Different Drum

Kevin Chenault | 2013 | ★★★★
Tod (Zach Zint), a flat-broke, directionless musician, and Lydia (Isabella DeVoy), his pregnant ex-girlfriend, embark on a zig-zaggy road trip from South Dakota to Indiana – ostensibly to attend a family wedding. Along the way they seek out various art works, frequent numerous bars, watch Night of the Living Dead in several motels, indulge in the odd spot of petit larceny, and even find time to seek out some (Lebowski-inspired) sarsaparilla in Sioux City. Inevitably, a number of decidedly low-key adventures ensue, often involving terribly nice stickup artists, lottery-winning Elvis-impersonators, bodily fluids, and eye patches. Coming somewhere between Wes Anderson and Aaron Katz, this quirky but downbeat and sensuous road movie proves great fun. The photography is gorgeous, the soundtrack seductive, the plotting unpredictable, and the performances quietly charismatic. Delightful.