Four

Directed by Joshua Sanchez from a play by Christopher Shinn, this 2012 indie drama runs a fleet 75 minutes but manages to pack in quite a bit in a film that covers one Fourth of July holiday in a nondescript town. The focus is on four desperate, lonely characters who pursue risky couplings with people they've never met before. June is a teen struggling with his sexual identity who escapes his family's holiday celebration to hook up with Joe, a closeted middle-aged African-American, married with a daughter Abigayle. At the same time, she meets Dexter, a streetwise half-Latino still holding onto past basketball dreams. Both couples connect but not without a great deal of trepidation and some theatrical contrivances. The performances compensate. Aja Naomi King brings pensive intensity to Abigayle, while E. J. Bonilla adds dimension to Dexter's cocky bravado. Emory Cohen brings the requisite angst to June, and in a surprising brave turn, Wendell Pierce brings his own gravitas to a conflicted character encouraging a teen's sexual liberation while unwilling to expose his own closeted hypocrisy to his family.