Chris is nearly 40 years old, but he’s never had a cellphone. He has virtually nothing beyond what he had 20 years ago: a teenager’s BMX bike and a place where he can crash, barely. It’s his brother’s garage.
Chris sounds like a standard cinematic anti-hero: the finally freed ex-con who did serious time for a crime he didn’t commit. But the new film “Outside In,” by Seattle director and screenwriter Lynn Shelton, is nothing like the usual, predictable, revenge-action melodrama; it’s a deep dive into the emotional realities and social complications that crop up as Chris returns to humble Granite Falls — that’s a real town, about an hour north of Seattle — and reconnects with Carol, the high school English teacher who helped get him paroled early.
Carol, portrayed by Edie Falco, has mothered Chris from a distance for years, even while languishing in her own prison: a loveless marriage. Now that her former student is back in town, the bond they share grows uncomfortably intense.
“I was just fascinated by this idea that two people who really should not be able to relate to each other do relate on a deep, soul level,” Shelton said during a telephone interview. “I love relationships that are unconventional. I think it’s a really interesting, beautiful, human thing that happens. I find it very compelling.”
If You Go
• What: Q&A with Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton after a screening of her new film, “Outside In.” Vancouver filmmaker Beth Harrington will moderate.
• When: Screening at 5 p.m. today. Q&A follows. Another screening at 7:40 p.m. See website for additional screenings next week.
• Where: Kiggins Theatre, 1011 Main St., Vancouver.
• Tickets: Day of show, $10. In advance and online, $7. Mondays always $6.
• Information: KigginsTheatre.com
The Seattle native also finds the wet, moody Pacific Northwest compelling as a backdrop for her lens. She studied and worked as an actor and film editor in the Midwest and New York City, but said Western Washington “spoiled me for anywhere else, so I dragged my husband back to Seattle. I was a bigger fish in a smaller pond here, too,” which came in handy as she started directing.
Shelton now has episodes of TV shows like “Mad Men” and “The Mindy Project” under her belt, as well as seven original films — all of which are set in “the gray and green and rain,” she said. Put them together and they’re like “a tourist brochure. Western Washington is my jam,” she said.
Shelton will visit the southern tip of her jam today, to attend the 5 p.m. screening of “Outside In” at the Kiggins Theatre. That will be followed by a live Q-and-A session, moderated by Vancouver’s own celebrated local filmmaker and documentarian, Beth Harrington.
Interrupted growth
The wide-eyed Falco, famous for starring roles in “The Sopranos” and “Nurse Jackie,” became “the jewel in the crown of our cast,” said Shelton. One thing Falco loved about the project was its juicy and nuanced romantic role for a mature, middle-aged woman. “That’s the kind of role you just don’t see,” Shelton said.
The other thing that drew Falco was her co-star, Jay Duplass, who plays Chris with boyish naivet?. She’d worked with him before, briefly, and Shelton knew his brother, indy-film darling Mark Duplass. Also, Jay Duplass had a starring role on the TV show “Transparent.”
“He blew me away,” Shelton said. “I told him I’d be ‘lightly stalking’ him until I got on the set with him.”
Duplass got so engaged with the project, he wound up sharing the screenplay writing credit with Shelton. “Jay really nailed one aspect of Chris in particular,” Shelton said. “A lot of guys who (start serving time) when they’re in their late teens — they’re emotionally and socially the same age when they come out. They’re picking up exactly where they left off. They’ve literally been interrupted.”
That’s especially problematic as the pace of change continues to speed up, Shelton said. Imagine disappearing for two decades and then dropping into this new landscape of omnipresent devices and the internet. “The way people interact, the way it’s all texting, every little thing is different,” Shelton said.
And, she said, imagine trying to get hired — or just get a little respect — with a criminal record trailing you. “It’s not the foreground of the movie or the main message, but you really feel throughout what it’s like for the ex-convict,” she said. “What’s re-entry into society really like? There are so many levels of difficulty — from trying to get a job to just dealing with people’s preconceived notions of who you are.”
