Forget
the parties, desperate schmoozing and contrived photo opps — one of the
greatest things about film festivals is the sympathetic audience.
Whereas flash, vim and high concept ideas frequently overwhelm general
audience moviegoers, those devoted film fans attending festivals around
the United States often get to experience more recognizably down-tempo
and innately relatable fare. This is certainly true of much of the fare
at the ongoing 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival, including several
narrative films in competition for the Target Filmmaker Award, which
carries a cash prize of a cool $50,000.

First up is Islander,
directed and co-written by rising talent Ian McCrudden and starring
fellow co-writer Thomas Hildreth, Amy Jo Johnson, Ron Canada and Boogie Nights’ Philip Baker Hall in a
key supporting role. Set in a tight-knit Maine coastal community whose
lobster industry is drying up and causing all sorts of tensions, the
movie centers on irascible family man Eben Cole, whose aggressive
protection of territorial fishing boundaries against mainland
interlopers yields unfortunately life-changing results. Returning to
the island after an absence of several years, Eben finds himself a
pariah, as well as a virtual stranger to his daughter Sara, whom
ex-wife Cheryl (Johnson) has cut off all contact with. What we see,
though, is a changed and much more pensive man, even though Cheryl has
moved in with Jimmy (Mark Kiely), a former colleague of Eben’s.
Reluctant to lose his family and start anew elsewhere, Eben must fight
to reestablish a claim to the only life he has ever known, even if the
mooring of that life appears to be hopelessly eroding.

Islander is just a bit obviously plotted and overcooked early
on — in its eagerness to set the scene, every interaction is
emotionally charged — but you can veritably taste the salt
water air of the setting, courtesy of cinematographer Dan Coplan’s
beautiful blue-grey palette and composer Billy Mallery’s gentle,
evocative score. Fed by McCrudden and Coplan’s melancholic close-ups
and some quite fine ensemble acting, the movie only deepens as it
progresses. Hildreth in particular — a dead ringer for a more mature
Skeet Ulrich, if ever there’s a need for a Chill Factor sequel
— is a revelation, proof that there’s leading man talent in many an
actor resigned to supporting character roles. In charting Eben’s
struggle to reclaim what he has lost, Islander indulges a
quietude not frequently seen in much modern studio product, and
consequently blossoms into a stirringly nostalgic tale of small town
Americana.

Also playing in narrative competition is writer-director Derek Sieg’s Swedish Auto, starring erstwhile Winona Ryder boy-toy Lukas Haas and January Jones (The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada).
A muted mood piece full of busted, quiet detail, the film tells the
story of shy, rural Virginia mechanic Carter (Haas), who spends his
days fixing Saabs and Volvos and his nights shadowing beautiful college
student violinist Ann (Brianne Davis), so entranced by her music is he.
Before the movie can fully explore this intriguing blue collar/white
collar dichotomy, though, we find out that someone’s also following Carter, as it turns out: Darla (Jones), the pretty waitress from the local burger joint.

These cosmically matched voyeurs enter into a delicate courtship
dance, exchanging shy smiles whose deeper meaning we’re left to read
into by ourselves. Jones, a real looker who caught her big break in American Wedding, shows promise here in a restrained role that’s underwritten seemingly as an act of artistic artifice, but Swedish Auto
is still a bit too reticent for its own good, despite its genuinely
rooted sense of place. It’s the backhanded definition of a festival
film, which is to say imbued with beautifully reserved visuals and
thoughtful performances, but not necessarily enough native, realistic
drama.

The 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival is spread out at 11 different
Westwood venues, all within walking distance of each other, and spans a
vast spectrum of moviemaking in its selections, from intimate indies
and “dark wave” guilty pleasures to a variety of special events. For
more information on the films above, as well as others in the festival, visit the LA Film Festival’s semi-eponymous web site by clicking here. More to follow throughout the week…