With a promising director and a good cast of actors, you can do wonders with an interesting premise such as this. And a masterpiece is truly what we got; a very tragic and deep crime drama about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The actors all do an incredible job, and the cinematography and pacing is just stunning. Overall, a very interesting and masterfully put together piece of art that any lover of film should watch!

Why this title? It is the location, the Driftless Area is a region in the upper American Midwest that escaped the flattening effects of glaciation during the last ice age and is consequently characterized by steep, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, and geology characterized by spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams. But it was filmed in Canada. The story is not as easy to explain, it involves a young man, a bartender, attempting to grasp the meaning of space and time and possible parallel universes. Then there is the young lady who accidentally gets burned up in an arson fire. But she walks away * past the oncoming firefighters. Then there's the robbery, the truck crash, the search to find and recover the loot. It really has an all-star cast, the story bits are woven together very well in an interesting and often funny manner. I find the movie to be a bit better than its IMDb rating suggests. Young Yelchin met an untimely accidental death not too long after this movie. My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

Pierre Hunter (Anton Yelchin) , is a jobless bartender full of optimism and maybe a bit naive, making his way back to his small hometown after the death of his parents. He literally falls for the enigmatic and winsome Stella (Zoey Deschanel), who becomes a partner in a hazardous cat-and-mouse mystery that involves a duffel bag full of money. Will conscience or fear of criminal consequence split the couple? Zachary Sluser directs and writes the screenplay. Also appearing are: Frank Langella, Alia Shawkat, John Hawkes, Benjamin Rogers and Ciaran Hinds.

While the subject matter is a little reminiscent of David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), this film just doesn't come together. It's all frosting/icing on a very bland and unappetising base. The basic flaws: Pierre (Anton Yelchin) is too weak and unsympathetic a character; Shane (John Hawkes) is laughably unthreatening. If you don't care what happens to Pierre and if you don't consider Shane to be a menacing character, then why invest in this?

A really wonderful book by Tom Drury, converted into an aimless, confusing mess. Anton Yelchin's Pierre seems aimless and lost throughout, and Zooey Deschanel's character lacks the vigor of the book. The best character was Shane.

Life after death? Or rather drifting around after it? Does the movie deliver answers to some questions it has or rather the viewer will have? Probably not might be the right answer. The performances are great all around. Especially with the weird dialog that takes place throughout the movie. So if you are into weird, not easily explained (if at all) things happening and watching them unfold, dialog that either is on the nose or very subtle and not telling at all, you may have found the right movie for you. Towards the end there may a bit more action than some would like, but the true ending is "making up" for that ... if you don't like that though, than it will break the movie for you. You should see it coming though, not just because what I used as summary line ...

A small human interest story in a small town in the geographic area in the title that involves, as a few others have already mentioned, questions and philosophies of life, death, fate, etc. I think the cast was great as is the cinematography and script.

I compare this movie to Fargo tv series because both have a similar premise, of an innocent man/couple caught up in local level organised crime. That aspect of the movie is very clever. It's very indie though, with lots of folksy modern tunes underpinning the rather laconic action sequences and drama. It's also a rather cool and careful love affair, and even one of the criminals has a bit of a similar affair, underlining what looks like an intended irony. As such it's intelligently put together, a well-written script and story inspired by a novel. If you look to the special features 'making of' on the dvd, you'll see various cast and crew struggling with how to describe it. Noir is mentioned a couple of times. Perhaps that's worth noting, as this is a sufficiently unusual piece to hold some pride in itself. I'd describe it as picturesque, and that would apply to the careful (but not sweeping) cinematography as well. There's an important spiritual side, which could have been treated with a little less slap dash. To explain, certain ideas are presented as fait accompli, and, to my mind, should have been given more spooky for the audience to willingly run with it. Granted though, don't turn to this one if looking for an action film to thrill. Look to it if you like young love, good writing and interesting character study. Great actors here, and well worth a look on a Saturday afternoon.

This movie is a bit hard to explain, as it often jump back and forwards in time and tbh even after finishing it I think many (including myself) will struggle a bit to figure out what the movie was actually about. But sometimes the destination is not what's important but the journey there is as they say, and the movie for the more-part entertains with mostly quirky abstract dialogue that could only exist in a movie (or a novel of which this movie is based on), often with a very dry sense of humor. The first half is pretty stellar, the second half halters a bit gets a bit uneven and there are a lot of loose ties that remain untied even after the credits start rolling. But it was still worth watching and it's nice to see Zoeey Deschanel in something new and the rest of the cast does fine as well.

From Canada - the land of great short subjects 'n documentaries but a few too many dismal features - what's in their psyche that produces some of these misguided movies - could it be the cold that numbs their senses?. The opening of this movie looked most intriguing. Photographically it's all class, it has good performances, the music maybe a bit loose but it fitted the story. Looking at the "story" - it seems too many writers and directors want to copy the Cohen Bros - problem is, now that the Cohen Bros have gone commercial and begun copying themselves, it's become tiresome and overdue for a face lift. Are there so few left out there who remember how to tell a strait-quality-story?. It doesn't need to be outlandish just interesting!. Apart from D.O.P. Daniel Voldheim's quality cinematography (AKF: Into The White '12) the best thing about this film is the fine performance from interesting Russian born Anton Yelchin (Hearts In Atlantis" '01). What a great shame we lost this interesting young man in such a tragic accident - way before his time. Will look forward to seeing his final complete performance in "We Don't Belong Here" '16/17, hoping it may offer a better departure note for Anton. Farewell Chekov. This story seemed to be heading down an OK path till it wanders off the trail, then ends up stumbling over itself. It's yet another stylish looking movie in search of better overall treatment and script. The cultists will excuse its sometimes pretentious pseudo "psychology" along with the usual bunch of foul-mouthed-bad-ass low lifers but, anyone looking for depth could find themselves being led into a dismal driftless bog.