Peter (Brian Greer), an underachiever with no goals or future, takes a job at a local convenience store in order to help with his sickly parents’ substantial medical bills. There he is befriended by Danny (Sarah Ingraham), an attractive young clerk about to be married. Unbeknownst to both of them, Danny has been bitten by a vagabond vampire who still roams the local streets.
Moonshine is the story of a drab, unappealing young man, who lives in a drab, unappealing small town, which is populated by drab, unappealing people. It shouldn’t be a shock that this makes for a drab, unappealing film. Yes, there is a vampire in it, but don’t let that fool you into thinking this is a horror film. Or an action film. Or even an interesting film. Primarily, this is a movie about two people chatting in a rundown convenience store, and they don’t have much to say.
Exciting and innovated directing might have been able to partly offset the torpid screenplay, but the heavy hand of Roger Ingraham (who also co-wrote) only emphasizes the tedious story. Every scene is too long and too slow. The camera lingers on the unimportant and unimaginative. If something has no relevance to the plot, it is certain to be lovingly and sluggishly presented. It would be tiresome under any circumstances to watch Peter’s father get into bed, but Ingraham doesn’t know enough to yell cut (or edit out repetitious movements). We are given every second.
In a speech at the Sundance film festival (which played Moonshine as one of its “Park City at Midnight” features), Ingraham attempted to explain the dreary nature of the picture by stating that it was about the boxes that we are stuck in, and about breaking free of them. But no one in this movie comes to any great realization. No one rises up and casts off the chains of mundane existence. A few people do change their behavior, but only because they are compelled to by a disease (vampirism). I suppose getting a bad case of meningitis (or accidentally getting a high dose of heroin) would pull you out of your typical life, but that’s hardly a deep philosophical statement. Dropping the pretense at meaning, at least there are a few nice shots of the vampires at the end of the movie. Too bad there weren’t a lot more of those, and a lot less of the routine.
Moonshine’s buzz around Sundance focused on the youth of the director (he’s twenty) and the film’s tiny budget ($9200, not counting substantial donations of time, equipment, sets, etc.). Well, there’s no question that Ingraham is young, and that he demonstrated an impressive grasp of financial management, but that doesn’t make the picture worth watching. His inexperience might explain his poor use of color and lighting, excessively long cuts, uninspired camera movements, and the spiritless acting of his star, but not excuse it. Boring is boring, no matter what it costs.