Wildflowers
Rising young actress Clea Duvall stars inWildflowersas Cally, a young woman who's grown up on a commune outside of San Francisco. Now 17, she finds herself drifting away from her father, who raised her alone after her mother abandoned them both. Cally sees Sabine (Daryl Hannah), a reckless artist, at a coffee shop and is instantly drawn to her restless energy, perhaps seeing in the Pre-Raphaelite beauty the wilder woman Cally wishes she could be. When Sabine accidentally leaves her journal behind one day, Cally uses it as an opening to enter Sabine's life and a friendship slowly develops--though Sabine resists growing close and is torn by unresolved feelings about a close friend who has just died. Bit by bit, Cally begins to piece together clues that suggest she and Sabine are closer than they had thought. Clea Duvall's broad, open face and natural presence effortlessly communicate both Cally's yearning infatuation with Sabine and her increasing alienation from the world she's always known. The supporting performances by Eric Roberts and Tomas Arana are carefully drawn, and the cinematography--especially scenes of the California seashore--are beautiful.Wildflowersslowly builds a compelling portrait of a young woman redefining herself.--Bret Fetzer