Eldorado

The basic premise of this low budget film is not particularly original or compelling, but it manages to escape the cliches of road trip discovery stories thanks to its subtlety and roughness. When a lonely mechanic comes home to find a burglar hiding within his house, he spares the deadbeat, cowardly intruder and tries to send him on his way, only to wind up driving him all the way to his destination. The story unfolds into a road voyage through the Belgian countryside (which, based on its landscape and lifeless pit stops, could easily be mistaken for some desolate section of the American middle), where the two encounter a series of odd characters who assist them in various ways. The film never shows too much, gives space to important emotional moments, and uses sometimes raucous, sometimes eerie music (from reverb-heavy surf guitar to Devendra Banhart) to compliment the dark, wet forests and empty farmlands through which they travel. Despite the string of bizarre occurrences and strange - if not demented - characters, the film is surprisingly real and honest - a refreshing escape from the mass of sentimental, false-hope-laced productions out there.

WORTH WATCHING
3.5 out of 5
Buy this film: Eldorado

Plot: 3
Imagery: 3
Originality: 4
Soundtrack: 3
Overall: 3.5