Shelter

A film set in San Pedro, California. Zach is twenty-one. He works at a diner and paints. His sister Jeanne has a small son. She is out constantly and Zach looks after the boy. Their father is ill. That care falls to him too. He had been accepted to an art school. He did not go. He surfs. Every morning. One day his closest friend's older brother comes back. Shaun is a writer. He has published a book and is trying to write a second. He is staying at the beach house. The two go surfing together. From there the film is a story of approach. Conversations, waves, evenings and a painting. Zach cannot place himself. He has never thought about it before. His friend Gabe finds out. His reaction is hard. He will not accept what is between his brother and his friend. His sister finds out too. Her problem is different: if Zach goes, who looks after the boy. What the narrative is interested in is not sexuality but responsibility: its idea is that what keeps Zach from going is not fear but the people he would leave behind. Shaun makes him an offer. They could go together. Zach refuses. Then something happens. His sister leaves the boy and goes. At that point the narrative forces a decision. The ending is hopeful. The narrative does not present it as an easy resolution but does not end hard either. It was made on a small budget and the locations are real. The surfing is real and is the film's visual spine. This is Jonah Markowitz's first film. The film won several audience awards at festivals. Trevor Wright, Brad Rowe, Tina Holmes and Jackson Wurth are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes quiet relationship films and American independent cinema. Who it is not for: anyone looking for complexity; the narrative runs straight and every conflict comes from where it is expected.