DEAD DOGS

From the plains of North Dakota comes an unexpected little gem, a modern film noir worthy of being a blood relation to “Blood Simple,” a neighboring plot to “Shallow Grave.” The Driftwood Inn is where it all takes place, an aptly-named refuge of employment for night security guard Tom Cahill, a friendly young guy who knows the law well ? mainly from the wrong side. Three years ago he pulled off petty thievery with his swaggering elder sibling Derek, only to come close to killing his brother over a girl, the sexy, amoral Carmen. Fleeing that mess, Tom has submerged himself in the quiet life of a small-town rent-a-cop, and, to paraphrase one of the characters, the past is as gone as a dead dog. Then the charming, nihilistic Derek and the still-alluring Carmen resurface in Tom's life, no less dangerous. Tired of living out of a car, Derek pushes Tom insistently to be his “inside man” in the proverbial perfect crime, a robbery of the hotel and restaurant cash profits gleaned over a busy July 4th weekend. What could go wrong? Everything, it turns out, in Clay Eide's startling debut feature, a suspense thriller shot entirely in black and white, but colored in deepest, darkest foreboding.