Down in the Valley

Good post-modern cowboy stuff - ignore idea of romance, if your bloke thinks Harlan has saving graces you will need a serious chat. Evan R Wood is brilliant as an authentic teen working out stuff about life and boundaries, and uses her intelligence, where Harlan has lost his options in that area and functions off a thin script about life lived from minute to minute - and not in a good way. Wade is a fabulous hero, destined not to be noticed or given his credit, but I salute his morality and war-weary, inescapable world wisdom. The recurring filmic images of Californian environs and lifestyles seem to agree these days that no film set is required - think bleak, parched, sieged souls and a simple faith in those minute-by-minute lives.