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Film

Indie Flicks: A well-intentioned misadventure

By PHILIP BOOTH
Published July 22, 2004

The Adventures of Ociee Nash (G) (87 min.) For a little help evaluating children's movie The Adventures of Ociee Nash, let's misappropriate a line from a Lyle Lovett song: It isn't good, but it has good intentions.

The $2-million production (first released in 2002 but only now making its way here) was adapted from a book by Tennessee-born writer Milam McGraw Propst and shot in several Southeastern locales by Atlanta siblings Kristen and Amy McGary.

The tale, set in the late 19th century, follows motherless tomboy Ociee (Skyler Day) as she moves from the Mississippi farmhouse she shares with her father (Keith Carradine) and two brothers to the rambling home of her Aunt Mamie (Mare Winningham) in Asheville, N.C. Ociee does her best to become a "lady," under the tutelage of Mamie; the two initially clash, and later bond. The young visitor also fights with and then befriends a neighbor girl, Elizabeth (Jasmine Guy), and does a little matchmaking, with the help of the town's frighteningly friendly carriage driver (Tom Key).

Ociee's adventures include chance meetings with celebrated globetrotting journalist Nellie Bly (Donna Wright, overexcited), President William McKinley (Daniel Burnley) and Wilbur and Orville Wright (Ty Pennington and Sean Daniels).

For families with young children, Ociee Nash does offer substantial good news: There's nary a scary moment in the film and no scenes of violence, nor is the movie touched by profanity, sexually suggestive behavior or rude double-entendres.

The downside: The McGarys' movie is dull, awkwardly paced and packed with performances that are either overdone or underdone, by actors who often look as if they can't quite believe the words they're speaking.

Even poor Carradine, outfitted in a flannel shirt and denim overalls, can't quite find his way into the character of Ociee's dad, a mix of Ward Cleaver, Mike Brady and whatever else the McGarys drew from for their lackluster script.

The sole exception to the abundant bad acting is Winningham, who seems quite comfortable with her role. Here's to more repressed but lovable old maids, and other, better roles, for the Brat Pack survivor. D-

- PHILIP BOOTH, Times correspondent

Gypsy 83 (Not rated; nudity, profanity) (94 min.) Freaks and geeks, or, rather, those routinely branded that way by the social mainstream, need love, too. That's the well-worn message at the heart ofGypsy 83, a small, obvious and ultimately inconsequential film about the efforts of a pair of Goth lonely hearts to escape the frustrating circumstances of their lives in heartland America. The second installment in independent filmmaker Todd Stephens' trilogy of movies set in Sandusky, Ohio, is part seriocomic road movie and part coming-of-age drama.

Gypsy Vale (Sara Rue), 25, the oversized daughter of a divorced father (John Doe of L.A. rockers X), is a Stevie Nicks wanna-be stuck manning a Fotomat at a local shopping center, but she has vague notions of becoming a rock star. Her best friend Clive, a gay high school senior with a talent for fashion design and a penchant for dressing up like Robert Smith of the Cure, just wants to be free to be himself.

Opportunity knocks when the two decide to travel to a Manhattan nightclub for a "Night of 1,000 Stevies" impersonation competition. Truths are revealed and hearts are broken, etc., as Gypsy and Clive have sexual encounters and experience emotional breakdowns on the way to New York. Screen veteran Karen Black shows up for a cameo near the end, but it doesn't help much: The film loses momentum long before its melodramatic finale. C

P.B.

[Last modified July 21, 2004, 10:28:48]