Prince Avalanche

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJGEu268KvI

Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind.

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Director: David Gordon Green

Writer[s]: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson [original story], David Gordon Green [adaptation]

Starring: Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch

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It doesn’t get much more indie than Prince Avalanche. Adapted from an Icelandic film by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, shot in only 16 days, original music from Explosions in the Sky and even a track written by stars Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch, and a plot summary of “two road workers’ experiences on the job in 1988”, this is a film a lot of people probably haven’t heard about. It is kind of a surprising production from Pineapple Express and Eastbound and Down director David Gordon Green, and the trailer is very telling of the subject matter and tone. Overall, this movie is just a weird sell for commercial audiences, but personally, I love finding weird little films like this.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

An introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world.

Having not read the novel, I had no idea what to expect from this film. I was assuming it would be a regular coming-of-age story about teenagers, a weekday rental kind of movie. Honestly, I just wanted to see the movie because Emma Watson was in it, her first role since the Harry Potter series. What I didn’t assume was to find a movie with a consistent view and feel that channeled The Breakfast Club and Garden State to create an emotionally powerful story about life, love, and relationship.

The film centers on high school freshman Charlie [Logan Lerman]. Charlie is *gasp* a loner who spends most of his time sitting by himself reading. That is until he meets seniors Patrick and Sam [Ezra Miller and Watson] who Charlie befriends and joins their crowd of theater producing, drug using, partying friends. The film also features Dylan McDermott as Charlie’s father, Kate Walsh as Charlie’s mother, Johnny Simmons as a football star and Patrick’s love interest, and Paul Rudd as Charlie’s first high school friend and English teacher.