Lorelei

LORELEI is a first-time feature by Sabrina Doyle, chronicling the blue collar lives of an ex-convict and the girl he left behind. After 15 years, Wayland is let out of prison to return to the tiny dead-end town where he grew up. There he is reunited with his biker gang, for whom he took the fall and went to prison. After his first night of freedom spent partying with his old buddies, he ends up at the church-run home where he will be staying, with its strict rule, and its tough-love, head nun keeping tabs on him. He also runs into his high-school girlfriend, Dolores, who is now cleaning rooms in the local dive hotel, and struggling to raise three kids, with three absent dads, all named after a different shade of blue. The sexual chemistry is still there between Wayland and Dolores, and the two quickly find themselves living together in a rough and tumble version of hard-living domesticity. Wayland gets a part-time job from as a favor from his cousin, but he’s not bringing in enough to help support his new family, and ends up doing some less than legal work for his old pal. He’s also struggling to win over these three kids, none of whom belong to him, but who slowly grow attached to his presence in the home. Dolores, who has been trapped in a prison of her own making these past 15 years, hasn’t given up her dream of running away to L.A. for a glamorous life. Stir in some mermaids to this morass of broken dreams and fractured families, and you’ve got a slightly uneven tale that is lifted up by two strong performances and some memorable sequences.

Pablo Schreiber (Liev’s half brother) is best known for his many TV roles, including ‘The Wire,’ ‘Orange is the New Black’, and ‘American Gods,’ among many others, and brings some sensitivity without losing the clumsy, gruffness of Wayland’s misguided ex-con. Jena Malone, also well-seasoned in a host of films and TV, most notably in Chlotrudis for Gretchen Ross in DONNIE DARKO, inhabits her mess of a young mother in a way that is frustrating in its realism. I left the film thinking it was okay, but weeks later certain moments and scenes came back to me, leaving a lasting impression. 3 1/2 cats