It’s done. No more Christmas. No more posts about cheer and frankincense. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. Christmas for us was quiet, and we got a lot of use out of our Netflix streaming.

We started a half dozen movies over the weekend, most of which we turned off anywhere from five minutes to a half hour in because they were crap. I would, however, suggest Tiny Furniture. It’s an extreme indie, and also in my opinion a deeply feminist and youth-based film (but my husband watched it too and thought it was good, so if you’re a dude don’t worry, it wasn’t about feminine products and whatnot). What I found most interesting was that it was written and directed by a then 24-year-old Lena Dunham, and she starred in the movie as well.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I’ve reached an age where hipster youth films hold zero interest. I walked out of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. We watched Bellflower on DVD, but I only consented because my husband told me it was sci-fi. It took me an hour into the film before I realized there would be no aliens, human clones, or anything cool (I’m still bitter about it too, what a waste of time). Tiny Furniture had its share of scenesters and hipsters, but Dunham seems fully aware of how ridiculous they are, and exactly what is wrong with the youth.

**Before I go on, I’d like to point out that a lot of twentysomethings are not entitled brats lacking in motivation. I’m pretty sure Mark Zuckerberg is going to take over the world, but more on that later.

Aura, the central character of the film, is a 22-year-old recent college grad that knows everything about nothing, and nothing about anything important. It’s not a new concept, but I think she did a fantastic job of showing clueless and lost youth. Dunham also references the sense of entitlement held by countless recent college grads, and I’m gonna have to agree with her. Before I decided to pursue writing full-time I worked as a recruiter and hired for a number of positions, from accounting to IT to chefs. A large majority of my work, and the company I worked for, however, consisted of an entry level position. I cannot tell you how many times I had an early twenties person sit across my desk and tell me something to the effect of “I graduated from USC, this job is below me.”

Keep in mind that these were kids with no job experience, and frequently unwilling to divulge their GPA, and yet they expected to jump ten rungs on the ladder and start out in upper management. That is crazy. My response was usually to tell them good luck finding something and don’t let the door smack you on the ass.

But, on the opposite end of the spectrum you have someone like Lena Dunham. Tiny Furniture came out in 2009 and did the festival thing. She was 24. Do you know what I was doing at 24? Me neither. I spent most of my early 20s partying, so the fact that she was disciplined enough to write something witty, direct it, and star in it is freaking impressive. And she isn’t shy. Dunham had zero problems depicting herself in some seriously unflattering ways, and her character was at times painful to watch, which tells me she has a level of security that I didn’t obtain until close to thirty. Like many young women, I spent a lot of time thinking I should look a little more like this and a little less like that, and then I’d be happy. Never in a million years would I have willingly allowed myself to be captured on film looking dowdy and chubby. Which is both funny and stupid, because seriously, all those pics of me looking slightly inebriated with a cocktail in hand aren’t exactly attractive. I might not have been an entitled youth ten years ago, but Lord knows I floated through 18 to 24 with no clue about what I wanted, aside from having fun. Anyhow, I’m usually not one for movie reviews, but I thought this was a film with something to say, and considering so many movies are absolutely awful, I thought I’d give Dunham’s flick a plug. Anyone else have a good recommendation or see anything lately worth mentioning?