Don McKay

This was an independent neo-noir film starring Thomas Haden Church, Elisabeth Shue, Keith David, James Rebhorn, M. Emmet Walsh and Melissa Leo. The writing and first time direction probably didn't live up to such a good cast but the performances are strong.

Church is Don McKay, a mid forties custodian who left his hometown 25 years ago after a unmentioned disaster in high school. He gets a letter from his unrequited high school love, Sunny (Shue) who is dying and wants to see him again. When he gets back to his hometown he finds that things aren't quite as they seem. Sunny seems to have strange gaps in her memory and her nurse (Leo) is hostile to Don for no apparent reason.

This has Coen Brothers influence dripping all over it, particularly in the ending. But it was still a mostly worthwhile effort. Shue has aged pretty well. I don't know why she's not in more films.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.