In her previous film, A Teacher, writer-director Hannah Fidell examined the unconventional affair between a high-school teacher and her student. The filmmaker continues her focus on forbidden relationships in 6 Years when a long-term romance gets tested by betrayal and a new job opportunity. With an improvised script, small-name actors, and a naturalistic relationship, it’s no surprise that indie gods Mark and Jay Duplass were executive producers on the film.

It’s challenging to demonstrate years worth of chemistry, inside banter, and the subtle cadence between two people accurately on film; Fidell doesn’t seem to have that problem here. The two leads, Dan (Ben Rosenfield) and Mel (Taissa Farmiga), portray convincing soulmates who’ve grown up together since childhood and have been dating for six years. They have the kind of relationship that can sense something is wrong from just a tiny inflection in each others voice. And they can easily tell when the other has had too much to drink, regardless of how much the other tries to deny it.

As young college students tend to do, the couple takes full advantage of their freedom and lack of responsibility by spending most of their time drinking and partying with friends. One night a boozed up Mel visits Dan and tries to get frisky with him. But the mood is killed when an argument breaks out after Dan discovers she drove in this condition. A vocal argument turns physical and puts Dan in the hospital with some minor injuries (a gender role reversal in domestic disputes that’s rarely shown in films).

Dan isn’t portrayed as a saint either. Like many troubled relationships, both parties are guilty of making mistakes of their own. Over some beers one night, Dan leans over and kisses his female co-worker (Lindsay Burdge, in a somewhat reprised role from A Teacher). He realizes his mistake right away and stops before anything else happens. But the damage unfolds a few scenes later when Mel borrows his phone and finds a text message that exposes his incident.

There are a few scenes in 6 Years that feel a bit cliche. In two different parts in the film, the couple inadvertently walk in on each other in various sexual situations; Dan needs to borrow Mel’s laptop and finds she was watching porn (another refreshing gender role reversal) and Mel conveniently catches Dan sleeping with someone else. But these few melodramatic spots in the script are overshadowed by stunning performances from Rosenfield and Farmiga. Rosenfield channels his inner Mark Duplass, capturing his introverted and down-to-earth mannerisms, while Farmiga brings a lot of energy and passion to a less desirable role as the “manipulative one.”

6 Years captures what a long-term relationship feels like when it nears the breaking point. First love is a powerful beast, but its fate is often doomed from failing to accept that sometimes ending a relationship is better than trying to stick it out. Fidell illustrates this powerful realization in the final emotional scene of uncertainty. It’s heartbreaking. 6 Years distances itself from other flawed relationship narratives with its excellent acting and fresh take on gender roles.

Writer turned director Mark Webber is only 34 years old, his wife of a few months, Teresa Palmer, is 28. Incredibly young and newlywed for the level of drama they face in Webber’s latest directorial endeavor which involves him playing a photographer, Thomas, and Palmer playing his young actress wife, Ava. Blurring reality’s lines further Ava takes credit for Palmer’s real life films, and the fictional couple have a daughter, albeit older than the baby Webber and Palmer just had together in February. The realistic parallels make one wonder why on earth Webber and Palmer would want to imagine a false future for themselves as bleak as the one they paint in The Ever After. The film follows the young married couple as they face an early marriage slump, doubting each other’s feelings and trading sex for real conversations. The restless Thomas heads off to New York for a photography gig where he walks further down the path of infidelity only to find himself paying an intensely high price for his mistakes. Back in LA, Ava meets a hippy woman (Melissa Leo) who invites her to stitch and bitch in her storefront and starts to force her to address some of her issues, though the inner analysis ends up revealing a deeper problem than just a lukewarm marriage.

Perhaps Webber and Palmer were thirsty for challenging roles and decided the best way to do it would be to write their own. And indeed they’ve given themselves the sort of complicated content even older actors would shy away from. Palmer has an enthralling and expressive face, with exacting control of her emotions. In any given scene she fluctuates between five different moods and has mastered her tear ducts into working overtime for her. She’s inspiring to watch. Webber is equally masterful, having written for himself some truly gritty and horrifying content, and while it’s questionable why he felt it necessary to go quite so far it shows courage and commitment to his craft. I hope (for their sakes) the parallels between Thomas and Ava and Webber and Palmer is mostly confined to their reflections on the narcissism of their industries. The dark picture Webber has painted, while stirring and both beautifully felt and heard (Moby and Daniel Ahearn have put together a great soundtrack), makes for a sometimes difficult watch. The ending is a bit simplistic, boiling down all that heavy content into an easier to swallow broth so no one leaves the theater with suicidal thoughts. The film is sure to evoke mixed impressions, but one that carries across firmly is that this is a film made by immensely talented people.

While the basic premise behind Humpday is simple and somewhat idiotic, the film is far from it. This indie comedy won the John Cassavetes Award at 2010 Independent Spirit Awards. It also won the Special Jury Prize and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. And rightfully so.

A longtime friend Andrew (Joshua Leonard) arrives without notice at Ben’s (Mark Duplass) house late one night. They are re-connected for the first time in years. Ben’s life consists of a pretty normal “white picket fence” type lifestyle according to Andrew. Andrew is a free-spirited artist that couldn’t be more different than Ben. The only thing they really share in common now are their old college day memories together. Andrew meets some new people the next day who happen to be artists and invites Ben over for dinner. Coincidentally Ben was originally meaning to invite Andrew over for a home cooked meal that his wife Anna was making just for the three of them. Ben breaks it to Anna that their plans are not going to happen because he feels slightly obligated to stay.

Andrew and Ben end up getting drunk and the newly founded artist friends inform the two of a upcoming local amateur porn festival. Andrew is immediately interested in the festival. Ben feels maybe slightly forced to fit in and drunkenly says that if they want to do something for the festival that it has to be something no one has done before. It must be unique. So he suggests he and Andrew have sex on camera because two straight guys having sex is not something that is usually done.

Sober the next day neither one of them want to back down and still think it’s a good idea. But there was still one more hurdle to get over, Ben needs to inform Anna of their plans. This is not an easy task to say the least.

Mark Duplass seems to play similar characters in his roles, just as in The Puffy Chair, he reminds me so much of myself, which really allows me to connect to the film better. Often mannerisms and what he says in situations are similar to how I am. I get the feeling that Duplass on the screen and off the screen are pretty similar.

Ben doesn’t know why it’s important to him to make this video, although it seems like it’s partly to prove to his good friend that he isn’t just a settled down domestic family man with a “white picket fence”. However, without realizing it they both are trying to prove something to themselves. Ben is trying to convince himself that his marriage is really open and that he can have his own freedom and independence. Also to see if he gets any sort of positive homosexual feelings from it. For Andrew he is trying to live his life the way he perceives his lifestyle should be, but then realizes that he may not be as open minded as he had thought. He is also trying to finally finish something from start to end in his life, something that he struggles to do.

All the actors and dialog seemed very natural in Humpday. It’s incredibly honest. Humpday didn’t really feel like a film because it was so real, instead it felt more like a documentary. There is no overly complicated plot here. Nothing happens in the film that couldn’t easily happen in real life, including the ending. Which some people may not appreciate but you must take it for what it is, realistic.