Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
12/16/08
Reviewed
based on a DVD screener provided by the filmmakers
We've
got blockbusters to give us explosions, alien invasions and superstars,
so we ask the independent film to give us the opposite end of the spectrum:
characters and situations we can really relate to, particularly marginalized
characters Hollywood wouldn't see much financial upside in presenting.
I have to admit I don't connect with indie characters as often as I'd like.
These days, “independent film” is as likely to simply promise a different
kind of commercially viable artifice instead. But ...Around
is the real deal, leaning on a phenomenal star turn by up-and-comer Rob
Evans to spend four occasionally painful years in the company of a man
on a moving journey of self-discovery. Its' low budget financed on
credit cards by debuting writer/director David Spaltro, there are some
rough edges to this New York-shot indie, but it absolutely gripped me,
and I really can't say enough about that lead performance.
Doyle
Simms (Rob Evans) is running. On a bus, headed who knows where, he's
telling his story to the woman seated next to him, sure to remind her from
time to time that it doesn't end well. A child of a broken family,
raised by an insanely bitter mother (Berenice Mosca), he always sought
escape at the movies. Upon graduating high school, he looks to the
movies as his parachute again by attending a New York film school.
The kind of guy who likes to mix a little self-destruction in with his
daily routine, Doyle misses a deadline for important grants and ends up
with no money for tuition, room or board for his second year. Piling
up credit cards allows him to charge the tuition, and a job as a waiter
makes the minimum payments, but after that he's totally broke... and homeless.
So he takes up residence at Penn Station, learning the ropes from veteran
street person Saul (Ron Bice). A tentative relationship forms between
Doyle and the hostess at the restaurant, wannabe actress Allyson (Molly
Ryman), but he keeps the details of his “residence” a secret. Even
when he finally saves up enough to get an apartment, the budding filmmaker
can only run so far from his demons: his mother is dying, Allyson's
friends don't want him around, and it's hard to shake that homeless man
who's taken up residence inside his head.
It
may not sound that way, but ...Around is actually pretty light on
its' feet. Spaltro lets the darkness of the material speak for itself,
and for all his pain Doyle is an agreeable, funny tour guide. Sometimes
the comedy is a little over the top, due in part to the inherent difficulty
in filling the small roles in a low budget movie (although I really loved
Amanda Sayle's two scenes as “Bad Film Student”). But it would be
very easy for this story to get bogged down in its' own despair (maybe
that's Doyle's Mom's story...), and it almost never does. Years ago,
I had some experience with this sort of transitional homelessness, and
I can say it's scary how well Spaltro nails both the logistical and emotional
details. Interestingly, Doyle's film school experience isn't quite
so persuasive. In fact, you can argue that he's not necessarily a
good film student (his short we see at the end is no Son
of Rambow), but I don't think that really matters. ...Around
is a story about trying to cast off the weight tragedy piles upon the soul,
and Hollywood is full of great filmmakers who've clearly never done that.
Spaltro does occasionally overdo the melodrama on the family side (man,
if I should ever be so unfortunate as to get a terminal diagnosis, I hope
it's not at that hospital where the doctor tells your family to go in there
and give it to you), but Evans absolutely refuses to let go of the realism
of his character, and that performance gets the movie over whatever bumpy
patches it has.
Have
I mentioned that I loved Rob Evans' performance? How many times in
the movies have you watched a wisecracking young guy drift aimlessly through
screw-up after screw-up and wondered “What's this jerk's problem?
And why do I care?” We never have to wonder about Doyle because between
the writer/director and star, they've got every brain cell of this guy
on the screen, and as a result, he just couldn't make a mistake I didn't
empathize with. Write Evans' name down because you're going to be
hearing it again: he's subtle, charismatic and totally in command
of the screen. Ryman can't always keep up, but she makes Allyson
very authentic, walking on her own set of unseen eggshells that suggest
a real person whose real life sometimes overlaps Doyle's space rather than
a love interest waiting all day by the phone. Brice is tremendous
as Saul, letting us see how hard you'd have to be to survive decades on
the street while still allowing us in to see a basically decent man who
can never let his guard down. Marcel Torres makes a convincing Affleck
to Evans' Damon, while Mosca struggles with the big, swing-for-the-fences
craziness of Theresa Simms, creating a character who does seem to only
exist when Doyle's in the room with her.
Spaltro's
two-shots can be a bit suffocating, but he keeps the tempo moving really
well and gets great mileage out of New York City's built-in production
values. The movie never looks cheap (David A. Brakin's sharp cinematography
doesn't allow indie artifice to creep into the visuals) and never feels
like there's anything else it would show us if only it could afford to.
And his low budget hasn't prevented him from assembling a solid soundtrack
that makes the characters' world feel effectively lived-in.
...Around
(as in, where does Doyle live? “...around.”) is a great independent
surprise; heartfelt, well-acted, and emotionally convincing. I ended
the movie with a real sense that Doyle Simms would just keep living without
me watching him, but I know that I'm going to be seeing a lot more of Rob
Evans... maybe even fighting off one of those blockbuster alien invasions.
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