuing a street hustler in a very traumatic "relationship".It features some nudity, but that's a bit uncomfortable given the age the actors are portraying and the bad things they do. Even though it's an American film made in America with American actors, I had to watch with subtitles turned on due to the poor audio and video quality. The entire thing is very dark and depressing, both literally and figuratively. I suppose gritty realism has a place, but it's not the type of movie I'm looking for in my escapist entertainment in a Covid quarantine world.

This is by far the worst movie I have ever watched to the end. The sound is terrible, the music inappropriate, the acting stiff and the story time-line gets mauled. The RISD students are among the best in the art world, and this movie implies that they are all a bit off the wall or completely crazy. As for the street game in Providence, it is not all sordid as portrayed in the film. Not every hustler goes with just anyone, and a freshman from Bangor, ME would not fall quite so fast into street trade. The movie is just not realistic on any level.As to why I watched the movie until the end... I kept thinking something realistic would happen. I kept waiting for something familiar to ring true. I kept hoping the​ acting would improve. The only thing that improved was the change from the terrible sounding and inappropriate sound of the bongo playing to an obnoxious woodwind.

Verow always has a good sense of his characters. They are great to follow and see where they will end up.

If your real lucky and honest you will remember parts of this as your own past and cringe with excitement ... wonderfully nostalgic entertainment

Well, I am betwixt and between liking and disliking this film.! It's never clear to me if Tim really loves Joe as much as he claims--I feel its mostly a fling with possibilities! Also, I am not sure just what happened to Joe (did he accidentally kill himself, was he waylaid by someone and killed or was he doing a 'trick' and killed by the 'trick?' His 'recovery' from Joe's death seems quick for he quickly tries to make it with (can't recall his name)the other guy, but is rebuffed by same because of the Test issue! For me there is no resolution in Tim's life so I was left in the4 dark as to his future. Acting was above par and thought Joe was hot and would like to see him in another gay friendly film..

very good story -- well done

"Between Something and Nothing" is based on the real life experiences of its director Todd Verow, albeit with some artistic license (I suspect). The story is relatively simple, in that a young artist Joe arrives at Rhode Island School of Design as a partially funded student, hopeful to study towards a successful career as an artist. His experiences are fraught with complexities, with eccentric (perhaps jaded) lecturers, lack of finances and several friends we seem to exist on the fringe of normality. Indeed it is Joe himself that finds this fringe to be the most conducive to his own life experiences. He surrounds himself with people who are fragmented emotionally, eccentric in personality, and morally compromised when compared to normative society. One would expect such characters within an environment that illicits creativity and passion, and artists often exist on the fringes as a means of challenging society in all its ways. Joe defends into a world of alcohol, drugs and prostitution, attracted by the pace, personalities and vibrancy. Its almost as if these unlock his own understanding of self, through which he finds inner peace and creativity.Despite the premise the movie is exceedingly slow, with many of the characters being difficult to understand or sympathize with. This is not for a lack of direction, but rather as a consequence of the acting itself. At times the conversations seem overly poetic, almost as if the writer is seeking to make some political comment as opposed to contextualising the characters. This makes for a peripheral understanding of their motivations, emotions and experiences, with no real substance revealed throughout the movie. Joe infatuation with street hustler Ramon seems to suddenly appear, with no explanation of how such occurred or why. Whilst there is clearly an infatuation from Joe's side, there is no real clarity on why Ramon has the power over Joe that he does. Similarly there is no real reason as to why Joe himself finds it necessary to hustle himself, and the impact of such on his own identity seems to be irrelevant to the bigger picture. Not that the 'bigger picture' is self evident, and it takes a great deal of time before one really starts to see the story unfold. If you have managed to survive the pace, difficult story telling, then you may be interested in the dynamic between the characters themselves. Ramon in particular, was a potentially important character, although he is never fully explored leaving you feeling as if the story itself is incomplete.Despite which, I watched the movie to its end and suffered the indignity of an ending which is not really a conclusion but rather a beginning. This within itself may be frustrating to many, although I suspect that was the point.In summary, I was left disappointed. The movie was far too slow, and could have been far better considering the many interesting aspects contained within the life experiences of Joe. Unfortunately, it merely frustrates and never quite gets there.

I did not like the film