Super low-budget film manages to capture some truly gorgeous images, while telling a sad & romantic tale. "Dead Leaves" is a road movie, that begins in Brooklyn NY, when a man finds his girlfriend dead, in their apartment. Joey is not ready to say goodbye to Laura and, overcome with grief, he puts her body in the passenger seat of his beat up Porsche, and hits the road. What follows is an atmospheric, richly-filmed trip along the East Coast of the USA. For such a low budget film, this one manages to capture some of the most beautiful Autumn scenery I have seen. Brightly colored, dying leaves, glowing neon signs of cheap, decaying roadside motels, shots of tiny, obscure villages and towns, are captured in this indescribably nostalgic way. I'm guessing that the grainy film stock helped to give the movie this ethereal glow, but it also can be attributed to the smart choice of location shooting.
I see the only other review for this film was written by someone who stumbled on it accidentally, while looking for some exploitation film called "Nekromantik." Well it's no surprise that he didn't enjoy this slow-moving, poetic film. There is no necrophilia here, and almost no bloodshed. In fact we don't have any exploitative elements at all; just a dark, almost Gothic tale of lost love. And the main theme here is, as the title suggests, decay. Everything is decaying; the foliage, the buildings, the cars, and Joe's physical and mental health, along with Laura's body. And throughout we hear narration of some classic poetry, along with some haunting pieces from Bach and Wagner. "Dead Leaves" reminds me very much of the film "Brown Bunny" from Vincent Gallo, another film that was underrated, and greatly misunderstood. It also brings to mind the early works of Gus van Sant, especially in it's visual style. Highly recommended for fans of independent and obscure films, looking for something different. Watching "Dead Leaves," I had to wonder if the East Coast was really that beautiful back in 1998.
