This unlikely synopsis of two loners spending the summer painting the yellow lines on a deserted highway in the backwoods of Texas turned out to be quiet wee gem of an oddball movie. Set in 1988 when time really seemed to stand still, it is the most gentlest of buddy movies where a budding relationship between the two men unfurls at the same slow pace that the road gets painted.
Alvin, the lead man, is the more serious and worldly of the two. He deliberately chose to take this job which, as it entails camping in the woods at night, keeps him isolated from people most of the time. He spends his downtime writing long letters to Madison his girlfriend back home and learning to speak German for a vacation he is planning for the two of them in the Fall. Young Lance is a mis-placed drifter, and Alvin only gave him the job because he is Madison's brother.
Alvin considers himself worldly and is horrified at how little his companion knows especially about living in the wild. He has a point as even when the younger one escapes to the nearby town to spend a weekend away, he fails to hook up with a girl and returns still totally frustrated.
The fact that there is very little in the way of plot hardly hinders the piece, and yet the way that these two men start to bond after they have both been disappointed seemed so natural and apt.
There are just two other characters involved. A charming old truck-driver who immediately took a shine to the guys and started plying them with drink ... and a lost elderly woman who is found combing through the remains of her burnt out house looking for possessions ..... but on her second appearance it's inferred that she may just be an apparition. But why I could not fathom out.
This movie marks write/director David Gordon Green's return to indie filmmaking after his last few Hollywood studio movies. Slightly paranoid, as the movie was shot in secrecy in 15 days before word was released about its existence. He really had no need to worry, its definitely as good as his early ones such as 'Undertow' and 'George Washington' and got him a Silver Bear Award at this year's Berlin Film Festival.
The fact that this movie succeeds is not just down to the sheer visual beauty of the location ..... and the directing naturally ..... but to the casting of the two leads as well. Seeing Paul Rudd play an uptight character like Alvin for a change was a delight, and he was well matched with Emile Hirsch as the charming but dim Lance. The wonderful veteran character actor Lance LeGualt who played the truck driver, died soon after shooting this movie, and it is dedicated to his memory.
If you like understated observational wry comedy then you will really love this one. Its playing in US Theaters right now and is also available on AMAZON VOD.
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