Particles of Truth
Although it barely registered as a blip on the indie-film radar,Particles of Truthshould find an appreciative audience on DVD. After a marginal theatrical release and TV showings on the Sundance Channel, Jennifer Elster's assured debut as a writer-director will be remembered long after most indie-films fade into obscurity. It's one of those self-indulgent, angst-ridden, hyper-neurotic New York stories that seem to be a staple among first-time filmmakers (Elster was a 27-year-old Manhattan fashion stylist when she began writing her screenplay in 2001), but Elster--who also stars as Lilli Black, an insecure artist on the eve of her first gallery show--hits all the right notes in her anguished and all-too-human tale of love, loss, and the abject fear of failure. The movie encompasses a complex array of engaging emotions, focusing on Lilli's unlikely but life-affirming romance with Morrison (played by Gale Harold from the acclaimed Showtime seriesQueer as Folk), a reclusive writer with obsessive-compulsive disorder. They've both got parental issues (her estranged drug-addict father is dying of AIDS; his parents are suffering through health and financial crises), and Elster does a fine job of developing several other characters who complicate the film's turbulent emotional landscape, and her cast (including herself) is uniformly good. Elster's memorable characters express a broad spectrum of human dysfunction, but their stories are told with appealing humor, refreshing candor and compassionate sincerity.Particles of Truthis ripe for discovery as an overlooked gem that deserves to be seen.--Jeff Shannon