The first feature in 20 years from legendary American filmmaker Monte Hellman, Road to Nowhere is a contemporary film noir that, like Lynch's Mulholland Drive, unfolds in the world of moviemaking and explores a tenuous balance between illusion and reality. Tygh Runyan stars as Mitchell, a hotshot young director who becomes obsessed with his leading lady (Shannyn Sossamon), a new face who bears an uncanny resemblance to the role she is playing: the femme fatale in a true crime story. Raising questions about her real identity are a surly insurance investigator (Waylon Payne) and a crime blogger (Dominique Swain), whose account of insurance fraud and murder in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina inspired the movie being made. Monte Hellman weaves a haunting atmosphere and some Pirandellian twists around this artful puzzle-mystery, which marks a welcome return for this ever-youthful filmmaker. Rated R. With Cliff De Young. Writer: Steven Gaydos. Director: Monte Hellman. (US 2010) 122 min.
The first feature in 20 years from legendary American filmmaker Monte Hellman, Road to Nowhere is a contemporary film noir that, like Lynch's Mulholland Drive, unfolds in the world of moviemaking and explores a tenuous balance between illusion and reality. Tygh Runyan stars as Mitchell, a hotshot young director who becomes obsessed with his leading lady (Shannyn Sossamon), a new face who bears an uncanny resemblance to the role she is playing: the femme fatale in a true crime story. Raising questions about her real identity are a surly insurance investigator (Waylon Payne) and a crime blogger (Dominique Swain), whose account of insurance fraud and murder in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina inspired the movie being made. Monte Hellman weaves a haunting atmosphere and some Pirandellian twists around this artful puzzle-mystery, which marks a welcome return for this ever-youthful filmmaker. Rated R. With Cliff De Young. Writer: Steven Gaydos. Director: Monte Hellman. (US 2010) 122 min.