WFG RATING: B+

Dark Star Pictures presents a Bottom Feeders Inc. production. Written, directed, produced and edited by Vincent D’Alessandro. Cinematography by Jack Mannion.

Stars Willem Ehrenfreund, Jenny Zwigard, Graham Poore, Jonny Nichols, Emily Rosa-Lyn Gomez, Abby Lindsay, and Ellen Boscov.

A troubled young man in rural Pennsylvania may or may not have find a way out of his humdrum life in this film which looks to be a love letter to the likes of Harmony Korine and Larry Clark.

Dmitri has gone through a massive downward spiral in his hometown in rural Pennsylvania. At one point, he worked for his father, but his father lost his business when he spiraled into a drug habit. Now unemployed, his attempt to get benefits are denied due to his being paid under the table. Dmitri eventually gets a job making and delivering hot dogs. One night, he runs into an old friend, Benny and meets Benny’s girlfriend Jess.

The trio begins to hang out and soon enough, things begin to escalate when a night leads to Dmitri and Jess getting closer, much to Benny’s chagrin. However, Dmitri finally finds himself having more confidence, finding standing up to his father. Soon enough though, Dmitri finds himself in a complicated situation when it is clear his friendship with Jess is affecting his friendship with Benny. What will happen when things go down one night?

Filmmaker Vincent D’Alessandro seems to find inspiration with the likes of Larry Clark and Harmony Korine with this tale of a young man who is trying to find an escape from his humdrum life. The film starts with our protagonist, Dmitri, going to a house party and hooking up within 30 seconds. Unlike Kids and Bully, the sensuality is not graphic in visuals but more in terms of language. In other words, it is done very tastefully.

Kudos goes out to lead actor Willem Ehrenfreund in the lead role of Dmitri. We see him going through many struggles, including a failed attempt at collecting unemployment and even worse, his drug addict father making him give him his pay from his new job to feed his habit. However, the new job gives Dmitri a new sense of confidence as eventually he seems to be enjoying the job. Even when he gets stiffed by a customer on a delivery learning she may have gone to a different place to get her food, he comes off as totally nice towards the customer’s co-workers and even goes as far as being nice to re-heat the food if she still wants it. Shows what a heart of gold he has.

However, things are determined to get complicated once he meets Jess, the girlfriend of his old friend Benny. Benny is played well by Graham Poore, who shows a range of emotions from excited to see his old friend to shades of jealousy when he notices Dmitri and Jess getting a little closer. Jenny Zwigard is great as Jess, the woman who comes in between the two friends. On the one hand, she is completely loyal to Benny while she seems to have more in common with Dmitri. Their night of fun at a hotel leads to an eventual relationship breakdown as we see Jess and Benny at his grandmother’s house as she tries to console him when he’s embarrassed by a childhood video. The final moments, set where Dmitri used to work, is where this story comes together.

Bottom Feeders is a pretty good story of a guy looking to escape his humdrum life and finds that it can lead to more complications. Willem Ehrenfreund delivers a really good performance in the lead role.