 Britni West’s enchanting Tired Moonlight offers a quiet, lackadaisical look at the small Montana city of Kalispell, where West grew up. It’s an intimate, naturalistic collage of summer moments from a handful of lives, filled with vivid imagery. Although it’s a scripted, fiction film, the final product nestles comfortably between narrative, experimental, and documentary conventions, carving out territory where it sets its own cinematic rhythm. |  MSPIFF Friday, April 10, 7:10pm Saturday, April 18, 8:30pm Director: Britni West Producers: Alex Karpovsky, Britni West Writer: Britni West Cinematographer: Adam Ginsberg Editor: Britni West Cast: Hillary Berg, Beck DeRoberts, Paul Dickinson, Alex Karpovsky, Liz Randall, Charles Smith, Rainleigh Vick Runtime: 76m. Genre: Drama Country: USA Premiere: January 23, 2015 – Slamdance Film Festival |
| Although we meet them only in sporadic vignettes, the film’s characters feel whole and human—the humble protagonist Dawn, with her deep wells of both sadness and optimism; the middle-aged poet Paul, returned to Kalispell for a visit that turns into a sort of anxious, unfulfilled reverie; and the thoughtful teen Sarah, who seems to be finding her way without quite meaning to. And yet these figures are always a little out of reach—although they’re easy to get to know, they’re also just one part of the emotional tapestry that West weaves. Filling in the cracks between their stories are the little things that give a town its sense of place—the landscape, the houses, the sky, the cars, the Fourth of July fireworks. West and cinematographer Adam Ginsberg make these sights and sounds radiate warmth just as naturally and casually as its characters and their stories, yielding a lovely film that’s not quite like anything else you’ve seen. |
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