Jan 23

Jan 23 Sundance Film Festival movie review: 'A Love Song'

*Image courtesy of Sundance Film Festival.*

Two old flames reunite in the twilight of their life in this down-to-Earth, gentle drama 'A Love Song' (screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival).

In short: Childhood sweethearts Faye and Lito (Dale Dickey and Wes Studi), both now widowed, share a night by a lake in the mountains.

Dale Dickey is one of the great, unheralded character actresses of the modern era - and it's always great to see her pop up in movies like 'Winter's Bone' and even 'Iron Man 3.' In this muted drama, she exudes an unexpected mix of understated excitement and world wariness that is absolute perfection for Faye. Writer-director Max Walker-Silverman's script is light on dialogue, but rich in nuance - with Dickey's subtle but precise performance infusing the film with a rich subtext of yearning and resilience. This is truly a career best for Dickey and only stokes the need for more filmmakers to anchor their stories in her incredible talent.

'Love Song' is simply not the type of film that gets made too often: older characters just conversing, recalling memories of their long passed youth in some quiet corner of the American west. The film moves at its own pace, confidently unhurried and totally okay with letting a scene breath. This is a refreshingly no-frills, melodrama-free rumination on aging, time and their cumulative effects on the hearts of everyday folk. The faint outline of an overarching plot is threaded together by a nondescript, innocuous moments. The end result is a sublime, melancholic and poignant film totally invested in its characters, and their outlooks forged by decades of just living life.

A super accessible, if less satisfying, version of this script would have focused on the Faye and Lito's relationship, maybe flashed back to the way they were, with the two of them trying to come to the terms with the ways the are now. To be clear: this film's patient approach is its strength - however, it's also understandable that maybe this delicate, minimal approach won't appeal to every audience. This isn't just some drama about rekindling or recapturing the past - 'Love Song' ruminates on the losses and loneliness that come with old age. It doesn't lament all the years come and gone. Regret is noticeably absent here. The heart of 'Love Story' feels the void of loss, accepts the wear-and-tear of aging, and ultimately comes to terms with the pain that comes after heartache and love.

Final verdict: This quiet, contemplative and tender indie gem is a pure performance showcase for Dickey and Studi.