At the beginning of National Anthem, writer-director Luke Gilford’s exquisite-looking and subversive debut feature, 21-year-old Dylan (Charlie Plummer) lives a particularly burdensome and monotonous life. Within his small, rural, isolated New Mexico community he supports his family by shoveling gravel at temporary construction gigs and returns to his one-bedroom home to feed and take care of Cassidy (Joey DeLeon), his younger brother. Most nights his alcoholic hairdresser mother goes out late and returns home with drunken flings, forcing her two sons to sleep on the couch. It’s a difficult, lonely existence, and throughout his primary caretaking Dylan sees no opportunity to escape.
But that pendulum shifts when Pepe (Rene Rosado) pulls up in a pickup truck and offers a group of day laborers some extra work. Lacking many options, Dylan obliges and soon discovers an alternative lifestyle just 30 minutes down the road. Initially tasked with bailing hay at House of Splendor,...
But that pendulum shifts when Pepe (Rene Rosado) pulls up in a pickup truck and offers a group of day laborers some extra work. Lacking many options, Dylan obliges and soon discovers an alternative lifestyle just 30 minutes down the road. Initially tasked with bailing hay at House of Splendor,...
- 3/11/2023
- by Jake Kring-Schreifels
- The Film Stage
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