‘Cold Weather’ movie review: A low-key comedy/mystery

BY MIRIAM RINN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

Aaron Katz's very low-key comedy/mystery "Cold Weather" is set in Portland, the capital of slacker nation, and sure enough, the protagonist college-dropout Doug (Cris Lankenau) has just moved home and rented an unfurnished apartment with his sister Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn). At dinner with Gail and their laid-back parents (tiger mom Amy Chua would not approve), Doug describes a fleeting interest in cooking, and indeed, he seems to have a fleeting interest in a lot of things. He's a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories, for instance, and thinks he‘d like to be a detective, but not the CSI kind. Doug doesn't have any definite plans, and neither do the other characters in "Cold Weather." These young people are comfortable getting along and making do. They aren't underachievers; they're anti-achievers.

Doug lands an overnight job at an ice factory, where he meets Carlos, played by Raul Castillo in the movie‘s liveliest performance. Carlos exemplifies the film's truth that we aren't defined by our jobs. He may haul ice at work, but that's not all he is. He's also a DJ and a Trekkie. Doug isn't only an ice hauler either, and other characters have secret lives as well.

Soon, Doug meets his ex-girlfriend Rachel (Robyn Rikoon), who tells him that she's been temporarily posted in Portland by her Chicago law firm. The four young people hang out, play cards, talk desultorily, and seem to enjoy their lives. Katz's camera doesn't move much — there are long takes of sitting on park benches or in cars, watching the windshield wipers — which underscores the sense that Doug is waiting for something. In the meantime, there are trips to the supermarket, whale watching on the coast, board games, and a lot of rain. There is an easy-going, companionable vibe to Doug's relationships, with just the slightest hint of friction. When learning that Doug and his sister share an apartment, Rachel asks, "Do you like [living with her] more than living with me?" At one point, Carlos notes, "You seem like the kind of guy that ends up quitting."

Katz is a graduate of the mumble-core school of low-cost filmmaking, and while "Cold Weather" is perfectly understandable, it shares the values and aesthetics of that group of artists. Focusing on everyday life, eschewing noisy emotion, appreciating the goofiness of the workplace, Katz's script (he wrote and edited as well as directed) carefully avoids the conventional movie choices. It's as subdued as the Portland weather — gray, damp, and overcast.

Half the movie goes by before the mystery kicks in. When Rachel disappears, Carlos, who seems sweet on her, insists that Doug help him find her. A visit to her motel room leads them to a brochure for an escort service website and a suspicious pickup truck. Doug remembers some detective tricks from old boys' stories and locates a series of numbers, which seem to be some kind of code. Step by deductive step, they zero in on the solution. It's elementary.

Of course, the mystery isn't the point and doesn't provide the film's primary pleasures. Rather, it's the moody, atmospheric tone and the gentle companionship that is re-established between Doug and Gail. Although siblings, they don't seem to know much about each other's lives, and meeting each other as adults, or almost adults, allows a different relationship to emerge. Comrades instead of rivals, they can finally become friends.