Prince Avalanche, 2013.
Directed by David Gordon Green.
Starring Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch, Lance LeGault, and Gina Grande.
SYNOPSIS:
Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind.
1988. Texas. Fire ravages a US woodland area, devastating lives of the people and wildlife in and around its path of destruction. As part of the rescue effort, local road painter Alvin (Paul Rudd) is asked to help reestablish some sort of order, and is sent into the woods to begin realigning the roads. In tow is the brother of his partner, Lance (Emile Hirsch), who like most bored adolescents just wants some money in his pocket for his weekends, which overflow with booze and women.
At the core of the film is loss. Loss of livelihoods, loss of hopes and dreams, and a sense of self run through the film with the same drastic effect as the fires themselves.
Both Alvin and Lance believe they are on the right path, the paths that they picked out for themselves as their lives kicked into gear. Neither would trade what they have for the others, and in turn neither can imagine why the other would make such a choice. Why choose a life with one woman when you can have your pick? Why pick the loneliest job there is? How can you choose a life that doesn’t teach you the basics, like gutting a fish?
Poles apart, the last thing either of them needed was this particular situation, already alienated enough from their lives and loves, but it’s exactly this job – this lonely, out-of-touch job that soon becomes the catalyst for both men to find solace, redemption, and to help pull each other back from the brink of the abyss. Whether that be in drunken escapades (impromptu sing-song is one of the films stand-out moments), play fighting or simply releasing themselves from the solitude by discarding their equipment into a near by river bed, it’s this lonely existence that connects them, bonds them, and gives themselves a new direction.
Gordon Green, helped by the wondrous cinematography from collaborator Tim Orr, has created a wonder of a film that deserves to be seen by everyone. It looks stunning; beautifully capturing the stark contrasts of beauty and devastation around the forests in all its lush, rain-soaked beauty, and perfectly balances the comedy moments with the more serine, quiet moments beautifully. Ably supported too by a stunning soundtrack from acclaimed artists Explosions in the Sky and David Wingo, which adds a joyful, uplifting undertone to the film, and is arguably the year’s most beautiful score.
And of course, there’s Rudd and Hirsch. Both genuine, both superb, both never better, their partnership and chemistry are a joy from start to finish. An unlikely pairing for sure, it’s precisely that unknown factor that works to the films advantage. Rudd, sporting a cool mustache that echoes Brian Fantana again plays the “nice guy” that has become custom for him, but in the deepest role of his career; and Hirsch, just has he did in Into the Wild, has a debonair charm that, even with a few extra pounds, works perfectly with Rudd’s everyman.
Prince Avalanche will not tickle everyone’s fancy: it’s slow burning, meandering pace, fuelled with measured drama rather than bladder-bursting humour, will alienate some expecting anything remotely Apatow-esque, but that isn’t to say it isn’t very funny. It is, but it’s in its quieter, solemn moments that capture the solitude of the woods, that the film truly excels, thanks to some sharp writing, perfect performances and gorgeous cinematography. It’s an absolute joy from start to finish, and with Jim Rash and Nat Faxon’s The Way Way Back and the Coens’ Inside Llewyn Davis, nestles firmly at the top of the films of the year. Mesmerising.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Scott Davis
Originally published October 17, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
