Nick (Richard Blackmon) has a marketing job, a steady girlfriend, and crippling student debt. Struggling with the weight of expectations, he opts to downsize: dispensing with the luxuries he doesn’t need, cutting costs, swapping four wheels for two. It’s a path which leads to savings he hasn’t anticipated, physical and spiritual learnings, but which has others questioning his mental state…
Mark Hoffman’s debut feature film, inspired by Evan Schneider’s novel, is a lean, low budget gem, shot in Portland, Oregon, in black and white, with a fine score by Mark Orton (The Holdovers). Fittingly, for a tale about the virtues of simplicity, there is nothing superfluous or decadent here. But unpack it, the film reveals precious insights into the nature of “value” and “worth”, how materialism affects our sense of self, and, perhaps, the dangers attendant on any self-improvement project.
Aug 7 & 8: Q&A with director Mark Hoffman
Relevant to almost everyone.
Moviemaker magazine
Absolutely gorgeous cinematography and multifaceted story.
Matt Hurt, The Obsessive Viewer
Mark Hoffman
Richard Blackmon
USA
2025
English
Audience Awards at the Heartland, Cleveland and Lighthouse Film Festivals
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Mark Alan Hoffman
Producer
Alyssa Roehrenbeck, Mike Lay, Michelle Damis, Tyson Wisbrock
Screenwriter
Mark Alan Hoffman
Cinematography
Kevin Fletcher
Editor
Mark Alan Hoffman
Original Music
Mark Orton, John Hancock
Also Playing
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.