EXPIRED World Cinema: American Showcase

Claire (Samantha Morton , typically superb) and Jay (Jason Patric, in a surprising comic performance that’s a career-best) share the unhappy distinction of working at one of those jobs that society holds in lowest esteem-they ticket drivers whose parking meter has expired.

Claire is hyper-sensitive and lonely, and has mainly reduced her life to caring for her ill mother (Teri Garr). Jay is highly intelligent and almost sociopathically angry about the opportunity ties he’s squandered in his life. Their dysfunctional stop-and-start love story starts off with moments of silly comic charm, but veers unexpectedly into the more somber realistic mode we typically associate with John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh. You find yourself laughing , crying and wincing all at once.

First time writer-director Cecilia Miniucchi and her superlative actors negotiate the uncertain terrain between romantic comedy and psychological drama with amazing skill. Even when its characters are lost, the film knows right where its going.