Gabi is a horny little chick that shows up in NYC and stays with her brother while he's doing something called 'art'. She tumbles in bed with - well - her brother's friends. There's the usual drinking, drugs, partying, sex, etc. Nothing of any substance seems to happen in this story. Brother & sister have usual love/hate relationship.Gabi puts everyone on edge. There are money problems. All the characters eat, chat, drink, sex, drink. Nothing happens. Gabi gets ticked-off. Her brother Sam gets ticked-off. Everybody gets ticked-off. Then all is well at end.If you like a non-story brief look into the lives of people who like to party, drop their clothes, drink, and talk about mostly nothing, then I guess this is your flick. Frankly I found the whole thing a bit circular and wrapped in a big 'so what'.Good luck if you choose to watch it. I only watched it because the title caught my eye.

It was difficult to watch. I generally appreciate movies that show odd perspectives. This movie was not only pointless but offensive. In what modern society does a twenty-year old virgin walk naked around her brother and his friends? If there is such a place, incestuous couples should buy real estate, yes? Thankfully, my brother would have beat the stuffing out of me before beating the stuffing out of his friend. As enlightened as these characters pretended to be, the conservatism and/or hypocrisy dripped with pathetic irony. The sister was not petulant as has been characterized elsewhere. She was an infantile trouble maker whose grasp of relationships familial or otherwise was personified in the paralyzed hamster. Brother-sister portrayals like this make me wonder about modern sexual boundaries. Some things are just not done and this movie was impossible to embrace as worthy of the independent movie genre.

I got to see this film at my college with a Q&A session with the directors. They seem to be very nice people. Much of the audience was laughing and enjoying the film, but i was not. The problem I had with Gabi on the Roof in July was the direction of the story. The film floats around setting up plenty of different routes to take narratively, but it decides to instead backtrack and go in circles. I'm all for realism and lots of dialogue, but at some point in time you gotta use those words to progress the story. Nothing happens in this movie. People talk, people complain, and people talk some more. That's all that happens, along with relationship problems. Nothing is resolved, nothing is accomplished. Sam tries to sell his art, Gabbi is having sex, Sam complains about not having enough money for rent, Gabbi is having sex. It's just a continuous cycle of minor grievances that really aren't compelling nor interesting to keep my attention. And it ends on the same note it started with. On the positive side, Lawrence Lavine, Sophia Tokal and others are very good actors. 4/10

This was definitely the strongest independent film I've seen in a while. The performances, particularly Gabi and Sam, were amazing, incredibly natural and dynamic. What was really fresh and exciting about this film was how well it balanced a sense of authenticity with masterful storytelling. What I find problematic about much of the current trend of post-collegiate naturalism is that the plots often drag. That's definitely NOT the case with this film, which has an intricate, but unforced, plot. I highly recommend seeing this film to anybody with an interest in independent, literate cinema. Certainly, fans of Cassavetes, Eric Rohmer, or Woody Allen would find something to enjoy in this thoroughly engaging, thought provoking, incredible little film!