Dim the Fluorescents

The Film Stage by

Compared to the rigidity and self-imposed formal restrictions that can plague a lot of indie titles, watching Dim the Fluorescents unexpectedly bifurcate its narrative or collapse its characters’ own drama into their mini-plays with such assuredness is legitimately exciting.

The A.V. Club by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Fluorescents’ showy camera moves and full-jazz-hands theater-kid dorkiness are a tonic against the excessively muted naturalism that has come to define indie style.

Los Angeles Times by Katie Walsh

The smart premise is muddled with far too many tangents — bumbling romances, rivalries with old classmates, troubled cats, precocious teens, angry dance sequences. When focusing on the central relationship, the film is at its best.

The New York Times by Monica Castillo

Mr. Warth, who wrote the screenplay with Miles Barstead, creates a flawed tale of female friendship and the artist’s everlasting struggle. Unfortunately, Dim the Fluorescents can’t keep its story together.

Village Voice by Tatiana Craine

The film’s examination of the artistic grind is promising, but Dim the Fluorescents clocks in at over two hours, proving tiresome at times. Luckily, Skwarna and Armstrong’s quirky chemistry keeps the lights on in this overlong debut.