BERLIN -- Two films into his career, writer-director Andrew Bujalski found himself cast as the elder statesman of "mumblecore," a genre that, as far he's concerned, never existed.
The term -- coined in jest by a collection of filmmakers, many of whom know and work with one another -- applies to a loose grouping of low-key, low-budget indies, talky, naturalistic and more or less concerned with the drift and disaffection of post-collegiate life.
Although some critics have stereotyped these movies as haphazard and uneventful, Bujalski has used the style to zero in on the tipping points in seemingly shapeless lives in his 2002 debut "Funny Ha Ha" and in 2005's "Mutual Appreciation."
His latest, "Beeswax" which premiered this week at the Berlin Film Festival, is another small, self-effacing effort, and although it might not elevate his commercial status, it confirms that his characters are among the most complicated and keenly observed in contemporary American movies.
"It's one of my ambitions to make films that defy marketing," Bujalski said shortly before the first public screening of the film here on Monday. "The problem is, you finish the film and then you've got to market it."
Many of his peers have made movies with neat conceptual hooks: "Baghead," by the Duplass brothers, put a mumblecore spin on "The Blair Witch Project"; in Lynn Shelton's Sundance hit "Humpday," two straight buddies take a stab at gay pornography.
But Bujalski's films resist straightforward synopsis. It's not that nothing happens, but much of the drama happens almost imperceptibly, in shades of gray and on the level of subtext.
"Beeswax" revolves around twin sisters Jeannie and Lauren (real-life twins Tilly and Maggie Hatcher), who share a house in Austin and are caught up in the confusing process of having to renegotiate various professional and romantic relationships.
Jeannie, who runs a vintage boutique, suspects that her business partner is plotting a lawsuit. Lauren, newly single and half-heartedly looking for work, stumbles into a job opportunity that would require leaving the country.
Only half joking, Bujalski suggests that "Beeswax" be considered a "legal thriller." "I was thinking of the way that everything is connected," he explained. "At one point I made a chart of all the off-screen characters. There's a huge number of these connections that of course don't lead to a big payoff or an explosion."
