Review: The Driftless Area

Anton Yelchin plays Pierre, who accepts a lift from Shane (John Hawkes), who robs Pierre of the rose bush he had been carrying, intending to give it to a girl. However, an accident turns the tables and Pierre walks off with a bag of cash Shane had presumably wrangled himself through criminal means. Pierre, who has come back to his hometown after his parents death falls for a mysterious girl (Zooey Deschanel), who owes some kind of debt to the equally mysterious Tim (Frank Langella), and who may or may not be a ghost. Meanwhile, Shane has come looking for Pierre, and he’s not happy. Aubrey Plaza plays one of Shane’s deadbeat associates, Alia Shawkat is Pierre’s childhood best friend, and Ciaran Hinds is another criminal figure.

 

The acting world lost a really promising talent when Anton Yelchin ascended to Club 27, and although this 2015 film isn’t the best evidence of his talent, it’s worth a look anyway. An adaptation of the Tom Drury novel from Drury himself and debut director/co-writer Zachary Sluser, the best way I can describe it is a version of the Billy Bob Thornton cable movie “Don’t Look Back” but say, directed by Gus Van Sant (think “Elephant”) from a script by David Lynch (think “Blue Velvet” or “Mulholland Drive” but without the sexual content). Even that’s not a great description to be honest, so I suggest you just take a look for yourself. I kinda liked it, off-putting as the stilted dialogue sometimes is, but it’s only getting a soft recommendation from me.  

 

There’s no getting around that the two leads and also the Frank Langella character just don’t talk like normal human beings. That’ll annoy some more than others, and I can’t deny it bothered me a bit, too. Zooey Deschanel probably fares worst from the dialogue, but there’s no doubting that she’s well-cast and extremely charismatic on-screen. Aubrey Plaza, meanwhile doesn’t get much screen time but is surprisingly well-cast as a skanky druggie. For me, though, the real stand out is John Hawkes, who is terrific for short bursts. So acting isn’t really this film’s problem. I also kinda liked the interesting mood that the film has, which I can only describe as slightly depressive, but not in a detrimental way to the film. The narrative is all jumbled up, but if you’re patient it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think the pacing is a tad lethargic, which bothered me much more than the non-linear narrative.

 

Although some will find it rather off-putting, I think this is really watchable and certainly very different. It doesn’t quite all hang, but I wanted to keep watching just to see WTF this was all about and where it would end up. In its own weird way, it kinda worked for me, if only just. A soft recommendation is still a recommendation, though. I bet it’ll be someone’s favourite film of the year, especially if you can get on its depressive, metaphysical wavelength.

 

Rating: B-