When families take on a vacant home as a short vacation, away from their typical lives, it is with little expectation, outside of just enjoying your time in someone else’s space. Maybe they have a swimming pool, or a full bar or even a large estate for which you can roam about, just for the sake of roaming. What happens when you discover something out of the ordinary? What does your reaction say about YOU?
Joe Swanberg’s(“Drinking Buddies”) latest feature film, “Digging for Fire,” explores the answers to these questions, but much more beyond that. From the very first moments of the story, it is clear that this married couple has run into some friction, building quickly and starting a…fire? Well, maybe. Admittedly, the story is a little bit murky UNTIL these two separate for the remainder of the film. It transpires in a hurry, so do not fear. Tim, played by Jake Johnson(“Jurassic World”) and Lee, played by Rosemarie DeWitt(“Poltergeist”) go on seemingly different courses from here, but not everything is as it seems. In fact, the two have more in common amidst their marital tension than they probably even realize. You may, initially think, that Tim is unhappy because he is stuck with a controlling wife and that Lee is unhappy because she is finding it difficult to control her husband. When Tim discovers a bone and a gun, buried in the ground of their friends’ property, he excitedly brings it to Lee, like a kid running to his parent saying, “Look, Mommy! Look at what I found!” She repeatedly encourages him to leave it where it was and forget about any attempts to excavate the land for more interesting discoveries.
As Lee takes their child and drives on down to see HER parents for the weekend, it would appear, AGAIN, that she has all the power in the marriage: she is out and about while Tim is back at the house with a big “honey do” project. She says something to their kid about why she needs this time away from her husband and it really looks like she is the driving force in this relationship. We KNOW that Tim is not going to do what he was told to do and the movie doesn’t even need to tell us why. It’s just…human nature? Yes, I think so.
Tim is having some good, old-fashioned male bonding at the vacated home, complete with a grill, some drugs and alcohol and, perhaps, some young women, too. Make way for a slew of men, led by Phil, played by Mike Birbiglia(“Trainwreck”) and followed by Ray, played by Sam Rockwell(“The Way, Way Back”). Phil is the voice of reason in the mix. He seems like a bore and checks out before things REALY get good. Ray is the life of the party, likely wherever he goes. He has brought along Max, played by Brie Larson(“The Gambler”) and Alicia, played by Anna Kendrick(“Pitch Perfect 2”). While Alicia is busy with Ray, Max wanders over to Tim. As he continues to dig where his wife told him not to, she joins in. What does all this mean? Tim discovers a shoe, which happens to fit his foot, by the way. Oh, I see now! Tim’s digging represents something about HIM and the shoe is like an object of his “buried” past. His wife, subconsciously, wants him to leave that behind, but HE wants to cherish it because it is all about whom he was. What he finds, later on, really ties it ALL together.
Meanwhile, Lee is having a discussion with her parents about what marriage means to the individuals. Her father, played by Sam Elliott(“Draft Day”) and her mother, played by Judith Light(“Last Weekend”) have some friction of their own, but agree that compromise is a part of being one, in a marriage. Hmmm, so Lee wants to be her own person, too? She might not show it as outwardly as her husband does, but look at that new, expensive jacket she just bought. Listen to the sound in her voice when she arranges a “girls’ night out” with a couple of old friends. When those friends bale on her, due to their own family constraints, Lee wanders around on her own and bumps into a suave bachelor, Ben, played by Orlando Bloom(“The Hobbit Trilogy”). SHE is getting in touch with what she chose to leave behind for her marriage, as well. ALL of the characters outside of these two, friends and strangers alike, represent something or someone from their past and present, even the Uber drivers.
While Tim and his wife do not go about what they are trying to find in the same way, the fact remains that they are both unhappy in their marriage for the same exact reason. Once they stop “digging” and come to terms with their past, they turn BACK to each other and see what they truly have NOW. Will this be the turning point for their marriage? Perhaps. Will they both need a similar revelatory weekend, such as this one, somewhere down the line? Who can really say? What I CAN say is, they dug for fire and seem to have struck water. Fire destroys, but water replenishes.
“Digging for Fire” is one big allegory about the individual in a marriage: what you have lost and what it means to rediscover that. It doesn’t have the style of a film like, say, “Dope,” but its substance is unparalleled by any other indie film I have seen so far for 2015. You do not JUST watch a movie like this one to enjoy it. You watch and LEARN from it, too. You might feel misled by the directions and ambience of the movie, at times, but there’s a great service in that. THIS film is as “fine as wine.”
Director: Joe Swanberg
Screenwriters: Joe Swanberg and Jake Johnson
Starring: Jake Johnson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Orlando Bloom, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, Mike Birbiglia, Sam Elliott, Judith Light, Ron Livingston, Melanie Lynskey, Jenny Slate, Jane Adams, Chris Messina and Tim Simons
Distributed by: The Orchard and Sony Pictures Worldwide
Release: August 21st, 2015(limited release) and August 25th, 2015(VOD)
