Brian Savelson’s In Our Nature is about another cabin in the woods, but this one traffics in a different kind of horror – the horror of finding your getaway weekend with your girlfriend upended by the surprise arrival of Dad.
In Our Nature, which world-premiered at the 2012 South By Southwest Film Festival, is a four-person roundelay starring John Slattery (Mad Men’s Roger Sterling) and Zach Gilford (Friday Night Light’s Matt Saracen) as an estranged father and son who separately light on the idea of bringing their girlfriends (Gabrielle Union and Jena Malone, respectively) to the family’s country house, thus rendering two romantic parties of two into one incredibly awkward party of four.
In her three-star review, the Chronicle’s Leah Churner called the film “a study in fine gradations of resentment in the great outdoors”; indeed, the silences and squirms and sullen looks communicate more between father and son than actual words. See the clip below for a tiny slice of so much seething.
In Our Nature opens theatrically in Austin on Friday. Writer/director Brian Savelson and producer/part-time Austinite Anish Savjani (Meek’s Cutoff) will be in attendance at the Arbor Cinema’s 7:30pm shows on Friday, Dec. 14 and Saturday, Dec. 15 to take part in post-film Q&As.
This article appears in December 7 • 2012.
