DWF 2015: ECHO LAKE

Will (Sam Zvibleman) in Echo Lake.

No Will to power

By Miranda Inganni

Will (Sam Zvibleman) is a 30-year-old functioning alcoholic who clearly has difficulties processing his emotions as well as communicating with others. After his dad dies, Will’s younger brother mails him a letter, the deed to the family cabin with the keys and a program from the memorial service. With no place else to go once his girlfriend Erin (Christine Weatherup) throws him out, Will heads to the recently inherited cabin in the Sierras to do a little soul searching.

Will seems indifferent to life and has had no real connection to his alcoholic father for some time. He is a loser -- smoking and drinking his way through his days and nights at the cabin by the lake. To further screw things up, Will loses his dad’s dog, which he has been placed in charge of, while hiking in the woods. Fortunately, he encounters a brother and sister -- Luke (Chris Mollica) and Christie (Jillian Leigh) -- familiar with the area. The three become fast friends and look for the dog between skinny dips and bowl hits.

Will is not meant to be a very likable person, but he is simply a flawed human, like everyone else. Yes, he drinks and smokes too much, but he seems to come to his senses every once in a while. He is a slacker, but he does not take advantage of the situation when Christie wants to make out with him. He may have broken up with Erin, but he is not yet over her.

Echo Lake, written and directed by Jody McVeigh-Schultz, is quiet and reflective -- much like the lakes near the cabin. The story is told in a non-linear way, with flashbacks fleshing out the relationship between Will and Erin and the movie ends almost mid-thought.

It is a refreshing treat!

 

 

Echo Lake screens tonight at Dance With Films. For more information: Echo.


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NEWPORT BEACH 2012: WORTH THE WEIGHT



LaShawna (Constance Reese) and Miles (Tommy Snider) in Worth the Weight.

Fat chance

By Ed Rampell

Worth the Weight is in the tradition of Paddy Chayefsky’s 1955  film, Marty, a realistic look at love among ordinary people. Like Ernest Borgnine as the Bronx butcher in that Best Picture Oscar winner, Robbie Kaller plays a meaty plebian character yearning for romance. Sam is a washed up university athlete whose football injury put the kibosh on his NFL and college aspirations, leading to enormous weight gain and an unglamorous bowling alley career.

Weighing an estimated 411 Sam enters into a weight loss contest with his roommate and friends where he also meets Cassie (Jillian Leigh), an attractive trainer (not “a coach!”) at “Fat Cutters.” Leigh renders an intriguing character study, as a young woman ensnared in an unsatisfying romance with pretentious poet Stephan (Bryan Bellamo), who contrasts sharply with the earthy, good natured Sam. What’s a woman to do?

This romantic comedy’s supporting cast includes Constance Reese as LaShawna, who lights up every scene she’s in as the girlfriend of quirky Miles (Tommy Snider). Coincidentally, Reese portrayed Michelle Obama in a musical about the First Family -- this film’s theme is a perfect fit for the First Lady’s anti-obesity campaign.

Director Ryan Sage’s feature debut, which won the Beverly Hills Film Festival’s Audience Award, is also an excellent example of low budget indies shot with DV cameras.



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