This is a very moving and rich film that completely took me by surprise at the Seattle International Film Festival this afternoon. The film is by a local (Seattle) writer/director named Shawn Telford, and let me tell you, I went expecting a good film, did not expect "great," and was completely blown away when I got FANTASTIC! (Which is one or two notches up from great.) The film, about a group of teens in a small town growing up in single parent households, deals with such heavy issues as substance abuse, date rape, suicide, faith and really cheap beer. Telford has a real gift for the inner life of young men and women, as well as the adults caught up short and alone trying to shepherd them into adulthood. Despite the heavy material, there is a lot of laughter, and some moments of really breathtaking tenderness. This is a film that sneaks up on the viewer, and I came away feeling that I had just watched a mashup of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, DAZED AND CONFUSED and NEBRASKA.
