Aurora Borealis (2006)

TV star Joshua Jackson (DAWSON'S CREEK) comes into his own in this well-crafted indie. He plays Duncan, the angry loser of his rundown Minneapolis neighborhood, whose inability to keep a job stems from losing his father 10 years before. He makes ends meet by loaning his apartment out to his philandering brother (Steven Pasquale) for trysts with his many mistresses. Duncan's hockey buddies keep him propped up, but the poor guy is rudderless. His grandparents (Donald Sutherland and Louise Fletcher) hook him up with their nurse, a wayward free spirit named Kate (Juliette Lewis). As the romance between them blossoms, the grandfather's health deteriorates and he begins contemplating suicide; then Kate gets an offer to move out to California, and Duncan faces some tough decisions. Directed by James Burke, this all plays out in a series of tightly blocked, gritty, low-key scenes which nail the depressing mundanity of a Minnesota winter and let the tight-knit ensemble of actors strike a fine balance between dour realism and date movie whimsy. The Brent Boyd script succinctly encompasses a wealth of geriatric and blue collar types, all of whom stretch out and grow and change as the film progresses. The well-rounded characterizations of the grandparents alone make it worth a watch, with Sutherland and Fletcher both aces in roles that deftly shuffle alienation and empathy in a realistic manner.