Finding North review

The sprightly debut from director Tanya Wexler sees suicidal Hickey (Travis) in mourning for Bobby, his recently deceased lover. Rhonda (Makkena), a kind-hearted Brooklyn banker, forces her way into Travis' life after she sees him try to jump naked off Brooklyn Bridge, and they embark on a road trip/nostalgia-infused scavenger hunt at Bobby's urging (via a lengthy pre-death tape recording), supplying a cunning way to help distract Travis from his grief.

Texas and New York provide the evocative backdrop for an oddball, emotional rites-of-passage tale of two strangers thrust together in a quest to find their own identities. Beautifully photographed locations combine with a melancholic soundtrack - - a perfect accompaniment to the central protagonists' enjoyable verbal sparrings - - and soon this ultra low-budget, understated film proves both an absorbing and refreshingly unsentimental modern fairytale.