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Tim Bartell's "Dirty Beautiful" dives into the inner desires, fears, dreams and curses of our main characters. We meet David (Ricky Mabe), a screen writer filled with angst. Never completing a full length screenplay, his life seems to be in a holding pattern. But, he never lets go of his current delusion that success is just around the corner.

He has a revelation and becomes consumed with the notion that a mate will fix everything. Somehow this intangible person can ignite his creativity and, much needed focus, to construct the perfect, sellable script.

Fate has its own plans and arrives on the scene to confiscate his path. Enter Kat (Jordan Monaghan) . Her enigmatic style couldn't be more the antitheses of every fantasy David possess for his perfect mate. Her unconventional choices are to Davids' structure like oil is to water.

And, somehow we find ourselves riding the wave of this story to analyze our own choices and reflect those moments in our lives when one action changed the course of our very soul.

This film was incredibly engaging in it's surface simplicity. But the strangely contagious depth is what summoned me to become part of the film - To relate with their plight, their unrealized dreams and ultimately the acceptance of their failures and those things with which they had no control.

I found this film to be engaging and move me in ways that were completely unexpected. Tim Bartell's (director, writer and producer), character development was wonderful and, in fact, each character we met in this journey of our lead character, David, exhibited the same care and depth. The music was spot on and never over-took a single moment, but crept up to enhance the moment and elevate it to where Tim envisioned it should be. Ricky Mabe and Jordan Monaghan were both strong actors and fell into a very believable relationship.

I highly recommend this well paced, character driven jewell for anyone who has a heart, a soul and a dream.

When the film first began I wasn't sure what I was getting. Then Lorrisa Julianus started her complaining in the elevator and I started laughing! She has a great energy and her sarcasm made it clear that this was a campy film. The music adds to that vibe because it feels like a romantic film that clearly it is not!

C.j. Julianus did a wonderful job directing and with his three main leads, Lorrisa, Mickey O'Sullivan and Shannon Brown. They all played well together and carried the film.

I relate to Lorrisa as I just wrote and starred in my film "Cocoa". It's an accomplishment for sure and I can appreciate the hard work that she and CL put into this production. I thought Lorrisa showed her acting chops and displayed depth and emotion. Congratulations for a job well done!! And for bring more comedy into the indie world. And for a fairly clean movie! Here here for non horror non slasher indies.

I happen to love a film that engages you so thoroughly that it is easy to forget you are watching a film. This is the case with this mesmerizing film written and directed by Nathan Buck. I found the pacing to draw me into each character without a feeling of self indulgence. Quite a difficult thing to do.

The opening with our hitchhiker Alex (Nahema Riccio) lets the viewer know immediately that there is a mystery about to unfold. When we meet up with Beth (Tillman Holmqvist) and Gregory (Philippe Brenninkmeyer) it is unclear what their relationship is, which makes things all the more interesting for me.

The actors had such honest and real performances that it felt like we were eves dropping on their visit with Leah (tara Lynn Orr). They all glided into their conversations. We were invited into their inner thoughts by just watching them. Their inner voice was quite audible to the viewer.

I was trying to figure out what the ultimate secret was and failed! I found that all the more intriguing.

There were so many levels to these relationships and the way each of their stories intertwined that it kept me guessing what the outcome would eventually be. When I finally found out that secret, I could feel the deep pain with each actor...the receiver of the news as well as the giver of the information. How that rippled out to everyone else.

I felt all the performances were wonderful. The character Andres (Amr Wakes) was the glue that held everyone together. I thought his performance was so strong and played with so much restraint that it was hard not to want to see a lot more of him.

I would recommend this film for the solid acting, the beautiful cinematography, and all the technical aspects of film, and mostly the wonderful direction and well written script of Nathan Buck.