- Title: The Nowhere Inn
- IMDb: link
The Nowhere Inn has one of my favorite opening scenes of the year as American musician Annie “St. Vincent” Clark, playing herself, is being driven by a confused limousine driver (Ezra Buzzington) with no idea who his latest passenger is, or why she’s famous, only to stop in the middle of a desolate highway and disappear. Seeds of the larger themes of the film are planted here, even if it never reaches the same heights.
The film’s plot involves Annie hiring her friend Carrie, also playing herself, to make a documentary about the band which the pair hope will help both of them reach wider audiences. What Carrie soon discovers, however, is life on the road isn’t all that interesting off-stage for the band. Carrie’s attempts to find an interesting hook for the story and Annie drastically changing her behavior slowly devolve into a situation where neither Carrie nor Annie can differentiate what is actually real.
Other than the opening scene, the best aspects of The Nowhere Inn involve the concert footage, which appears like it would make a pretty good documentary. The storyline of Annie becoming more aloof as she disappears in to the St. Vincent persona, and her friend getting more and more confused by how far Annie is willing to go, is interesting, and often bizarre, but eventually director Bill Benz seems to become as lost as our two main characters (and the audience). Still, for the right audience, the journey might be worth taking.
Watch the trailer