The Flats

The Flats is an independent movie starring Chad Lindberg (October Sky), one of my favorite actors. It is a "coming of age" story about a young man who returns home to go to court and finds out he must report to a work farm in 8 days. This film easily could have been some sappy stupid story about how some drunken idiot turns his life around. Instead it was a very good realistic movie about how Harper spends the next few days of his life and the choices he makes, as well as the very real struggles the other characters go through.

What I loved about this movie is that these characters were very realistic. They could have easily been people I knew. For example it was easy to believe that Luke, Harper's best friend, was reluctant to introduce his new girlfriend to his parents because they were very conservative and he did not know how to deal with that.

Many times filmmakers portray characters as black and white instead of being well rounded. This was not the case with the brothers Kelly and Tyler Requa, were not afraid to show the gritty and sometimes upsetting side of the characters as well as the good aspects of their personality. Harper may be a drunken womanizer causing fights, and sometimes unable to remember the women he has spent time with, but he is also a good friend, putting others before him self for the good of the group. This is the case with Tully and Mark whose dispute he resolves (at the expense of his own good time) in order to ease the tension and repair friendships.

I highly recommend this hard to find and excellent movie by the brothers Requa. It is being shown on IFC (the Independent Film Channel) or if you don't get IFC you can order it from Indie Flicks, a new web based movie store featuring independent films.