It’s not just real estate that lives by the mantra, “location, location, location”. Films are as equally dependent upon same and MOSS is the perfect example of that.
The banks of a lazy river winding its way around Paradise Island and Cape Fear into the bogs of North Carolina lends itself as the perfect setting for the coming-of-age tale from writer/director Daniel Peddle. With a completely organic feel, Peddle immerses us in the country world of the South and one day in the life of 18-year old Moss, complete with the river, the woods, the quiet and the isolation, while exploring the ideas of self-discovery, identity, love, and loss.
One of the breakout stars of LAFF this year, as MOSS, Mitchell Slaggert delivers an unforgettable performance steeped in quiet reflection. Joining Slaggert as Moss’ BFF Blaze is Dorian Cobb, serving as a perfect more outgoing yin to Moss’s introspective yang. Expanding the world of young Moss is the mysterious Mary, played with an almost 60’s hippie-esque vibe of drug-induced discovery courtesy of Christine Marzano.
A lush, lyrical look at the “gothic” South, Juri Beythein’s cinematography is breathtaking, dazzling with texture and depth as he captures the blue skies, silken waters and green grasses of the region, all laced with the shadows and weight of life. During drug-induced hazes, slo-motion lensing takes hold while colors shift from the purity of nature to more saturated hues of turquoise tinging the sky and the trees with sun flares castinga golden glow on Moss and Mary. Exquisite.
Sound designer Justin Fox immerses us in the world as we hear the constant buzz and click of insects, the twitter of birds, the crunch of leaves, and soft lapping of water on the river’s sandy bank. Ian Hatton’s music completes the picture with a mysterious twangy sound while editor Zimo Huang delivers a slow and easy pace that mirrors the life of the region.
Welcome to the lush and languid world of MOSS.
Written and Directed by Daniel Peddle.
Cast: Mitchell Slaggert, Dorian Cobb and Christine Marzano.
by debbie elias, 6/13/2017 (Los Angeles Film Festival Review)
