SAFELIGHT (2015) Crippled-from-birth teen, an aspiring photographer, is befriended by the 18 year old hooker who plies her trade at the truck stop near the convenience store he clerks at. As you might expect in an independent film, a gentle, tender friendship develops, overshadowed by the girl's pimp, a raving, violent nutcase, annoyingly over-acted by some actor we won't even bother naming. He's that bad, dripping flop sweat as he struggles to outdo every previous movie psycho-pimp Typically for an Indie, the film ends abruptly, leaving you with more questions than answers. 2 stars
TAKE ME TO THE RIVER (2015) Gay California teen boy plans to come out to his family during their trip to a relatives get together picnic in Nebraska. Things go quickly awry when it appears to the family that he may (or may not) have molested his 10 year old niece while they were alone together in the barn. Arid, quietly creepy and unsettling, the film revels in its inconclusiveness, hidden motives and deep family secrets left unexplained. By the time this uneasy little anecdote grinds to a halt, you'll wonder what the hell went on and why you even bothered to care, 1 1/2 stars.
ONE MORE TIME (2015) A washed up, Sinatra-type crooner (Christopher Walken) plots a comeback as he gathers round his dysfunctional family, all of them wounded in some form or another by his lifetime of self-absorption, emotional neglect and string of broken marriages. Hardest hit : one of his daughters (Amber Heard) an unstable 31 year old would-be singer songwriter and random sex addict who's just been kicked out of her apartment. Easily the most watchable of the three films discussed here....Heard and Walken's acidic verbal clashes keep it interesting, and you have to love Walken's slightly satiric recreations of those signature Sinatra/Tony Bennet swingin' song stylings. You'll wish it had a little more oomph to raise it slightly above the usual remote observational mood of independent films. 2 and 1/2 stars.
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