This is no ordinary movie.
At its core, Nipples and Palm Trees is more a slice of life than a complete story; it looks at a specific moment in the life of Jackson, an appropriately tortured artist, played by Matthew James. It follows Jackson as he struggles to focus on his work and reconcile his faltering relationship with Harmony, the girlfriend just out of complete reach.
While the situations are at times ludicrous, James holds character throughout. He plays Jackson as a frustrated soul, and to his credit, James seems as real as can be. A nicely nuanced increasing frustration makes one wonder, is Jackson learning a lesson, as he runs around trying to get laid and drinking, or is he de-resonating? Does he yearn for the missing Harmony, or is he haunted by her?
Harmony, played with heart by Sadie Katz, is an orbiting phantom of a girlfriend. There's flashbacks and present moments that lead you to believe she's both the savior and source of Jackson's problems.
If this review gives you the impression that the movie might be a bit of a mess, trust me, it is. As far as narrative filmmaking goes, this one definitely goes off-script, but within that, the amazing thing is, you actually give a darn about the characters. If you can buy into the unlikely premise of Jackson's misadventures, you'll find the situations funny and there's some laughs, and even if you can't , there's something mesmerizing about the tone.
And this movie does something that a lot of films can't; it makes you WANT Jackson and Harmony to be together, rather than assume they will, as so many perfunctory scripts tend to do. The moments between Jackson and Harmony are the meat of the story, though sparse, and an uncomfortable yearning seems to sweeten every look between the two. Credit Director Dylan Reynolds for obviously capitalizing on a natural chemistry between James and Katz, and letting them wander their characters across moments that worked for the film.
All in all, if you like watching actors playing with the finer points of performance, you'll find yourself engaged, and the ending will likely both leave you wanting more, and cause you to think about where it could have gone.
And that's a pretty good movie.
