Buoy
Sep 29, 2012
(Steven Doughton, 2012, Blu-ray, Portland, OR)
When T.C. receives a call from Danny, her wayward brother, after a two-year communication lapse, she is tidying up her middle-class home as a suburban mother of two in Portland, Oregon. T.C.’s and Danny’s phone conversation comprises the film’s single scene. As the camera tracks T.C. through her household rounds, she and Danny embark on a wide-ranging emotional journey as their dialogue carries the story. Bittersweet childhood recollections merge into searching spiritual conjectures; bizarre anecdotes lead to offbeat cultural critiques and awkward personal confessions. Against a backdrop of long-simmering tensions and enduring sympathies, T.C.’s and Danny’s conversational saga reveals the deeper stories of their selves and their relation to each other, while exploring universal questions. What does it mean to be a good person and to live your life well? How do you keep your disappointment in—and envy for—another person’s life choices from standing in the way of your love for them?
Part of our Local Sightings Film Festival 2012 - see the festival website for full program details. Full festival passes are available online.
“Buoy is a powerful, deeply engrossing meditation on family, middle class alienation and love. What begins as a minimalist nod to My Dinner With Andre and Jeanne Dielmann results in a dramatic, emotionally gripping excavation of contemporary life, exquisitely controlled and grounded in its pitch-perfect performances, writing and direction.” - Todd Haynes, writer/director Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven,
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