Sundance Review: Dale Dickey And Wes Studi In ‘A Love Song’

deadline.com:

If ever there was what we can affectionately call a “Sundance movie” , it is A Love Song, a micro-small, actor-driven heartfelt drama set in the rural west mountainous region of Colorado from first time feature writer/director Max Walker-SIlverman.

Premiering in the NEXT section of the Sundance Film Festival tonight this is a deliberately paced look at two lonely lives of former childhood friends now leading a seemingly nomadic existence in the aftermath of grief over the loss of their individual spouses as they forge a tentative reunion that might – or might not – lead to romance, even as they have reached their senior years.

In an odd way it is the perfect companion piece for last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, Nomadland , a movie also set in the sparse surroundings of the Southwest and focusing on a particular character, now alone , heading out on the road following the end of the life she once knew.

It probably is no accident that a key producer here is Dan Janvey, who was one of the producers of Nomadland as well.The gift for Walker-Silverman is in his stars, not only those gorgeously captured by his cinematographer Alfonso  Herrera Salcedo in the magical skies that dot this densely populated campground location where the film is set, but mainly in his real stars, Dale Dickey and Wes Studi, two exceptional veteran actors not given the chance to front a film but get one here, a rare outing for senior actors in what might be defined as a tentative romantic drama, but  more apparently a study in loneliness.The center of it all is undoubtedly Dickey, whose weathered face in unapologetic closeups is a vision the camera is in love with.