Indy Film Fest: A Quiet Storm

A film about family, race and poverty, "A Quiet Storm" is one of the best offerings you're likely to see at Indy Film Fest this year.

Aurora (Morgan Glover) is a gifted piano player living in inner-city New Orleans, a girl who seems to be on the right track to getting out of the ghetto. She set to graduate from her a largely white private school, and although her surroundings are rough, she is not.

When her cousin Tyrell (Martin Bats Bradford) returns to town unexpectedly, she is initially happy to see him. As children, they were thick as thieves, running around together constantly.

But things change when some local business owners are gunned down during a robbery. The crime is high-profile and causes tensions to rise in the neighborhood. Aurora sees Tyrell doing suspicious things, like hiding a bag filled with guns under his mother's house, and begins to suspect he was behind the crime.

When Aurora tells those she's closest to about what she knows, she is met by indifference or an outright command to keep it to herself.

Writer-director Jason Affolder evokes subtle memories of films like Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt," but its contemporary setting and characters give it a fresh feeling. While it has elements of a thriller and inner-city race drama, "Storm" is much more than that. It's a searing character study, particularly of Tyrell, who essentially skipped town to become a gangster, leaving behind an infant son and an ex-girlfriend who neglects their child. Tyrell is incensed and snatches the baby away, determined to do right by his blood.

His sense of family is also strong, and his affection for Aurora is particularly touching. When he cautions her not to speak to the police about things she has seen, it feels as much like a plea as a threat.

The divide between law enforcement and the black community is on full display here, as everyone around Aurora tells her the same thing: Don't tell the police. The distrust is difficult to deny, even among the community's elders.

Ultimately, though, the film is about Aurora balancing what's best for her in the short-term and doing what's right and just, and the film skillfully balances these aspects of inner-city life to craft a tale that spotlights racial injustice, weaving in the morality of making a choice the community disagrees with (and the potential fallout) and showing that justice is not black and white.