Independent Pick: Prince Avalanche (2013)
As we hurtle out the other side of summer, we all need a little something to cleanse the palate of Transformers and Expendables, don’t we? Those big blockbusters are lots of fun, but they keep us at a safe distance. Prince Avalanche – based on the 2011 Icelandic film Either Way – shows us that cinema can still create intimacy, even when its subject is separation and loss.
Set in 1988, the film depicts Alvin (Paul Rudd) and Lance (Emile Hirsch) working to re-paint the lines on a rural highway that passes through an area devastated by wildfire. The remote location requires them to camp in the wilderness through the week while they cover the isolated stretch of road. Alvin is a severe man – emotionally unavailable to those around him and preferring solitude. Lance is Alvin’s girlfriend’s younger brother – a womanizer, employed by Alvin.
To discuss the broad arc of the story is to risk spoiling the experience for the viewer – this film is best watched with no prior knowledge of where these two characters are headed – either individually, or as a pair. We can note, however, that Prince Avalanche gracefully pivots on specific moments. It’s how we get to know these men, and how we come to understand their respective emotional plights. It’s a testament to writer-director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express), as well as his cast, that these moments continue to resonate long after the credits have rolled. These are unlikeable characters, written in such a way as to channel the thoughts of the audience as they seek to pick each other apart. Alvin quietly, but relentlessly, skewers the unabashed male privilege of Lance, while Lance strikes hammer-blows at Alvin’s cold and judgmental nature.
Beautifully shot with a crew of just 15 (in Bastrop State Park, Texas – victim of its own deadly wildfire), and brilliantly scored by David Wingo and Explosions In The Sky, the film also reminds us that Paul Rudd is actually a talented actor. To his credit, director Green included a scene featuring Rudd with local resident Joyce Payne, whom the crew stumbled upon sifting through the ashes of her own home. I would venture that this scene is one of the most raw and powerful pieces of cinema that you are likely to have seen for some time – not least because of Rudd’s reaction to her in the moment, in character. It subtly shifts the tone of the entire movie. Truly, this is a film worth watching – particularly if you’d like to remember what it feels like to just take a camera and tell a story.