Gas Food Lodging

Stars: Brooke Adams (The Dead Zone, Days of Heaven), Ione Skye (Say Anything, Mindwalk, Samantha, Wayne's World), Fairuza Balk (Return to Oz, Valmont), James Brolin (Pee Wee's Big Adventure, TV's "Marcus Welby, M.D."). Based on young adult author Richard Peck's Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, first-time writer/director Allison Anders Gas Food Lodging is an absorbing drama about a family in disarray. Set in a sleepy New Mexico burg, the film opens with overlaid narration by young Shade (Fairuza Balk), who goes to the local theater and watches Spanish subtitled movies featuring her idol Elvia Rivera. Unlike Rivera who always seems to live happily ever after, Shade's family life is in shambles. Still trying to track down the father that walked out when she was just a child, Shade is an optimistic dreamer. Her older sister Trudi, on the other hand, is a cynical young woman who sleeps around the town and fights with their mother almost every day. Nora (Brooke Adams), the mother, is busy waitressing at the local greasy spoon, and resents Trudi's carefree and irresponsible behavior. Shade, Trudi, and Nora are like three legs of an unsteady chair that's going to tip over. And when Trudi eventually becomes pregnant, the chair definitely falls. Adams, Balk, and Skye are all excellent in their roles and director Anders sets a slow--but honest--pace for the story. A good slice-of-life portrait of a broken family struggling to maintain. Audience: One of the better independent films of the year, Gas Food Lodging deserves a wider audience. Still, a sex scene and beau coup profanity make this an uncomfortable film for parents to watch with their teens, which is unfortunate, since it's one of those rare films that shows an understanding of adolescent emotions. [DVD Review--Oct. 7, 2003--Columbia TriStar, 101 min., R, $24.95--Given the fact that Allison Anders' 1992 indie hit was a low budget production to begin with, I didn't expect much going in to this DVD, but while the anamorphic widescreen image is a bit grainy and dark in places, this high def re-master looks pretty good, overall, and the Dolby Digital surround soundtrack is solid. Bottom line: although extra-less, this is a winning little film that deserves a wider audience.] [Blu-ray Review—Nov. 27, 2018—Arrow, 101 min., R, Blu-ray: $34.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1992’s Gas Food Lodging features a decent transfer with uncompressed 2.0 audio. Extras include the production featurettes "Cinefile: Reel Women" (35 min.) and "The Road to Laramie: A Look Back " (30 min.), an image gallery (8 min.), and a booklet. Bottom line: this solid ‘90s indie film makes a welcome debut on blu.]