It was the local angle that landed this independent film in our Netflix queue: it's set and filmed in Minneapolis, and the writer and director, Patrick Coyle, is a neighbor whose kids catch the school bus at the same corner as ours. I've never met him, but he and Amanda have exchanged pleasantries, and she popped out of her seat on the sofa when, in one scene, she saw his girls in the background.
The story concerns a young priest who works crossword puzzles while hearing confessions. You know he's cool because, in addition to being bored by the sins of his congregants, he rides a bicycle, drinks beer, is sympathetic toward homosexuals, and not real sure of his vocation. When a hooker confesses that she is going to kill herself on her birthday, he puts down the puzzle and sets out to find her outside the booth--an exercise that involves, for example, a night-time bike ride to Minneapolis's famous red-light district. (There isn't one, but Mr. Coyle does his best to make Our Fair City look sinister.) If I told you the priest has a love interest, a former girlfriend who's back in town after a divorce, you'd probably underestimate this movie, which seems (if an outsider may claim to detect it) suffused with religious feeling. Recommended.
Comments