Written and directed by Nick Butler, Cliff is struggling with his love life in a desert town when he unexpectedly connects with his estranged birth mother. After learning of his mom’s string of secrets, Cliff is led on a wild misadventure while also spending time with his love interest, Stew, a mysterious dentist. Starring: Noah Parker, Liza Weil, Douglas Smith, Irina Dubova, Mark Acheson, John Tench and Grace Glowicki.
One of the most brilliant things that a filmmaker can do, particularly in the indie realm, is to add an unassumingly weird quality to their film. A quality that maybe goes unnoticed at first, then as the film progresses, it gets more prominent, meaning it can be downright strange without going over the top and melodramatic or utterly in your face. Lunar Sway is a fantastic example of that, Nick Butler hits the perfect note with the balance and the growth of the film’s oddities.
What that truly means is that Butler gives you the time to get to know these characters with sincerity and humour before letting things gradually go off the rails in an immensely entertaining way. Lunar Sway gets slowly stranger and stranger as you emotionally invest in the peculiar plight of its characters, Butler’s script is unique, creative, unusual and unpredictable. Those very original, captivating qualities are also supported really well by Butler’s directorial choices.
The direction has a similar unassuming quality, it creates a clear personality but does so without having to be flashy or loud. Butler demonstrates a keen understanding of how to accent the comedy of Lunar Sway without the need for unnecessary embellishment. The style is confident and manages to appreciate the quirkiness of the story, while holding onto an edge of drama to ground the characters. The film on the whole moves incredibly well, it’s coming in at that sweet spot of just under 100-minutes, it never slows down but also never rushes and it holds your attention consistently well throughout, while throwing a few surprises at you along the way.
Then there’s what is arguably the heart of Lunar Sway, the performances. The casting work on this film is phenomenal because this is simply an incredible ensemble. Noah Parker is exceptional as Cliff, he leads this story effortlessly, he’s sympathetic and sweet, and there’s a really compelling sadness and insecurity to him. Then comes the whirlwind that throws this story into chaos, Marg, played by the wonderful Liza Weil who seemingly takes every quality that audiences love about her and throws them into this character. She’s cold yet lonely, fierce yet broken, unrelenting yet tired, wise yet she has blind spots, Weil creates such an enigmatic and erratic character, who is extremely entertaining and superbly paired with Parker’s Cliff.
The two of them are more than enough to sustain Lunar Sway but it’s a generous film because it also gives us Grace Glowicki’s Bailey. Glowicki makes this character so fantastically weird, she makes no real sense, you’re never sure whether or not she’s being sincere, is she disturbed or remarkably open, or a combination of both? We’ll never truly know, but it’s a lot of fun to watch. Another highlight is Andy Yu, as Cliff’s therapist Neal, who is entirely unexpected and delivers everything in such a deadpan manner, that he’s surprisingly intriguing. Cliff’s flirtation with Douglas Smith’s Stew doesn’t hurt either, it’s cute yet there’s something interestingly odd about their connection.
Lunar Sway is a remarkably original adventure, it’s downright strange and yet Nick Butler approaches it in an impressively clever way to never make it feel stereotypically or performatively quirky. The way that he manages to make it so delightfully weird but also grounded at the same time is entirely unexpected and brilliant. It also can’t be overstated that whoever cast this film understood its vibe, personality and tone perfectly. This ensemble is one to be reckoned with because all of them instil complex qualities into their characters, while also making them funny and unique. Noah Parker and Liza Weil make for an unbelievable duo, and Grace Glowicki is the ideal third wheel. It’s charming, peculiar, entertaining and surprisingly heartfelt.
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