10 Great Indie Films From The Past 5 Years You May Have Missed

Ansel Roth is a washed up public speaker, so broke he’s picking food vouchers out of waste bins in order to try and score a free meal. He is the self-professed world’s leading authority on the brainwashing methods used by cult leaders and ways in which to de-programme affected members. When he is approached by the parents of one such cult member, he agrees to kidnap her, and over the space of 5 days locked in a motel room, convince her to leave the cult behind and re-join her family.

Much of the appeal of this absorbing comedy drama is down to the performances of Leland Orse as troubled oddball, Ansel, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the enigmatic cult member, Claire. Much of the film focusses on the interaction of these two characters. Seeing how Ansel’s unorthodox techniques will play out and learning more about Claire and her bizarre cult are the main focus. However, an unexpectedly surreal shift in tone and a plot twist toward the end of the film make it something much more interesting than it originally presents itself.