For those of us over thirty (ahem), love between the ages of 19 to 26 often makes us wince in recognition, regret, maybe a little of both. In Writer/Director Aaron Coffman’s DIY indie feature, Texas Snow, those two emotions pretty much hold true. It’s a love triangle between early twenties Jesse (John Gregory Willard), an aspiring artist (painter I think) who falls for Caroline (Julia Rust) a very photogenic ballerina. The conflict is that Jesse’s roommate, Lee (Ryan Shields) used to date Caroline as well and fell hard when she turned down his marriage proposal. Stolen love is some of the best kind of love but…I’ll leave that for another time.

Suffice it to say, there is a scene where Jesse and Caroline are partying with her old school chum, Libby Bibb, who comes off like a budding lesbian alcoholic (don’t we all have friends like that?) who just laughs insanely throughout her scenes with Jesse and Caroline. But Jesse is young and in love, blind to the signals that Bibb is wheezing through bowls of beer, namely that she nor Caroline nor anyone really is serious at this stage of life; and blind to the hurt he has caused his friend and roommate Lee. If this all sounds trite it need not. Coffman is minimal in dialogue and directed his actors and cinematographer (Keith Hueffmeier) to follow suit, and the result has a certain poetic vibe that avoids many clichés.

Yet, for a triangle to generate empathy and emotion in the viewer there must be some kind of build-up to the climax. Texas Snow has only one pace: Slow. Composer Keegan DeWitt’s (of Quiet City and Dance Party USA fame) score plodded the film down even more. I longed to see some anger, violence, sex (I can see actress Julia Rust on the CW in a Josh Swartz vehicle any day now) or anything that brought the pulse up a notch. The same goes for most of the Mumblecore films, who in avoiding cliché so stridently have become one. Having said that, Coffman has made a competent, well-crafted film. The structural maturity, pacing, depth will come in time with his future efforts.

(reviewed by Jerry Brewington for HIT)