Call it what you will.
I urge you to see the contemplative Cold Weather from emerging young American director Aaron Katz for a refreshing repositioning of the all American detective movie. In fact, prime yourself if you can with his earlier Quiet City and Dance Party, USA just to see how far he has come. In what is fast developing as a serious contender for a truly C21st cinematic trend the latest offering marks almost a decade in films that fit into what some cynical commentators are calling Mumblecore.
Put your career on ice, become a slacker detective.
This is what happens to college dropout Doug (Cris Lankenau) reuniting with his estranged but responsible older sister Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn) in their cold and wet native Portland. Their all too natural performances go a long way to coax us, albeit gently, into their relationship that is as much the mystery as the ensuing caper. Enter a cagey ex-girlfriend (Robyn Rikoon) and a co-worker cum DJ, Carlos (Raul Castillo) and the (in)action is finally moving.
Whatever…..
The central tenet of hipsterism is indifference.. (Not the cold hard type, more of a lukewarm middle-class you know.. whatever ). Towards anything of seeming value be it family, career, a home, indifference is key. Just so long as you have time to indulge your every curio; whale watching, waterfalls, rooftops or just staying up reading Arthur Conan Doyle. The latter to prove even more useful to solving our mystery than the fact that Doug was actually studying Forensic Science at college. Thankfully director Katz’s nod to the flawed detectives of noir era cinema weighs the script with more than just hipster posturing and gives us flourishes of comic dialogue between Doug and co worker Carlos. “Sherlock Holmes was a pimp…!” exclaims a surprised Carlos after reading a copy upon Dougs’ suggestion. Though when the latter bows out of the picture almost abruptly we are left with perhaps the strongest sequence in the film, between a brother and sister finally in sync, displaying the real cool understated chemistry of indifference.
No Sex please we are Indie.
For what it’s worth Cold Weather is time well spent . Remember, this being low budget film making we expect a tight economical cast of fresh talent, poignant musical passages from real musicians and locations to be meaningful characters in their own. … And we get that. Surprisingly, there is no sex in Cold Weather, not even a kiss, sexual tension no thanks. No violence, not even so much as a car chase. In fact I don’t think anyone raises their voice. Not that we expected that.
Doing less with less is getting interesting.
Cold Weather is in cinemas 15th April 2011.
Director: Aaron Katz
Stars: Cris Lankenau, Raúl Castillo, Robyn Rikoon
Runtime: 96 min
Country: USA
Film Rating: 
