Diggers

This is a dramatic comedy. That's it. It's a great fun story about a handful of friends trying to survive in a small blue collar town. It's funny and heart warming.

How refreshing it is to encounter an art house, "independent" film that doesn't rely on "quirkiness," "eclecticism" or "eccentricity" to impress the viewer with its cleverness. Instead, "Diggers" is a realistic slice-of-life drama that plays it straight with its audience, viewing both its characters and their situations without cynicism or irony.

Set in 1976, "Diggers" focuses on four young men leading lives of quiet desperation, working as independent clam diggers on Long Island Sound. All four have pretty much accepted the fate life has handed them, although one, a talented photographer named Hunt (Paul Rudd), dreams vaguely of one day starting a new life away from his family home and business, if only he can muster enough personal courage and initiative to actually make the move. His married buddy, Lozo (Ken Marino, who also wrote the screenplay), is more firmly tied down to the area by the responsibilities he has as husband and father to an ever-expanding brood of undisciplined children. The remainder of the quartet consists of Jack (Ron Eldard), a devil-may-care womanizer, who becomes romantically involved with Hunt's thirty-six year old divorced sister, Gina (Maura Tierney); and Cons (Josh Hamilton), a perpetually stoned pseudo-hippie philosopher who, of all the characters, seems most in tune with the drug culture loopiness of the period in which the movie is set. In addition to Gina, the women in their lives include Lozo's levelheaded but eternally frustrated wife, Julie (Sarah Paulson), and Zoe (Lauren Ambrose from "Six Feet Under"), a pretty young woman from Manhattan who has a brief summertime flirtation with Hunt.

Written by Marino and directed by Katherine Dieckmann, "Diggers" is so low-keyed in its attitude and tone that it may feel to some viewers as if nothing much really happens in the film. Yet, in many ways, this is the major selling-point of the movie - that it doesn't feel obligated to make big dramatic gestures to unravel its characters or maintain our interest. Marino and Dieckmann have a nice feel for the rhythms of life, as everyday, casual moments are given equal weight with major, life-altering events - the death of a parent, the announcement of a pregnancy, the final farewell to a dearly departed.

If there is a flaw in the film, it is that the movie is simply too short (a mere 89 minutes) to allow for the kind of plot expansion and probing character development we rightfully expect from a work of this sort. In fact, due primarily to the time constraints, two of the buddies, Jack and Cons, are reduced to little more than minor characters in the overall fabric of the story. An additional half hour or so in the running time would have gone a long way towards correcting that problem. As compensation, the director exploits to the full the bucolic richness of the unfamiliar setting, and captures the laid-back quality of an era in which the youthful idealism of an earlier time has all but evaporated in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate. The movie also touches on the threat of creeping globalization as these family-run clam-digging operations are beginning to be squeezed out of business by an impersonal conglomeration that has recently moved into the area. Through Lozo's character, in particular, the movie effectively dramatizes the stress and strain working-class couples and families go through when they are living literally paycheck to paycheck, along with the compromises they are forced to make just to keep their heads above water.

Rudd, who has long been underrated as an actor, provides a beautifully understated performance as the soul-searching Hunt, and he is superbly abetted by the other members of the cast.

More anecdote than full-fledged narrative, "Diggers" has the benefit of not taking itself or its characters too seriously. It presents its story in a naturalistic, matter-of-fact manner, without fanfare and fuss and devoid of high-minded sermons or heavy-breathing lectures. "Diggers" is the very definition of self-effacing film-making.

I saw this movie at SXSW in Austin right after attending a panel about the making of the movie. The film was originally to be directed by funny man David Wain of Stella fame, but he pulled out to direct "the Ten" which is an amazing film. I expected the film to be funny. Ken Marion, who wrote it, is a hilarious comedian. Paul Rudd, the lead actor, has been in comedies almost exclusively since Wet Hot American Summer and David Wain, who produced the film, is hilarious. The movie, however, was very serious. It had some amazingly hilarious moments, but overall it was a moving, serious film. I was most amazed at the fact that they pulled it off with style. A bunch of comedians made a moving, well structured, meaningful, fulfilling drama. Everyone should see it.

Speaking as someone who actually was a full time digger on Great South Bay in Patchogue during the era of this movie, I can say to those who weren't, you will not get very much of a handle on what life was really like for us, not that I didn't recognize a lot of the characters in this film. I do applaud the filmmakers for their effort on trying to recreate as much of the clammers water world as they could with the budget they had to work with. The few period clam boats they could find were fairly accurate even if many were way underpowered with what looks like 15 horsepower period engines.

I of course enjoyed the few Long Island locations they used like the Silly Lilly and abandoned Cerullo's fishing stations. That said as a movie it was just OK. Not awful, (you want an awful 70's movie made in the 70's? watch "Two Lane Blacktop " sometime, but it was certainly not great either. The sad commentary I think is that like the industry that once supplied 70% of the worlds shellfish and is long gone, the days of trying to make a movie for a million and half dollars today are long gone too. It seems to me the cast and crew gave it an honest shot though.

Diggers is a touching character-driven drama about a group of family, friends and lovers living in a small town. It features outstanding acting from a cast made up, mainly, of little-known performers. The characters are interesting and well-developed through authentic dialog and the direction that effectively captures the small-town atmosphere. The story…well, did I mention that the characters and dialog are good? No real story here to speak of; just a meandering tale of people coping with changing life circumstances.

Paul Rudd, semi-familiar from roles in recent comedies like Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin, plays Hunt, the last in a long line of clam diggers in a town where a ruthless corporation named South Shell is squeezing out the small individual clam diggers. Corporations suck. Anyone who doesn't think so, probably works for one. Hunt, along with his friends and family, struggles to come to grips with their dying way of life, as they live and love their way through the story. Maura Tierny is particularly impressive as Hunt's sister and Josh Hamilton is great as his erudite buddy while Alex Pickett steals scene after scene as a father under pressure.

This movie reminds me of Perfect Storm without the storm. The atmosphere is set and the characters are developed, but not much happens. Its not unpleasant to watch and doesn't really drag, but seriously, shouldn't something happen?

This work was first posted on realmoviereview.com