Leo

This strange little indie feature feels like unequal parts of David Lynch, William Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams mixed into a rather lumpy batter. The eponymous Leo is a sickly child in the 1960s Deep South who, for no clear reason, is given a class assignment to correspond with an incarcerated felon (played by the very badly miscast British actor Joseph Fiennes, sporting a Huckleberry Hound-worthy drawl). When the convict is eventually released, these two unlikely souls are brought into an overlapping orbit, but Leo gets so bogged down in weirdo Southern-fried behavior that it is difficult to keep track of what is happening or even care. Some unintentional amusement is provided by an out-of-control Dennis Hopper spreading an egg across Deborah Unger's thighs, and by Elisabeth Shue's channeling of Vivien Leigh's Blanche DuBois as Leo's boozy mother. But only Sam Shepard comes out of this relatively unscathed as the kindly diner owner who gives the ex-con his first job out of jail. Incidentally, the boy is named after Leopold Bloom from James Joyce's Ulysses, although I'm not sure why, since the connection between Joyce's landmark novel and this puny movie seems to end at the title. Not recommended. (P. Hall)