Team Picture

About the film

Team Picture is about the life of a young man whose interactions at an ordinary job and with his family are a stark contrast to his bohemian home life with friends. Fitting into the khaki pants and shirt tucked in demands of a job is an adjustment for a character apt to strum an acoustic guitar in cutoff shorts while wearing a straw hat by the backyard kiddie pool. The movie also deals with his romantic relationship with a girlfriend.

It had its premiere at the Indie Memphis Film Festival on October 19, 2007, and was released on DVD by Benten Films on August 26, 2008, containing director commentary, a new epilogue to the film, a short by Audley and deleted scenes.

Critical reception

Michael Atkinson of Independent Film Channel gave a mixed review of the film, summarizing, "Charming as it is, maybe like Jayasundara's film (The Forsaken Land), "Team Picture" isn't realism but rather a heightened Beckettian void". John Beifuss of Memphis Commercial Appeal praised the film, writing that it was "the richest and most assured local feature in the festival", that it "may represent the most promising feature debut for a Memphis filmmaker", and that the "movie's characters and situations are so recognizable and distressingly funny that they are likely to unnerve viewers who aren't bored by the film's lack of overt drama or puzzled by its home-video esthetic". Conversely, Jennifer Aldoretta of Technique panned the film as "mediocre and borderline terrible", noting only that writer/director Audley was "the only one involved who seems like he actually knew what he was doing." Monika Bartyzel of Cinematical opined that the film, while "not for moviegoers looking for a fast-paced, tightly written story, Team Picture does have some charm as a sort of dead-pan voyeuristic look into modern slackers." Noel Megahey of DVD Times notes an autobiographical character to the film, noting that the film's lead character is played by the writer-director himself, and compliments by writing "its simple philosophy of taking time to find enjoyment is a sound one and it’s an honest sentiment that arises naturally out of the characters". Nick Dawson of Filmmaker Magazine opined that the film felt intimately real, writing "Nenninger's dialouge [sic] is scarily familiar, eschewing overly crafted Hollywood patter for the often comical idiosyncrasies of everyday speech.".

Synopsis

Erik (Kentucker Audley) quits his job at his step dad's (Greg Gaston) sporting goods store, mutually breaks up with his girlfriend Jessica (Shawna Wheeler) and meets a new girl Sarah (Amanda Harris). At a crossroads he decides to travel with Sarah to Chicago. His roommate (Timothy Morton) stays in Memphis to lounge at a baby pool in the front yard and perform at coffee shops.

Cast