We’ve been meaning to write a feature for a while called, “Distribute This,” essentially an advocate post for a film we’ve seen this year at a film festival that hasn’t come out. One film that unfortunately passed us by, and we’re still a bit ashamed and bummed we never got around to writing about ,was the worthy and weary-hearted, “That Evening Sun,” a hickory-smoked Southern indie tale directed by Scott Teems featuring exceptional performances by Hal Holbrook and Mia Wasikowska. It came out earlier this year in limited release and if you can track it down or get it on DVD you should.(Wasikowska and Raymond McKinnon were both recently nominated for indie Spirit Awards for their strong performances; bit of a shame Holbrook didn’t make the cut).
And yet another film’s release we’ve been meaning to endorse, “The Vicious Kind” starring Adam Scott, is actually coming out on its own on December 11. We saw it in Boston earlier this year at the IFFBoston festival (a great little fest, btw) and called it a “low-key, but exceptional drama,” and now the trailer has arrived. Scott, generally known for comedic roles (he plays the jerkwad successful brother in “Step Brothers” with Will Ferrell), plays it straight and he’s excellent in the picture as a dysfunctional, near-misogynist asshole. The female lead? Brittany Snow. Yup, that Brittany Snow. And much like “Gossip Girl” Blake Lively’s performance in “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” we were extremely surprised to see how adept and capable she was.
Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that the winning little indie was made by Lee Toland Krieger — a former Neil LaBute protege, and his mentor executive-produced this pic — who made his first feature (“December Ends”) at the tender age of 21 and made this mature, love-triangle story two years later (and yes, there are shades of LaBute like bite and nasty characters). The film also stars Alex Frost (“Elephant”) and J.K. Simmons (“Juno,” several Coen Brothers films) and was just nominated for two indie Spirit Awards, including Krieger’s screenplay and Scott’s nuanced performance. As you’ve probably noticed by now, we hardly write about music moments in film these days because so many of them are largely unexceptional or just not very noteworthy, but this one features two great music moments set to two excellent songs, Band of Horses’ “The General Specific” and Bon Iver’s wonderfully wistful, “Re: Stacks” (little bastard, not that we’re ever gonna make a movie, but if we did…)
Surely this release will be a limited one, but you could do worse than catch this one (if you can) on December 11. And btw, you’ll notice in the trailer two Playlist quotes from our review written several months ago. They always boost those things a little out of context, but oh well, such is life. Have a look.