Independent Film Festival Boston 2009

Hard-drinking, gruff-talking private detective John Rosow (Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) fancies himself a throwback to the days of Bogart and Bacall. Trouble is, nowadays getting drunk can really inhibit your work performance, smoking is against the law, and dames, well, don’t like being called “dames.” Early one morning, Miss Charley (Academy Award nominee Amy Ryan, GONE BABY GONE; “The Office”) shows up at Rosow’s apartment with a seemingly simple job: follow a man taking the train from Chicago to L.A. But of course, nothing that pays this well is simple, and when Rosow discovers a surprising correlation between his own past and that of the man he’s following, he has to decide whether he’s on the right side or the money side.

Transplanting the gumshoe into contemporary America provides a clever commentary on how times have changed since the heyday of the taciturn tough guy––especially when our bumbling hero can’t even figure out how to use a cell phone. But when the truth about Rosow’s past comes out, the film takes a more contemplative turn, pondering both our national longing to return to a simpler time and an alternate desire: to reinvent ourselves and never look back. Charming performances from Shannon and Ryan round out this modern detective story.

- Kristina Aikens