SPRING FORWARD

Ned Beatty, one of America's most consistently brilliant (and undervalued) actors, takes a worthy lead role, matched with rising star Liev Schrieber, in a character study of two very different men earning not just a living wage but their life lessons via the adventure, the danger, the romance, the transcendence they achieve whilst dutifully performing the same vital public service ? as Parks and Recreation workers in a small New England town. For Paul (Schrieber), it's not just a job, it's a sentence. He has just been released from jail after committing armed robbery, and tending urban greenspace might just be the gravel-pathway he requires to turn his life around. For old-timer Murphy (Beatty), it's not just work either, and he dispenses his mature wisdom to the junior trashbuster. Amid the trees, shrubs, and waste-bins, Murphy is sewing seeds for the soul, as one full year rolls around and the seasons change. The executive producer of SPRING FORWARD is none other than musician Michael Stipe, who last brought us the terrific “Being John Malkovich.” Take that as additional proof that this is no throwaway.