Love Story: Part II

LOVESONG (A-minus) - Riley Keough cements her status as a serious player in independent films in this story of an unhappily married mom who renews a crush on her best friend from college only to be frustrated by the timing of their interactions.

Keough, the best thing about last year's "American Honey," brings new life to the familiar role of the unsatisfied spouse. Years ago, we were convinced that Lisa Marie Presley (Elvis' daughter) was going to break big on the entertainment scene; she just had a look. She married Michael Jackson instead. But she also married a guy named Keough and begat young Riley, who makes you want to believe that talent skips a generation as she fulfills the promise of her mother.

Here she is as Sarah, a put-upon mom of a precocious toddler named Jessie (Jessie Ok Gray), who annoyingly dominates the first 20 minutes of the film. (We know that she's a plot device as a handful and a drain on Sarah, but damn, it is no fun in any context to watch some chubby-cheeked kid of one of the filmmakers (here, the co-writer, Bradley Rust Gray); it's an indie-film phenomenon that has sunk more than one Joe Swanberg project.) Sarah's husband is frequently off on lengthy business trips, so he is both literally and figuratively distant, while she bears the burden of this brat.

Sarah gets a surprise visit from college pal Mindy (Jena Malone from the "Hunger Games" series), a free-spirit and a positive-thinking pixie. You sense an old spark between these two from the start and a stirring of what might have been 15 years or so ago. The two grab Jessie and hit the road for a random adventure, smoothly reverting to their former carefree selves.

Some motel drinking leads to a bit of intimacy -- mostly hinted at -- but the trip ends abruptly after a spat, and Mindy grabs a bus back to New York City. Flash forward three years, and Sarah is on a road trip with the now 6-year-old Jessie (Jessie Ok Gray's much more tolerable sister, Sky), headed to Nashville to attend the wedding of Mindy to a charming guy named Leif (Ryan Eggold).

Sarah stands on the periphery of Mindy's surprising new life (with airhead bridesmaids played by Amy Seimetz and Brooklyn Decker), but as the weekend progresses she finds opportunities to get Mindy's attention, culminating in an attention-getting scene at a bachelorette party. The clock is ticking on Sarah's desires, a subtle nod to Benjamin and Elaine in "The Graduate," or any other rom-com with a race to the altar.

Writer-director So Yong Kim (sharing the script with Gray, who explored similar themes with Keough in 2012's "Jack and Diane") brings a documentary frisson to the proceedings, sharing in the intimacy between the two women.  She is happy to linger, for instance, on a shot of one friend laying her head on the shoulder of the other while smiling off into the distance, or dallying with Sarah and Mindy at a rodeo for no apparent reason.

Malone (who has that look high school girls did in the '70s) is strong as the enigmatic Mindy, particularly in a one-off scene with Rosanna Arquette, in a cameo as Mindy's disapproving mother. Malone has a powerful, natural chemistry with Keough, who expresses yearning in profound ways. Keough resembles Kristen Stewart but exhibits so much more depth. Sarah is deeply unhappy and indecisive, and she aches for real love. Keough's grasp of all of the nuances associated with that is impressive.

Is Sarah's crush on Mindy genuine and feasible or just the manifestation of her loneliness? The movie never really answers that question. Suffice it to say that on the weekend of Mindy's wedding, vows are exchanged and passion is expressed. Who ends up with whom is almost beside the point.

BONUS TRACKS
The pretty song over the closing credits, "Broken Hearted Love Song" by The Shoe:



And look for compelling Marshall Chapman in a tiny role as the mother of the groom. We first spotted her in "Mississippi Grind." Here's her version of "The Nearness of You," which isn't in the movie, but is perfectly appropriate. You can skip to the 2-minute mark for the start of the song.