(DC Independent Film Festival)
By DCist contributor Dominic Griffin
The pilot episode of “Districtland,” a series about five millennials who live in a Columbia Heights rowhouse, promises a look at the real Washington, beyond the monuments and politics that dominate more conventional portrayals of the city. Adapted from Cristina Bejan’s play, the show desperately wants to skewer the toxic culture of
gentrification. But “Districtland” identifies with it so intimately that it doesn’t even
see the satire under its own white nose.
In the pilot’s final act, Dave (Brenden Wedner) professes just how diverse D.C. really is. Dave is white, as are two of the four housemates who make up the show’s principal cast. Hamish (Vick Krishna), is Indian, but his role seems restricted to the pilot, while his ex-girlfriend Maria (Elsa Carette) is Cuban, but the only reference to her heritage is in the godawful PowerPoint presentation Hamish uses to break up with her as the pilot opens. There’s exactly one black male with any real face time in this episode, and his only purpose is to brandish a mischievous smirk when Maria drunkenly states her disinterest in white men. The only black woman, A’isha (Robyn Freeman), shows up at the end for a poetry slam that wouldn’t be out of place in an “In Living Color” sketch 25 years ago.
The crowdfunding page that helped this show get made references “locals who only see their city stylized or whitewashed,” but you’d be hard pressed to find any alternate representation here. Instead, we’re introduced to the tiresome tangle of young hipster romance that typifies the lives of our central cast. If “Districtland” is to be believed, the only things young people in D.C. do is fuck and argue about non-profit organizations.
While that may have some roots in reality, it’s an unambitious premise on which to hinge a television series. If all you want is HBO’s “Girls” with cutaways to recognizable Metro stations, great, but “Districtland” fails to execute even that. None of the characters are likable enough for you to care about their foibles, and even though the character arcs and connections are dispensed with efficiently, nobody has the kind of hook that makes you want to tune back in next week. Television is all about growing pains, so it’s possible that further episodes could flesh out the cast and scope in a satisfying way, but based on the pilot, it’s hard to imagine those episodes ever getting made.
The show is not a complete disaster. The performances are charming enough, even if the staging and tone hew too closely to the show’s theatrical roots. While it’s sweet to see a series set so close to home, the search for realism inevitably fails “Districtland.” Its natural, cinéma vérité style gives the series an authenticity that’s at odds with the pat, wooden script. “Districtland” seems to want to scream out, “This is Washington!” But it’s so flat and homogenized that it barely looks like the city I live in.
Districtland premieres Friday, March 4 at 7 p.m. at the Miracle Theater Church, 535 8th Street SE as part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival. The premiere includes a set from the band featured in the show, These Quiet Colours, a screening of the pilot episode premiere, a reading from an upcoming episode, and a Q&A with the cast & crew.
Watch the trailer:
Districtland – Trailer from Russell Max Simon on Vimeo.
