True Adolescents

Narrative Feature, Narrative Competition
D: Craig Johnson; with Mark Duplass, Melissa Leo, Bret Loehr, Carr Thompson

Mark Duplass looks impressively puffy throughout this moody-funny feature-length riff on the increasingly hoary “indie-hipster-wrestling-with-Peter Pan syndrome” genre, but in this case that’s a real good thing. He’s a rocker but not The Rocker. Craig Johnson’s debut feature is an impressive coming-of-age story revolving around Duplass’ character, Sam, a thirtysomething slacker who spends his nights fronting the mediocre Seattle band Effort and snarking off to his girlfriend who tosses him out on his keister within the first 10 minutes of the film. Luckily, his aunt Sharon guilts this sad sack into taking his combative nephew Oliver (Loehr) and Oliver’s best friend, Jake (Thompson), camping for the weekend. Once at the trailhead, a nuanced mixture of bumbling comedy, pathos, and one genuinely unexpected second-act curve-ball enlivens the sweet-ish plot. Duplass shines like a sea-scrubbed Rainier Beer can throughout, Loehr and Thompson are naturalistic and memorable, and the indie-pop soundtrack plaintively echoes the deciduous King County action.

Saturday, March 21, 5pm, Alamo Ritz

This article appears in March 20 • 2009.

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