It's always tremendously gratifying to see a long-running character actor get the platform of a leading role in a movie, and instantly recognizable mainstay Dale Dickey surely makes the most of the opportunity in Max Walker's unassuming directorial debut. silver man. This offbeat romance revolves around a middle-aged Faye (Dickey) who has parked her RV at a specific campground in the Colorado mountains, where she awaits the arrival of someone special; a childhood sweetheart, Lito (Wes Studi), whom she has not seen in many decades. Each still mourning the death of his spouse sometime before, they plan to meet, catch up, revisit the past, and perhaps even chart a course for the future.
Director: Max Walker-Silverman
Screenwriter: Max Walker-Silverman
Cast: Dale Dickey, Wes Studi, Michelle Wilson
Although it might be a cliché of film criticism, A Love Song is easily described as a cup of hot chocolate from a movie, slipping by on a calm breeze during its snappy 81 minutes. Despite this short running time, Walker-Silverman is in no hurry and the Lito de Studi does not even appear until the beginning of the second act. Until then, the filmmaker focuses his camera on Faye as she kills time waiting for Lito's arrival, made up of numerous wordless scenes where she listens to music and catches crabs, with the audience invited to simply get drunk from the relaxed atmosphere and picturesque mountain scenery. . .
There are also unexpected points of dry nonsense; Faye crosses paths with a series of memorable characters, including a kind mailman delivering letters, a black lesbian couple contemplating marriage, and best of all, a family whose father is buried under Faye's trailer and who want to dig him up. bury it again. elsewhere.
The dynamic inevitably changes once Lito finally arrives, but that laid-back vibe remains pretty much the same. Neither Faye nor Lito is very fond of raising their voices and hearing them pore over memories, bond over her mutual pain, and explore whether they really still know each other. So many decades later, it seems that we are aware of a most private and intimate conversation that we do not have to listen to.
Seeing them play guitar together, lament the passing of time, ponder the pains of love, and of course explore their own possible romance would be a boon to most other movies, but there's virtually no desire to enjoy here. of the melodrama or even really escalate the sexual tension. After all, as one particularly sweet moment demonstrates, sometimes you just want someone to hold your ice cream cone while you serve them a frozen treat.
He may not know the name Dale Dickey, but he'll almost certainly recognize her from some of her more than 125 film and television roles since 1995, usually playing drifters, drug addicts, "mountains," etc. He won an Independent Spirit Award. for her performance in 2010's Winter's Bone. Her unique and deeply expressive face lends an easy character to even the most basic role, and while her most conventional roles are often her most boisterous as well, here she is asked to say much more through his frowning face.
The quiet, restless impatience as she waits for Lito to show up could get boring with a less interesting actress playing Faye, but she effortlessly commands attention, even when the film's rhythms are more nonchalant. That is not to say that she does not have mature opportunities to reach more external emotional rhythms; a mid-movie monologue about grief is sure to touch all but the most callous.
And while this is absolutely the Dickey show, the great Wes Studi shows the seriousness expected of him, showing up just when the audience itself might start to get nervous. Like Faye, Lito is silently tortured by an anguish that won't go away, but despite the inevitable cloud that hangs over their potential relationship, there's not an ounce of rehearsed artifice in their wholly authentic interactions.
For his feature film debut, Max Walker-Silverman has created an understated visual feast of a film, cinematographer Alfonso Herrera Salcedo giving the image a gritty photochemical look while apparently relying heavily on natural light. There's also a distinctly timeless quality to the film's aesthetic, aided by a general lack of contemporary technology and pop culture references throughout.
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