“Diggers” is the kind of seemingly effortless little movie that makes people think that anyone with a digital video camera can write a movie. What sets this movie apart from the legions of chatty, virtually action-free independent movies that fail to impress is that this one is well-written and effectual.
Starring the ever-improving Paul Rudd as one of several aimless clam diggers in upstate New York in the 1970s, “Diggers” captures a certain mood very well. The death of his father and the encroachment of a major corporation force changes in his life. It’s the latest in the coming of age genre that has, interestingly, shown people coming of age later and later. Your typical graduate finds out how hard life is in his 30s rather than his 20s.
Several solid actors round out the ensemble, including Lauren Ambrose from the late, great HBO show “Six Feet Under” and Maura Tierney, playing Rudd’s love interest and sister, respectively. When a movie gets by almost purely on dialogue, that dialogue must be stronger than just a repetition of some conversation you and your friends had in a bar one time. However, it is important in this movie that the dialogue does seem convincingly like it took place in a bar. “Diggers” succeeds in this.
Written by Ken Marino of “The State,” this movie was convincing, moving and, perhaps most elusively, cool. The characters were amusing and believable. My life was not changed, but my time was not wasted, either. This is a movie that succeeded in its goals, even if those goals were rather modest. On the other hand, perhaps the telling of a short but real story is not such a modest achievement after all.
“Diggers” is currently available to rent.
“Freedom Writers” is another movie that is part of an arguably tired genre, that of the underdog school transformed by the tireless vision of one plucky teacher. However, maybe this story is so often mined because it is so inherently inspiring, and, in this case, actually true.
Oscar winner Hilary Swank plays an idealistic teacher facing a class that seems doomed to failure. Set against gang violence in LA in the 1990s, Swank finds her lifelong idealism challenged by her nihilistic students who, admittedly, seem to have very little to look forward to and whose problems exceed anything she could imagine.
Fortunately, she does not turn to ballroom dancing as a way of connecting with them. On the contrary, she connects with them by placing their struggles in a historical context, taking an extra job to buy the copies of The Diary of Anne Frank that jaded school officials would not trust them with.
This approach is not just more interesting and effective for them; it is more so for the viewers as well. The students’ intelligence is not insulted and neither is ours. Their stories are the heart of this film, and Hillary Swank is able, as an actress and a producer of the film, to let that happen. When the kids raise money to bring Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank, to speak at their school, it is a multi-hanky moment. And that’s not even the climax.
Again, the triumph of this legitimately sentimental film is the truth at the heart of it. It has the power to generate despair and inspiration for the power of education, particularly as all the kids and their teachers head back to school.
“Freedom Writers” is currently available to rent.
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
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