Drought
directed by Hannah Black, Megan Petersen
starring Owen Scheid, Hannah Black, Megan Petersen
Same Page Pictures
Carl (Owen Scheid) and his sister Sam (Hannah Black) work in a tiny grocery in rural North Carolina. Carl’s a bit autistic and when he shoves a customer for not following his shopping cart etiquette, both lose their jobs. Mom and dad are in jail, so Sam and Carl grab two friends and pursue a climactic super cell storm. Why the storm won’t just get to them if they wait is glossed over, but weather drifts east and super cells are an occasion. But visiting a storm isn’t the point here, rather we study the dynamic of Carl and his friends. Older sister Lillian (Megan Petersen) doesn’t want to come along, she’s basically a kidnap victim. Lewis (Drew Scheid) finances lunch and the cheap motel with his plasma money. And Sam, bless her soul, wants to make Carl happy, at least once. When they get to the super cell sighting sight, the denouement is less than impressive.
There’s some unevenness in this story, and I keep thinking up loose ends like: how long can you actually sit on the floor of an ice cream truck while its moving? How much to you get paid for plasma and can that really buy lunch of four and still have enough for a cheap hotel? And why did Carl need to go to such a specific place to witness meteorological even that covers multiple states? But Carl did seem sincere in his need to get to this specific place; props to his sister and pals for making it work. But as to Carl, he looked disappointed at the end. He achieved all he desired, but that seemed to leave him standing along in the field not knowing what to do next. Was this trip worth the price, low as it was? What was his goal, other than to observe? And did his sister learn anything? I want to know more. This was too realistically shot to ignore things like running out of gas, yet not magical enough to see this a completion for Carl.
