I just saw "Little Chenier", and I have to say, it was fantastic. Apparently, it debuted at the Austin Film Festival in 2006, but only recently landed distribution and is just now hitting the theaters.
Some reviews make it sound like a quirky little independent film, but it is anything but. It reminded me a great deal of some of John Sayles' best work, like "Lone Star" or "Matewan". The story centers on two brothers, the elder Beaux (Jonathan Schaech) and mentally disabled Pemon (Fred Koehler) who are barely making ends meet running a bait shop off a houseboat in the Lake Charles, LA swamps. Beaux has come out on the losing end in a battle with the Sheriff's son over a girl, and things escalate from there. The story takes some nice detours in a loose homage to "Of Mice and Men", and even though the ending is predictable, the means to that end are not.
Schaech's performance is terrifically understated, and Koehler is nearly brilliant. So is Clifton Collins, Jr. as Beaux' best friend T-boy. The cinematography is beautiful -- very "filmlike", no digital video here -- and rookie director Bethany Ashton Wolf handles things like a pro. To call a good bit of the movie "tense" would be to understate things quite a bit.
It's easily one of the best films I've seen in a couple of years. Go see it.
Some reviews make it sound like a quirky little independent film, but it is anything but. It reminded me a great deal of some of John Sayles' best work, like "Lone Star" or "Matewan". The story centers on two brothers, the elder Beaux (Jonathan Schaech) and mentally disabled Pemon (Fred Koehler) who are barely making ends meet running a bait shop off a houseboat in the Lake Charles, LA swamps. Beaux has come out on the losing end in a battle with the Sheriff's son over a girl, and things escalate from there. The story takes some nice detours in a loose homage to "Of Mice and Men", and even though the ending is predictable, the means to that end are not.
Schaech's performance is terrifically understated, and Koehler is nearly brilliant. So is Clifton Collins, Jr. as Beaux' best friend T-boy. The cinematography is beautiful -- very "filmlike", no digital video here -- and rookie director Bethany Ashton Wolf handles things like a pro. To call a good bit of the movie "tense" would be to understate things quite a bit.
It's easily one of the best films I've seen in a couple of years. Go see it.
