Leaves of Grass
Release April 2nd, 2010
Bill Kincaid, an Ivy League classics professor, returns to rural Oklahoma to bury his dangerously brilliant identical twin brother who had remained in their native state to grow hydroponic pot. Leaves of Grass is a fast-paced comic film that contrasts two distinct approaches to life. Featuring Edward Norton in the role of each twin.
Cast: Edward Norton, Susan Sarandon, Keri Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Tim Blake Nelson
Director: Tim Blake Nelson.
Runtime: 1 Hr 40 Min
When Ivy League classics professor Bill Kincaid receives news of the murder of his estranged identical twin brother, Brady, in a pot deal gone bad, he leaves the world of Northeastern academia to travel back to his home state of Oklahoma. Upon arrival, he finds that reports of his brother's death are greatly exaggerated, and he's soon caught up in the dangerous and unpredictable world of drug commerce in the backwaters of the Southwest. In the process, he reconnects with his eccentric mother, meets a wise and educated young woman who has bypassed academia in favor of the gentler rhythms of life, and unwittingly helps his troubled brother settle a score with a pernicious drug lord who uses Tulsa, Oklahoma's small Jewish community for cover.
The film is written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson, who appears in the truck with Norton at the end of the trailer. If you recognized his face, Nelson has acted in a fair amount of films including Syriana, Fido, and Wonderland. He also previously helmed 2001’s O, a modern update of Othello belonging to that long-passed crap-cycle of Shakespeare adaptations high on “MTV street cred.” I’m not holding the film against him though, especially after reading the uncharacteristically enthusiastic review of Leaves on The Playlist, (seemingly one of the few sites to catch this at the Toronto International Film Festival). They go on to call Leaves “very brilliant,” “incredibly well-written,” and “anything but a fun, simple stoner comedy.” Also co-starring are Keri Russell, and Melanie Lynskey, who remains best known for “Rose” the “insane stalker” on Two and a Half Men, but received kudos for her roles this year in Up in the Air and The Informant! Anything to escape that show’s obscenely rich kid.
