IF I had to pick one word to describe this film, it would be "excruciating." The deliberately unsettling atmosphere presiding over most of the film renders the viewer so deliciously uncomfortable that more than one person will come away with a cringe-induced neck cramp.

Buck (White) hasn't seen his childhood best friend Chuck (Weitz) since they were 11 years old, but that doesn't stop him from seeking a claustrophobic intimacy when they are reunited as adults. White turns in an impressive performance as the extremely awkward Buck, whose emotional neediness targets the increasingly alarmed Chuck. Handheld video footage selectively mimics Buck's attempt to revive his nostalgic remembrance of the relationship.

With comic elements, the film contains a darker, ambiguous investigation of the nature of male bonding and the denial of homosexuality. The resolution it attempts seems a little too neat for the fraught connections it raises. Its highly-original story, however, deserves all the attention it has garnered since the Sundance Festival.

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