The Issue with Elvis

A sweet and tender drama made by a real-life family of filmmakers about a lonely scientist who befriends a boy lost in the woods.

Talk about a family affair. “The Issue with Elvis” stars veteran screen actor Jeff Wincott, is written and directed by his wife, Charlotte Wincott, marking her first feature film, and co-stars their son, Wolfgang Wincott.

It’s a warm and tender drama about a retired scientist living in the woods who befriends a lost boy, rediscovering his own joy for life that he had misplaced. It’s a very low-budget affair, and the production values and creative aesthetic reflect that of a rookie filmmaker.

Still, its heart is in the right place and it’s a very humanistic experience.

Jeff Wincott plays Dr. Mercer, a retired botanist living in the hills of West Virginia near Morgantown. He’s in his late 50s and left academia awhile ago, for both personal and medical reasons. He’s suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, and distills medicine from the mushrooms and other plants he finds in the forest to address his inflamed joints.

One day he comes across shy kid of about 12 years who’s got his lunch pail full of some rare fungi Mercer wants. He trades him food for the mushrooms, and they go about their way. More exchanges lead to the boy, who gives his name as Elvis (Wolfgang Wincott), showing up on the door of his cabin.

Soon Elvis has taken up residence with Mercer, and a tenuous relationship begins. Elvis says that his mother died at childbirth, and his father has severe mental health issues that cause him to be institutionalized for long stretches. He’s wary of going back into foster care, so Mercer agrees to look after him while talking to the authorities about finding his family.

Mercer and Elvis have a very plain, open friendship. He tells the boy he needs to go back to school, and Elvis insists that Mercer should be going to a real doctor and taking medicine for his condition rather than just concocting home remedies. Something like trust begins to form.

I’m not sure if Elvis is supposed to be on the spectrum, but he seems to avoid looking Mercer directly in the eyes. And he has a very blunt way of speaking, blurting out the truth without regard to hurting someone’s feeling. Luckily, Mercer has a pretty thick hide and takes the comments in stride.

“The Issue with Elvis” is shot in a Neorealism style, with mostly two-shots of the main characters talking without much editing or camera movement. We feel like we’re following them around on their little journey, looking for mushrooms while something enduring slowly grows between them.

We also get to enjoy the West Virginia hill country, a bucolic spread of forest, rivers and trails. It seems very much like the sort of place you go to forget yourself for awhile, or be forgotten.

Though the movie could use a little more polish, and I think could have benefited from a consistent musical backdrop rather than a couple of lovely guitar-picking songs, its sweet and untainted nature carries the day. What’s a simpler and truer tale than two lonely people finding each other?