One for the Road

Like the director's earlier short, Shifting Units, this is set in a boozy, benighted Midlands underworld of rambling salesmen, unlicensed cabbies and broken home exiles. Chisholm, a barely legal drinker, is the film's eyes, ears and hope, as he falls under the bitter influence of Procter's battered Mondeo man, a weaselly write-off full of hard sell delusions. The story doesn't entirely hang together, particularly the melodramatic jumble of the last act. The agitated jump cut DV camerawork is arresting, however, and the improv performances make for some nice business, from scene to scene, even if we never quite arrive anywhere.