A Love Song

This is a melancholy, impressionistic movie about aging, loss, and the mystery of solitude. While the story line is simple and thin, the handful of characters who inhabit it convey the ambiguity and uneasiness of real life so naturalistically that it almost feels like a documentary. Not all viewers will be interested in experiencing this level of lonely introspection set amid the stark barrenness of the American west, waiting for "something to happen." But another type of viewer will find the relative wildness of the setting calming, reminding us of our own actual journeys and mental escapes into the almost incomprehensibly large landscape of this part of the country--a place where you can be both undisturbed and nearly forgotten. And in this movie the landscape itself seems to be an inquisitor, stripping bare civilized pretensions and routines with the oppressive gravity of solitude and unlimited time. Aside from being drawn with laughably impossible mechanical skills, the lead female character comes across as both frighteningly realistic and distinctly unappealing. Though she shows positive traits like self-sufficiency, curiosity, and generosity, she also seems uncomfortable in her own skin--making the viewer squirm and wonder if she's always been this way or whether grief and advancing age have made her so tense and enigmatic. The pacing and feel of the thing is so sober and bare-bones that it's surprising to find a touch of Wes Anderson in some of the incidental characters who momentarily break the silence.

Two people in their twilight years, both now widowed, meet up to see if their childhood attraction remains strong enough to lead somewhere all these decades later.

The setting is austere, and the few other characters in the film have hinted-at stories of their own.

Very low key, but nicely acted and with a strong sense of place.

A woman has parked her travel trailer in a Colorado park, waiting for a childhood friend to meet her there. The woman proceeds to meet a collection of odd residents/workders but no childhood friend for quiet a while. The film started out as a kind of Waiting for Godot setup, but it became a study in loneliness of people whose past lives seem to be disappearing. The film reminded me of Nomadland with its haunting loneliness and hopelessness of its characters, but A Love Song took a different turn and avoided the hopelessness. Still, the two main actors (Dale Dickey and Wes Studi) are recognizable from their innumerable background acting roles in past features and come across and relatable and true characters--i.e. Real human beings. This quiet indie film offered a lot of subtle thought-provoking ideas, particularly to people like me who are entering our 60's and 70's. It was a sweet film.

As the clock of life ticks by, many of us begin to look back on our lives in terms of the opportunities we pursued and the regrets we hold over those we didn't. Those are the primary themes explored in writer-director Max Walker-Silverman's debut feature about a pair of childhood friends (Dale Dickey, Wes Studi) who reunite after many years apart at a remote Colorado campground. Their time together gives them a chance to reflect upon their lives, their memories and the loves they both lost. But where do they go from here now that they've reconnected? This tender, bittersweet arm's-length romance has its moments of humor, compassion and joyful reunion, as well as its elements of stilted awkwardness and protracted hesitation, reflecting the ambiguity the two principals are feeling after their long separation. It makes for some interesting dynamics set against the beautifully photographed backdrop of the Western wilderness. However, despite these strengths, the script feels a little thin with an underdeveloped narrative and back story, issues that are slightly exacerbated by the picture's slow but tolerable pacing. While it's true this offering proves that a film doesn't always need a complex, densely packed screenplay chock full of dramatic heft to be effective, it nevertheless seems that "A Love Song" could have benefitted from a little more substance. Still, this one has its merits, having deservedly earned Independent Spirit Award nominations for Dickey's lead performance and as a candidate for the competition's John Cassavettes Award. This is the kind of film that makes a good choice for a cozy weekend afternoon while curled up on the couch, and, thankfully, its economical 1:21:00 runtime is just long enough to make it enjoyable without becoming tedious - a nice little diversion without becoming tiresome.

Looking over other reviews, what I see in the negative reviews are the things that make this movie so good. Is it slow? Absolutely. And on purpose. Not much "happens?" I guess so, if you think life is the place where nothing happens. I do wonder whether most people under the age of 40 or 50 will get this movie. Which makes the age of the director a bit of a surprise. My wife and I (both in our 60's) found this movie to be a lovely, lovely thing, inside and out. It's pensive and moving and joyful and sad and magical..you know, like life. And one scene (to avoid spoilers I'll just call it the first gravediggers scene) is so funny I had to watch it again twice. Quirky brilliance, that. See it on a big screen if you can because the setting is one of the characters. (I'm astounded that one review calls the scenery boring. Compared to what? Exploding Death Stars?) If you need CGI and sharp snappy dialogue, go elsewhere. If you can watch the unfolding of a small story that's really everyone's story, this movie could well be for you.