Robert John Burke returns to his home town on Long Island after serving a prison sentence. Nobody seems to remember exactly what happened except that he killed his girlfriend and her father. They are wary of him, but not inclined to do much of anything about it. In prison he learned to be an auto mechanic, and he's quite skilled, so garage owner Chris Cooke hires him despite the wariness.
Adrienne Shelly is Cooke's daughter. She is obsessed with the threat of nuclear war and has stopped going to school or doing much of anything. She encounters Burke and is immediately stricken by his mysterious stillness. They develop feelings for each other, but he's much older and (possibly) a mass murderer.
There's more plot (Shelly becomes a model), but the film is essentially a circle of quietly odd characters having wonderfully odd conversations.
I love this film.
Burke and Edie Falco (a waitress at the local diner) have a scene where they have the same conversation four times in a row.
Shelley's mom (Katherine Mayfield) is "gardening" while taking to Cooke, but all she's really doing is sticking plastic flowers in the ground.
Cooke's name is "Victor Hugo".
Adrienne Shelly is Cooke's daughter. She is obsessed with the threat of nuclear war and has stopped going to school or doing much of anything. She encounters Burke and is immediately stricken by his mysterious stillness. They develop feelings for each other, but he's much older and (possibly) a mass murderer.
There's more plot (Shelly becomes a model), but the film is essentially a circle of quietly odd characters having wonderfully odd conversations.
I love this film.
Burke and Edie Falco (a waitress at the local diner) have a scene where they have the same conversation four times in a row.
Shelley's mom (Katherine Mayfield) is "gardening" while taking to Cooke, but all she's really doing is sticking plastic flowers in the ground.
Cooke's name is "Victor Hugo".