AllMovie

Texas-born documentary filmmaker Stephen Purvis made his feature directorial debut with this comedy-drama, loosely based on the stage production, In the West -- a series of monologues written and performed by a group of Texas actors. Purvis and his co-scripters Jesse Sublett and Tom Huckabee) gave this material a clever unifying thread by introducing two British documentary filmmakers who interview a variety of locals in Austin. Recalling the films of Nick Broomfield (Heidi Fleiss, Hollywood Madam), the duo has an assignment from the BBC. As filmmaker Robert Flaherty (Kenneth Cranham of The Boxer) -- an obvious nod to the real-life Robert Flaherty who filmed the classic Nanook of the North (1921) -- and his younger wife Kate Markham (Amanda Root of Persuasion) film the interviews, they find tensions and conflicts threatening their marriage and partnership. Original In the West cast members appear as Austin eccentrics, including a deer hunter (Lou Perryman), a "wild child" (Tim Mateer), a woman (C.K. McFarland) with no regrets over losing both husband and son in a oil rig explosion, and a guard-dog salesman (Marco Perella). Texas music heard on the soundtrack includes Lyle Lovett's "That's Right (You're Not From Texas)" plus tunes by Willie Nelson and Marcia Ball.