3 Backyards (2011) (Monday, January 9, 2012) (134)

Sometimes indie movies are interesting and do things that mainstream and Hollywood films couldn't do... and sometimes indie movies are just small and weird. The latter is the case with 3 Backyards, the small film by writer-director Eric Mendelsohn. The film deals with a day in the life of a handful of people, people from three homes, in a suburban Long Island town.

One story is about Peggy (Edie Falco) who is asked by an actress and minor celebrity (Embeth Davidtz) to drive her to a ferry (I think it's a ferry they're driving to... that's not totally clear to me). Clearly Embeth Davidtz is the first person anyone thinks about to play any skinny, cold, English-speaking foreigner -- and she does a great job here with that material. Falco is great too.

Then there's the story of John (Elias Koteas), a married man who gets in a fight with his wife as he's about to leave on a business trip. When flight changes interrupt his plans, he has a free day to figure out what he's doing in his marriage. Finally there's Christina (Rachel Resheff) a pre-teen girl who is dealing with boredom at school and normal kids stuff.

There is nothing really bad about this film, but it never totally amounts to much of anything. The three stories are only slightly connected, aside from the fact that the people involved in them live on the same block. Each one is basically a nice short that is intercut with two other nice shorts. I'm not totally sure I get what this is getting at totally... but overall it's good and not brilliant.

Stars: 2 of 4