SXSW 2011 Film Reviews

No Matter What

Saulter returned to her native North Florida to shoot her first feature as writer/director, and it's hard to imagine the story coming to life so well anywhere else. Its rural back roads and worn-down trailer homes loom as large as Nick and Joey, two teenagers also native to the area, with the soft, Southern accents to prove it. When Joey sets out to find his mom after she inexplicably disappears, Nick sticks by him, and their journey reveals how the boys cope in a world of adults who are either absent, tweaking, or demanding to be called "sir." The movie is largely about the solace they find in their casual, quiet friendship, a refreshingly mellowed-out take on male bonding in this amped-up bromance era. First-time actors Webb and Gross – friends and skateboarders on- and offscreen – manage a kind of understated expression through moments of silliness, vulnerability, and stoicism, offering expert portrayals of young people not quite through with childhood though it's through with them.