Gas Food Lodging

REVIEW
In her debut film, director Anders tears a page out of Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas (on which she was an assistant director) with this heartfelt and emotionally penetrating tale of familial discord and redemption set against the backdrop of the American Southwest desert. Young Shade (winsomely portrayed by Balk) lives with her single mother (Adams) and her teenage sister (Skye). She spends her afternoons alternately haunting the town's deserted cinema (watching her favorite Mexican screen heroine in a series of cheesy romances), hanging out with her androgynous friend, Darius, and dreaming of her long-lost father. Both her sister and mother are similarly consumed with finding a man to fulfill their lives. Sprinkled throughout with a wry sense of humor, the film sports some enjoyably whimsical moments, especially when Shade bridges the town's racial barrier and befriends a young Mexican boy and his deaf mother. A truly enjoyable, exquisitely rendered drama.