This is a tiny independent film that is its director Francis Galluppi’s debut and won over all the critics. It’s easy to see why from the get go with its charm, warm visuals and even the simple story is used to its advantage. It’s such an ode to cinema, wearing its influences on its sleeve, that it sometimes feels like an audition tape but it all comes together very nicely. Unfortunately it runs a little longer than necessary as it keeps piling on layer after layer of plot complications when it should have ended much earlier and that only exposes the thinness of its messaging.

A man pulls up in his car at a gas station in Yuma County but is informed that the tanks are dry as they wait for the arrival of the fuel truck and the next station is a hundred miles away. The diner next door is staffed by only a single waitress Charlotte and from their conversation we learn that the man is a kitchen knives salesman. Then in steps two other men sharing the same predicament of needing fuel. Seeing their car, the salesman suspects that they are fleeing bank robbers from hearing the news on the radio. He recounts his suspicion to Charlotte and she tries to call her husband who is the local sheriff on the phone. The robbers immediately cut the phone’s cord and warn them to behave normally as they wait for the arrival of the fuel truck. So they sit and wait as Charlotte serves them coffee but in fact the fuel truck has crashed by the side of the road and will never arrive. Meanwhile more and more motorists who need fuel arrive at the diner and the young deputy sheriff even stops by to get coffee.

It’s such a simple premise but you just can’t help grinning once you realize that people are just going to arrive at the increasingly crowded diner until it’s impossible for the salesman and Charlotte to keep up the pretense. The film is gorgeous and while the characters may be stereotypes drawn out with broad strokes but they perfectly fit the setting and this type of story. The style is a little reminiscent of early Quentin Tarantino or Guy Richie as Galluppi just throws a bunch of characters into an enclosed space and have them interact with each other. The not so subtle references to classic cinema only enhances that impression. The inevitable climax doesn’t disappoint in the least as it takes into account that this is taking place in the US. It is pure delight when one of hapless robbers asks wonderingly, “Does everyone in here have a gun?!” Up to that point, this is a fun, thoroughly enjoyable ride.

If the film had quickly wrapped up soon after that explosive climax, it would have been a nearly perfect gem. Yet it goes on and on long past its natural stopping point. Galluppi’s point about the money from the robbery corrupting everyone is facile and unnecessary. It also sidesteps what makes the premise entertaining: a group of strangers randomly thrown together by an accident. It seems to me that once he had put all of his pieces into place, he had few good ideas of what to do with them and so hurried towards the confrontation. There’s only so many times he can engineer close calls of the other patrons realizing that there are two bank robbers among them after all, and he needed to have the salesman take a more proactive role after being mostly passive and scared while the robbers are there.

The result is a film that has great production values and a beautiful set that has all the right details. You can tell how intricately planned everything is from how the characters move about the space. It also succeeds in capturing the absurd sense of people coming together at just the wrong moment with a good dose of dark humor. But once he has accomplished these goals, the director seems to flail around a little. He ends up opting for a more traditional moralizing lesson which isn’t interesting at all. It’s certainly good enough to establish Galluppi as a new director of note worth paying attention to so I’d look forward for more work from him.