FRAMEUP

Love. Money. Hell. They're all part of FRAMEUP, Jon Josts's reworking of a classic American film genre: two losers on the road spread their wings and crash to hell. In this case the couple are Ricky Lee, a cocky ex-con, and Beth Ann, a dizzy waitress in way over her head. Naturally the couple comes to the necessary bad end, although-as with any passion play-there is redemption at last. As Beth Ann says, death really isn't so bad; its just getting there that is. In FRAMEUP the unpredictable Jost combines conventions of avant-garde cinema, B-movies, explotation flicks and pulp romance novels. There are echoes of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Badlands”, and an intense undercurrent of eroticism, all set against the evocative landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, and the banal interiors of motel rooms. Contributing immeasurably to the effectiveness of this essentially two-character tragicomedy are vetran stage actors Nancy Carlin and Howard Swain (husband and wife in real life), whose obvious commitment to the film's concerns and challenges extends to a taboo-breaking moment of male frontal nudity. -Sundance Film Festival.