THE RECEPTION
Directed & Written by: John C. Young.
Produced by: Paul Pagnucco.
Director of Photography: Derek Wiesenhan.
Edited by: J. Blake Fichera.
Released by: Strand.
Country of Origin: USA. 78 min. Not Rated.
With: Pamela Holden Stewart, Wayne Lamont Sims, Margaret Burkwit, Darien Sills-Evan & Chris Burmeister.

At first glance, Martin (Wayne Lamont Sims) and Jeanette (Pamela Holden Stewart), a fortyish couple, are as bourgeois as any Ingmar Bergman couple. Nestled in a simply but tastefully furnished country home, Martin paints by day; at night, they lounge about, reading and drinking wine. But the world intrudes upon their snow-covered retreat; Jeanette's daughter, Sierra (Margaret Burkwit), has unexpectedly arrived, along with her husband of one month, law student Andrew (Darien Sills-Evan). Like her mother, Sierra has fallen for a black man (both women are white). Jeanette is surprised, not so much that Sierra has married, but that her daughter is speaking to her after a long absence. Apparently Sierra has been just as reticent towards Andrew; when he asks her how long Martin and Jeanette have been married, she flippantly replies that Martin is gay.

Director/writer John C. Young moves the film along so that any predictability snowballs into a tense drama in which Jeanette faces betrayal on all fronts. The most cogent cast member, Stewart (who could be Emma Thompson's older sister) has an impeccable French accent and effortlessly mutates from a coquette to a drunken haranguing harpy. A glass of red wine is permanently attached to her hand and when she says she has been a bad mother, you believe her. Also impressive is Sills-Evan, especially in one scene in which he's startlingly vulnerable.

However, the film's frequent hate-filled outbursts erupt suddenly, and in one case, completely out of left field. They're so vicious they alienate not only an unlucky dinner guest but possibly the audience as well. With a running time of a clipped 78 minutes, transitions occur fast and furiously; Jeanette's needy mood swings are not nearly as swift as Martin's sudden change of heart. But at least Young doesn't press for a neat resolution. His ending more than implies the rough road ahead for this family of sorts. And filmed in the wintry Catskills and bathed in white light, The Reception may be the best looking American film shot on digital video. Kent Turner
July 15, 2005