Robert J. Maxwell It's hard to believe that Nevada -- desolate Nevada -- is one of the most urbanized states in the union. Aside from Las Vegas and Reno, there are the smaller towns of Elko, Sparks, and Winemucca. Nobody lives in between. Well, maybe tiny Tonopah where, one hundred years ago, I danced on the stage of the LDS church. In this case we're dealing with two brothers, Hirsch and the older Dorff, who are involved in a hit-and-run accident in wintry and rain-slick Reno. Dorff is full of chagrin. Distracted, he shoots himself in the leg, promptly amputated at the hospital. Hirsch tends to his brother quietly but lovingly.However, the cops are on their tails and Hirsch must hustle Dorff out of the hospital into an old beaten up car he's just bought by selling his Dad's priceless Winchester rifle, the one that's never been fired. I mention that rifle because it's a splendid-looking weapon, all engraved and glistening brass, kept in a velvet-lined case. And Hirsch sells it for four hundred dollars road money although the reluctant store owner advises him that he could get much more at a gun show or on the internet. These guys are down-and-outers. They have to scratch for every penny.Their few friends include a guy recently released from a mental hospital who acts odd and at times manic. Then there is Kris Kristofferson as the Jungian archetype, the wise old man. He's full of advice like, "Always think you're great, or if not great, at least good, and then you can have everything." Well, what the hell. It's not Deepak Chopra but you'd pay fifty dollars an hour to hear the same thing from a shrink.The pair make it in their old clunker to Elko, which is actually a scenic little town where only the people seem to mar the allure. Fortunately, one of the people is Dakota Fanning, now grown up, an old girl friend of one of the boys. She quite attractive too. She has very large blue eyes over which two very large lids droop. Her background is as hard scrabble as everyone else's, her mother a hooker.There are some moving scenes of Hirsch caring for his bed-ridden brother in an Elko motel. That stump causes his a great deal of discomfort. He needs to be helped, very awkwardly, in and out of the shower, and Hirsch must dress what's left of his leg. In the movies, that's usually good enough, but here, as in real life, the caring brother is no doctor and has no antibiotics and the leg becomes infected and Hirsch takes Dorff to a hospital where he dies.It's a gloomy picture. There's nothing funny about it. But the performances are uniformly good. Hirsch really has a passive role, but Dorff is convincing in showing us emotions like pain and fear. He looks a little like Dennis Quaid. And he comes across as a nice, affable kid who wishes no one any harm. The screenplay lets them down once in a while. In their last scene together, night time, in the kind of cheap motel room where you can still smell the disinfectant, Dorff tells Hirsch, "You're a good guy and I love you." We already know it.There's something else I didn't quite get. Dorff draws a lot of picture in comic book style. And Hirsch tells him fantastic stories about BJs and cross-dressing pirate captains and desert islands. They take up quite a bit of screen time and they're illustrated in the style of an animated graphic novel. I don't get it.Dakota Fanning isn't given much to do except blink once in a while, which practically sets the air around her in motion. Let's have no more girls named Dakota. I see that name everywhere these days. Kristofferson is appealing as the car salesman who dispenses stale recommendations. Thirty years ago, it would have been Ben Johnson, the actor, not the playwright.One thing that keeps the film worthy of watching is the use of settings -- landscapes, weather, indoor locations. It's something that isn't often given much attention, yet has a great impact on our response to the story. And I don't mean just majestic mountains or grimy city streets, but something more personal and subtle. "Fargo" was another instance, as were "The Hustler", and "Desert Hearts" (Reno again), and "Atlantic City." The story isn't exactly gripping but the performances and the bits of interaction are so well displayed that you'll probably stay interested.

Armand snow. animation. common acting. dark story. a mixture between Of mice and men , blue song and usual scenes from a gloomy America. it is not great or good or impressive. only decent. each actor does a good work and the presence of Krist Kristoffen remains the profound note of movie. a film like an old Dodge Dart. too common for many, not brilliant for the others. but interesting and almost touching. an adaptation. a testimony. realistic and full of ash taste. a film who can remember few basic things of ordinary life or be boring. but not bad. sure, it is not a revelation, Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff makes theirs character in well known manner but that is one of film virtues.

zombiebird Well it seems like an interesting indie movie on the surface, but in reality the story just fails to establish itself. All through out you can just never really find yourself caring for the characters or what has happened to them. That of course isn't helped by the fact that the acting is quite very poor in places and the directing too seems somewhat amateurish at times although is reasonably acceptable as a whole. The movie is also cluttered with songs, at times you just go from 1 song onto another which is not only annoying, but, in my opinion also takes away some credibility from what is going on. Not to mention that it is plainly obvious that the numerous use of songs is just a cover to try and pull you into a story that can't hold its own. The end is anti- climatic and utterly unsatisfying, leaving you wondering what exactly this whole story was about anyway and why it just bounced around for so long and never really went anywhere. The illustrated cartoons within the movie however are really good, well animated, well narrated and properly manage to capture the setting of the movie and the characters. So in short, watch this if you feel like watching a cavalier, semi- romanticized movie about impoverished life in midland USA.

steven-leibson Movies like this only come around every half century or so. The last time, the name of the movie was "Midnight Cowboy." This time, it's "The Motel Life," which is based on a cult debut novel by Willy Vlautin published in 2006. It's the story of two close-knit brothers, bonded together by the untimely death of their mother when they're in their early teens. Since then, these brothers have been inseparable, living rough on society's fringes due to no fault of their own. When the movie opens, the brothers are living in their hometown of Reno, Nevada in the cheap-motel miasma on the "other" side of town. Although one's a gifted artist and the other is an accomplished storyteller, they live at the bottom of the economic pile with nothing but odd jobs for support.The two brothers, Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan, are played by Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff respectively with about as much emotional depth and raw credibility as you're likely to ever see portrayed on screen. The supporting cast includes Kris Kristofferson—in a truly moving performance—and Dakota Fanning who also gives a terrific accounting of her character. The inspired animation of Mike Smith adds substantially to the movie as well, cleanly delineating the "real" world from Frank's fantasies.Like "Midnight Cowboy," this film deals with many dark, adult themes. "Midnight Cowboy" was made in 1969. It was highly controversial back then but it's now listed as #36 on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Greatest Movies of all time. If you're squeamish or prudish about what you see on screen, this might not be your film, but if you can stand to look at a portion of society that you likely don't see often or ever, you will be rewarded by the tremendous performances in this film.You're going to have to work a bit harder than usual to find this movie when it opens on November 8. It will open in only 20 markets. But it will be worth the quest. We saw it early as part of the ongoing efforts of Tim Sika and the San Jose Camera Cinema Club. After the showing, the audience talked with Stephen Dorff via Skype for 45 minutes. Dorff shared a lot of background that greatly enhanced the experience. Thanks Tim.