93 Minutes/2005/Color/Stereo/USA
After suffering a severe breakdown, Aaron (Anthony Baker) dawdles through his days. Living with his mother (Denise Blank) and younger sister (Jennifer Knox), he does some chores here and there, but he is mostly concerned with distractions, such as building a tire swing and pining over a crush (Danielle Ostrowski) who already has a boyfriend. Aaron has a short fuse and is overwhelmed easily, which leads to some unnerving encounters and questionable decisions. Throughout all of this, he grows increasingly paranoid over repeated sightings of a white SUV, whose mysterious driver may or may not be stalking him with sinister intentions.
Released during the initial burst of “mumblecore” films, Frank V. Ross’s 2005 breakthrough is a claustrophobic and blistering drama about a young man lost in his own head. Made for a mere $755, Quietly on By finds Ross hitting his stride as one of American film’s great disruptors—of the norms of standard cinematic language and of the sanctifying notions of a quiet,“normal” American life.
“Frank Ross is one of a tiny number of essential American filmmakers… For the past two decades he has been writing the history of the present in a stunning series of form-breaking, truth-telling films that have their finger on the pulse of contemporary sexual and social mores, and communicate what it actually feels like to be alive today. Not the Hollywood version; not the fake-indie version—but the messy, confused, exciting drama of our hearts, minds, and souls, the strange spasmodic heartbeat of the ways we actually think, feel, and love.” – Ray Carney, author of Cassavetes on Cassavetes
“This is truly gut-wrenching filmmaking in the manner in which we’re made to feel every giddily awkward moment.” – Corona Cork Film Festival
“Quietly on By still haunts me… Fuckin’ profound!” – Terry Chiu, Director of Open Doom Crescendo
