Director: Britni West
MPAA Rating: NR
One of the most impressive things about Britni West’s Tired Moonlight is that this is a debut film that she wrote, directed, produced and edited – no small feat for a first timer, especially when the end product looks this good.
This portrait of a small town in Montana plays out much like similar slice-of-life docu-dramas, such as Gummo and George Washington, but its realism makes it feel much more like actual documentaries, such as Tchoupitoulas or Bombay Beach. Finding similarities between these films doesn’t mean that there isn’t a hefty amount of originality in Tired Moonlight, however, as West asserts her role as a creative force, melding a complex group of characters with a middle-America backdrop that could easily be any rural town in this country.
The film opens with Dawn (Liz Randall), a middle-aged woman urinating in a tuft of grass near a gas station in a tired little town. A man throws an old all-in-one printer out on the curb nearby, and she quickly scavenges it, hoping to make a quick buck on eBay. Dawn works as a maid at the local motel but hopes to one day strike it big on the online auction market.
We also meet Paul (Paul Dickinson), a gentleman coming back to his hometown in order to take care of his deceased mother’s affairs. After meeting Dawn at an auction, the two hit it off and begin an awkward and uncomfortable romance.
As we learn more about the residents of this place, we also learn about the environment in which they live. A dilapidated and rusted-out tapestry of mini-marts, stock car races, talent shows and water slides beautifully convey small-town life without coming off as exploitative or judgmental. The grainy 16mm camerawork from West and cinematographer Adam Ginsberg looks incredible and helps drive home the vintage look of a town that is displaced from the modern era.
Although the film is a scripted narrative, much of it feels so authentic that it would be easy to believe that this is a documentary. That is, until Alex Karpovsky is introduced as Mike. He does a fine job as always, and it was refreshing to see him shed the pretentious Blooklyn-ite persona he is known for in lieu of a more salt-of-the-earth type.
There’s a poetic voice to Tired Moonlight that is sometimes conveyed through the striking visuals and the symbiotic relationships between the characters and their location, but on several occasions the characters will recite actual poetry in the form of voiceover. These moments, while slight, didn’t add to the overall experience and felt unnecessary, but this is only a slight blemish on an otherwise great debut.
Tired Moonlight just won the Jury Award for Narrative Feature at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival, and I suspect this is just the first of many accolades for the talented Britni West.
