young american bodies Tagged Articles at Cinematical

While most of you are probably familiar with the work of Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs, LOL, Nights and Weekends) by way of film festivals and the term "Mumblecore," you may not know that he also has a very successful online series called Young American Bodies that just entered its third season. Presented by IFC.com and Nerve Video, Young American Bodies is "a candid, no-holds-barred look at the intersecting love lives of six 20-somethings in Chicago ..." Each episode is less than 10 minutes long, and you can watch all 20 episodes in total from seasons 1 and 2, as well as six of the twelve episodes in season 3 (one is revealed each weekday).

One thing I love about Swanberg's film making is his ability to capture the tiny moments between two people; not only as a director, but as an actor too. He's great at dissecting relationships right before your eyes, without any of the Hollywood fluff or unrealistic dialogue. Everything in a Joe Swanberg film will feel natural, and you, as an audience member, may feel a little uncomfortable watching -- because even though it's fiction, Swanberg has a way of making everything feel very real.

So if you have some time this weekend and you're looking for something to watch, head on over to the Young American Bodies website and settle in to some of these episodes. Then let us know what you think. (Keep in mind, these are R-rated.)

Joe Swanberg, the driving force behind Kissing on the Mouth and LOL, basically doesn't sleep. Even as he follows both of his features around the country on the festival circuit, he's somehow found the time to write, direct, produce and star in Young American Bodies, one of the initial offerings of Nerve.com's just-launched Nerve Video portal. Bodies is a lot like Kissing -- in that it's basically concerned with the sex lives of a gaggle of self-absorbed 20-somethings -- but snappier, soapier, and chopped up into time-release capsules for easy consumption. Of the three episodes currently available, my favorite is the second, Ben's Night Out, in which the sudsier elements really start to take off. It doesn't seem to be enabled yet, but soon you'll be able to vote for your favorites right on Nerve. So go forth and check them out. Actually, maybe wait a couple of hours -- it's definitely not safe for work.