EIFF 2015: Black Mountain Poets

Having charmed audiences with last year's double hitter of Benny & Jolene and A Wonderful Christmas Time, Jamie Adams is quietly making a name for himself as a reliable purveyor of low-budget oddball indie. Like its predecessors, this last entry in his 'Modern Romance Trilogy' draws warm, naturalistic performances from its cast, all of whom prove adept at improvising dialogue. But while Adams' work has always seemed effortlessly entertaining, this impression is ultimately to the detriment of Black Mountain Poets.

Consider the movie's opening sequence. We meet two sisters, played by Alice Lowe and Dolly Wells, as they're thwarted in an attempt to steal a JCB digger. Upon escaping the scene of the crime, and with scarcely any pretext, they find themselves embroiled in a case of mistaken identity. For the rest of the film they must pose as beat poets at a writing retreat.

While this first act is endearing in its utter carelessness, it belies a surfeit of ambition in the director. The likes of Some Like It Hot and even Weekend at Bernie's succeed because their characters are forced into unlikely situations whereby madcap farce represents the only chance of survival. There's nothing at stake for the two petty criminals whose lacklustre literary abilities are shown to be on a par with those of the legitimate poets in their midst. Plot and structure are afterthoughts to the very concept of situation.

Adams was right to believe that his stars could carry the film: they absolutely do and are amusing throughout. It's just a shame for him not to have elevated the production beyond what was already within his grasp.

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