REVIEW: Cold Weather

Cold Weather
Directed by: Aaron Katz
Written by: Aaron Katz (screenplay)
Starring: Cris Lankenau, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Raúl Castillo and Robyn Rikoon

At the beginning of Aaron Katz’s Cold Weather, it seems like there will be no way through it.  The main characters, a brother and a sister wandering Portland, are not interesting enough to sustain interest in a movie where nothing happens narratively.  Thankfully, this emerges as the point as the movie becomes more and more clever without sacrificing its realism.

A sense of being with Doug (Cris Lankenau) and Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn) as they improvise a missing person’s investigation is Cold Weather‘s most crucial element.  The meandering first third hints at several different directions that it may take but not the one it does take.  Doug gets a job bagging ice with Carlos (Raúl Castillo) and the two engage in casual banter about events in their lives and, most importantly, Sherlock Holmes.

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