The Bujalski-Morrissey Connection

As if we needed another reason to love Andrew Bujalski - in a recent interview with Reverse Shot's Michael Koresky the filmmaker actually manages to namecheck Morrissey without sounding in pretentious or maudlin. When Koresky opens the discussion by asking Bujalski if he was setting out to break new ground with his first film, Funny Ha Ha, Bujalski demurs, "That’s very nice to hear...I did have a sense, as we did Funny Ha Ha, that it would at the very least be somehow unique. I often think of this great Morrissey lyric, from “Hand in Glove”: “No it’s not like any other love/ This one is different because it’s ours.” In a way, he's actually anticipating a critique that is not really being made (at least, not by Koresky): "On the one hand I knew that there were a million film students churning out pieces about youthful confusion and ennui, and that any capsule description of Funny Ha Ha would make it sound awful, ­­but I figured this one is different because it’s ours." And, really - is there any tangible explanation for why that film works, other than a magical mix of chemistry and timing and over-all serendipity? Call it the Bujalski Touch.