• Scared New World

    by  • March 5, 2006 • Cinequest 16, Drama

    Shows: 3/08 9:30 PM (Cam 12), 3/10 5:00 PM (Cam 12)


    Three adults sharing a house in Oakland learn about each other and about life and love during the course of this film. Alma, a pot-dealing single mother, struggles with her boyfriend, a pothead, and her father, who just wants the best for her. She also struggles with Vargas, her housemate, who is a somewhat arrogant novelist supporting himself by substitute teaching. Penny, a French exchange student, moves in with them and sets about making friends and taking lovers. Their friends include Patricia, a kindly woman suffering from cancer who manages to persuede Alma to trade pot for babysitting.
    This is a slice-of-life film more than an actual story, and for the most part it rings very true to life. The characters make stupid but understandable mistakes, and although they all mean well they don’t always do the right thing. This portrait of Bay Area life rings true, no doubt in part because the director, writer, and cast are all local.