Drawing inspiration from the likes of outsider art, Southern Gothic fiction, and Victor Erice's 1973 film The Spirit of the Beehive, Michael Tully's singular is that rare art-house film that delivers equal measures of laughter, darkness, and beauty. Suddenly and without explanation, Cornelius Rawlings, The Athlete (Tully, in one of the year's most memorable performances) returns to his family's Tennessee farm eighteen years after he disappeared. His parents have died, but his two brothers -- Ezra, The Matriarch (Robert Longstreet ) and Amos, The Artist (Onur Tukel) -- have continued their isolated, idiosyncratic lives on the family farm. The brothers receive the phenomenally bearded Cornelius' return with equal parts bewilderment and joy, but he remains a mysterious presence in their midst, slipping away occasionally to hustle cash as an unlikely ringer on the basketball and tennis courts. A tentative balance is struck, even as much remains unsettled and unsaid among the brothers... until a sleazy figure from their past returns, turning their whole world on its head. at times suggests an ecstatic collision between Desperate Living and Putty Hill - and indeed, Putty Hill cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier and editor Marc Vives are both on board here and in top form. But by the film's end there can be no doubt that we've seen something bold and new. This film takes risks every step of the way, and succeeds brilliantly. (Eric Allen Hatch, MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL)

Starring:

Robert Longstreet, Michael Tully, Onur Tukel, Jim Willingham

Genre:

Comedy, Drama, Mystery