A good story is about people with a problem and their attempts to solve it. Sometimes the problems are large – aliens are attacking! – and sometimes they are smaller. In Sofa, So Good, the problem is how to get a cheap sofa across town when you don’t have a car. This short black-and-white movie was directed by The Thiele Brothers, Kyle, Cole, and Eli. who was also the cinematographer. They have taken the best of no-budget guerrilla filmmaking techniques and made a little gem.
Jake (Joseph Jeffries) lives with his cousin Red (Yahel Pack) in Dayton, Ohio, in a couchless house. They are still young enough, late teens/early twenties, that the bachelor lifestyle of a sleeping bag in front of the TV was a fine idea, but becoming less pleasant the longer it goes on. They are both smart if directionless young men, who chat amiably about ideas and future plans as they sit around on the floor. Finally they decide that sitting on the floor, as a lifestyle, has its limits. When they see an ad for a $50 couch taped to a streetlight, they begin to think all their problems might be solved. Plus they have a friend they call SUV (Robert Cash) with a truck. Only he’s swapped it for a hatchback and is a hilariously terrible driver to boot. So there’s nothing for it; they’re going to have to carry the sofa home. At least it’s not raining, mostly.
It is very clear that American artists with more ideas than cash, priced out of the traditional coastal hotspots, have made themselves at home in the Midwest. The glorious Hundreds of Beavers, also in black and white, was a Michigan movie, but bigger things are happening in Ohio, where Columbus has a growing film reputation. But Dayton clearly has its own quirks perfect for weird indie cinema, apparently not limited to marching bands, a really scary house of mirrors, and a sofa-hating sadist (Desmond Gilmore) who leads a band of anti-comfort hooligans who sometimes set sofas on fire. So Red and Jake’s journey across town is not without its perils.
The mix of ordinary life and bizarre hyper-reality is incredibly charming. Everything was clearly filmed on the street, in costumes thrown together from the back of people’s closets, and with a willingness to get weird that’s reminiscent of early Linklater. Is it perfect? Well, it’s very short, there are barely any women in it, and the gimmicks can somewhat outweigh the reality. But it looks wonderful – it’s very crisply shot, with an eye for dramatic locations. The city of Dayton has clearly seen better days, but the sprawl and the space of the town allows for plenty of room for the adventures to unfurl. Its style and charisma goes a very long way, and it’s obvious that with some proper money The Thiele Brothers will be able to make an even better follow-up.
Sofa, So Good recently played at the London Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the BFI London site for the title.
You might also like…
