Natural Selection

With director Robbie Pickering Q&A

Trailer link: http://www.naturalselectionthemovie.com/trailers/

Director: Robbie Pickering
Screenwriter: Robbie Pickering
Cinematographer: Steven Capitano Calitri
Editor: Michelle Tesoro
Composers: iZLER, Curt Schneider
Cast: Rachael Harris, Matt O’Leary, John Diehl, Jon Gries
Running Time: 90 minutes

Jersey Village native Robbie Pickering swept the jury and audience awards at the 2011 SXSW Festival in addition to winning best screenplay, best editing and best score/music, with this irreverent Texas-filmed comedy. Well deserved breakthrough performance awards went to lead actors Rachael Harris and Matt O’Leary. Harris plays Linda, a sheltered and sexually frustrated housewife in suburban Texas. She discovers that her dying husband, who has refused to have unchristian sex with his barren wife, has a 23-year old illegitimate son, Raymond (O’Leary). Linda embarks on a quest to track down and bring back Raymond to meet his dad before it’s too late. The road movie that ensues is quite a ride, because Raymond is a foul-mouthed, very unchristian ne’er-do-well, whose motivation to stick with Linda is, at least at first, to avoid capture by the police. Linda cannot be swayed from her mission, but Raymond is quite the test of faith.

Catherine Shoard in the Guardian called the film “a brilliantly realised bit of scripting and playing: a moving and often extremely funny union that doesn’t shy away from awkwardness or tragedy. These are richly-drawn characters — likewise the support: Linda’s hard-nosed elder sister and her pastor brother-in-law, secretly besotted — and their story stays with you long after the credits roll.”

Note: Q&A discussion between filmmakers and audience adds approximately 30 minutes to running time.