Indy Film Fest: High Cotton

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A nouveau Western / Southern gothic crime drama, “High Cotton” evokes “Of Mice and Men” its tale of a dimwitted but kindhearted bumpkin and his smaller, cleverer best friend. Les and Bulldog are also on a fateful journey, though it’s one of the soul rather than geography. Like old-time tragic heroes, they’re trapped by their locale, unable or unwilling to abandon the forests and backroads where they live.

(The exact location in the Deep South is never given, but judging by the rolling hills and red dirt, I’d guess the film was shot in Georgia.)

Jody Thompson plays Les, a tall and gangly sort who looks like Ron Weasley gone to pot. Slack-jawed and high-voiced, Les scares exactly no one. A scrounger and bottom-feeder criminal, he’s friendly and self-effacing with everyone. In return, they tend to push him around a lot, knowing he’ll aw-shucks it and amble away.

Bulldog (Mark Ashworth) looks and sounds like a foreigner to this hardscrabble land, because he is. An Englishman who started a life here with a wife and commercial equipment business, Bulldog’s been in jail the last three years after assaulting his wife’s beau, who also stole his company right out from under him.

Bulldog, with a peaked Phil Collins hairline and hard stare, would seem like the more dangerous of the two. But Bulldog tends to back down when pushed, and Les has hidden reserves of violent capabilities even he doesn’t fully grasp.

The wander around a bit in Bulldog’s 1960s Chevy pickup, taking dips in the local reservoir, drinking beer and smoking weed, crashing at an abandoned cabin in the woods Les found. They make a decent score by picking up and distributing some OxyContin for the redneck drug kindpin (Leon Walton), and seem content to laze about on their spoils.

But then trouble crops up again concerning Bulldog’s ex (Elizabeth Ehrig) and her scuzzy boyfriend, Chase (Russell Durham Comegys), the same guy who sent Bulldog’s life into a spiral in the first place. Les tries to talk him down out of seeking revenge, but violence is barreling down at them like a locomotive.

Written and directed by Kenneth Horstmann, “High Cotton” is a good-looking film, courtesy of cinematography by Jacob Fry, and Christian Wood supplies a haunting atonal score of chords and swells. It almost feels like there’s a wave coming to swallow these characters up.

The movie misplaces some of its beats, lingering when it should hurry and speeding through moments where it would be best to tarry. The entire second half is essentially one long chase scene that could accomplish more dramatically by being more economical with its montages and such. I also felt Les’ come-and-go narration needed to be reworked, either amplified or cut out.

But the actors are solid, and the story has a tragic heft that can’t be denied.

High Cotton Trailer from Spyplane on Vimeo.