MOVIE REVIEWS : A Deft and Dark ‘Passion’

Young writer-director Alexander Payne deserves much credit for not trying to stretch his quirky “The Passion of Martin” (at the AFI USA Independent Showcase at the Monica 4-Plex) beyond its just-right 49 minutes into a more commercial length. As dark-hued as it is deft, it proclaims Payne as a genuinely original talent, a filmmaker whose off-the-wall sense of humor has a light touch.

Loners don’t come much more alienated than Martin (Charley Hayward, himself a discovery), who eventually breaks out of his solitude via photography. His Diane Arbus-like work attracts the attention of a young woman (Lisa Zane), who in turn attracts Martin--profoundly. What ensues is a witty, fervid and outrageous tale of obsessive love, carried out with visual flair and the kind of zany imagination that allows Payne to get away with everything. Or, as one Hollywood agent observed, “David Lynch Meets Albert Brooks.”

Playing with “The Passion of Martin” is Michael Haussman’s 25-minute “Abandoned ‘58,” a trite, arty coming-of-age tale set three decades ago in a dying desert stopover on the highway between L.A. and Vegas. An abandoned ’58 Biarritz Cadillac convertible becomes the catalyst for a 15-year-old gas station attendant (Rodney Eastman) to lose his virginity with a local girl (Jaime Hubbard), who fights boredom by shooting milk bottles.

Possibly Haussman and his co-writer Larry Volpi are commenting wryly that no matter how good-looking a young man may be, a Cadillac can be helpful in matters of seduction. But there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of point in this vignette, which is marked by an array of fancy camera angles and compositions.

“Abandoned ‘58” has all the earmarks of a standard-issue student film, but is actually the work of a veteran of commercials. Ironically, “The Passion of Martin” is a student film, but you’d never know it.

‘The Passion of Martin’

Charley Hayward: Martin

Lisa Zane: Rebecca

A UCLA Master’s Thesis. Writer-director-editor Alexander Payne. Producers Evelyn Nussenbaum, Payne. Cinematographer David Rudd. Music John O’Kennedy. Art director Tessa Posnansky, Maria Mitchnick. Sound Payne. Running time: 49 minutes.

Times-rated Mature (for adult themes).

‘Abandoned ‘58’

Rodney Eastman: The Boy

Jaime Hubbard: The Girl

Director Michael Haussman. Screenplay Larry Volpi, Haussman; based on a story by Volpi. Cinematographer Lisa Rinzler. Art director Guy Greville-Morris. Running time: 25 minutes.

Times-rated Mature (for adult themes).