Grind

The filmic equivalent of a Springsteen song: Eddie (Crudup) returns to his industrial home town and moves in with his brother and his bored, brow-beaten wife, Janey. Eddie goes to work as a machinist, but switches to night shifts so he can work on his hotrod by day. It sounds grindingly predictable (and it doesn't disappoint), but this is a subtler, more emotionally honest film than most American indies are concerned to come up with. It doesn't look like much, but the cutting's sharp, and the three principals turn in carefully nuanced performances. It's easy to see why everyone's getting excited about Crudup - but don't write off Kentis either. In its own quiet, cumulative way this is an impressive, authoritative debut.