Brea Grant In Indie Movie "Homecoming"

Red Dot Diva is sometimes terribly envious of those living in LA. For she loves most things indie and Lala-land is usually almost where "stuff happens".

She usually has to settle with living vicariously through various good friends who are able to experience these events first-hand.

Just this Monday 25 July, an indie movie entitled "Homecoming" was screened at the Downtown Independent in LA, as part of a monthly event by Film Courage.

The heartwarming movie, starring actress-comic creator, Brea Grant ("Heroes" and in the next season of "Dexter"), John Robinson, Tom Fox-Davies, Sean Hackett and Colleen Camp, has already won some awards in film festivals around the USA, including US/ International Best Narrative Film at the 2011 AMC Theatres Kansas City FilmFest. The tale about friendship and family was written and directed by Sean Hackett.

Twitter friends @TheReal_Rebel and @ebrown2112 were at the screening that night to give support to Brea Grant and creative independent film-makers.

Brea, dressed perkily in a colourful floral dress, was also there to make an introduction to the movie. There are some lovely pics of the independent movie makers, cast and their friends from that night which one can view from Film Courage's website.

Here's what @TheReal_Rebel has to say about the movie "Homecoming":

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"Homecoming" is a flawed gem of an indie movie about the effects of a soldier coming home then going off again to do her job.

After a 2-year stint in the Army, Medic Estelle Szymanski (Brea Grant) returns from Afghanistan to her home of Celebration, Florida on an 18-day furlough.

Yes, Celebration, is the name of that town. It is the one the Disney built in Orlando, and much of the underlying visual humor was derived from this setting.

While Estelle's mother Cathy (Colleen Camp), a cook at her old High School, busies herself with making a holiday out of each day her daughter is home, Estelle and her slacker pals Austin (Tom Fox Davies) and Owen (Sean Hackett) fight, make up and then willingly play along with Cathy. That is, until Cathy, eager to get someone other than Estelle's longtime pals into her daughter's life, introduces her to biology teacher Derrick (John Robinson), as a potential beau.

The film moves along naturally enough, managing to subvert expectations and averting cliches. However, by not making clear what is truly burdening Estelle, the film's structure and emotional impact is undermined. Additionally, certain scenes were not allowed to play out to their natural conclusion and, with the exception of one scene, the stresses of a war upon Estelle were not made visible.

Thankfully, the emotional core of the film lied in the relationship between the three friends. Their hi-jinks and clashes amongst themselves were what made this film worth watching.

Brea Grant was charming and natural in the film despite missing the underlying gravity of being a soldier in the field. Also superb were her cast mates writer/ director / producer Sean Hackett who played the annoying yet adorable nerd Owen, and Tom Fox Davies as future crooner and boy-band-escapee, Austin. The chemistry the three actors shared made the friendship very believable and engaging to watch.

While I used the term "film" in the above review, the movie was actually shot in Digital Video using a Canon 7d-DSLR by cinematographer Anthony Kuhnz and his crew. That gave it a nice muted, understated quality.

And editor Kate Hacket did a magnificent job of pulling all the pieces together into a mostly seamless continuity.

The music composed by Gingger Shankar was emotionally reflective yet subtle and unobtrusive.

I found myself laughing out loud at many of the funny moments, and yet found the movie to be deeply moving.

If you want to get to see "Homecoming" in your hometown, you would have to go to Eventful.com and Demand it. By which I mean, you have to actually hit the "Demand it" button after going to "Search" and typing in "film, homecoming". Click here to start the Demand!

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To get some visuals of "Homecoming", take a look at this movie clip:

Homecoming by Sean Hackett - Clip 1 from Homecoming by Sean Hackett on Vimeo.

For more information about the movie, check out "Homecoming's" official website and Facebook page!

Besides acting, Brea Grant also creates and writes comics, mostly of the horror or alternative genre. Regular updates and news are on her official website and do follow her on Twitter!

Thanks to @TheReal_Rebel for the movie review!