In the Strange Pursuit of Laura Durand @ Utah Film Market

“Strange” is the word for it in this buddy road trip movie dotted with magical realism.

Set in Greece, two knucklehead friends, Christos and Antonis, languishing in the tide pools of adulthood, reminisce about their favorite [infatuation,] Laura Durand, whom no one has heard from in years. Although it’s unknown whether she went missing or has quietly retired, a series of “visions” drive the duo to believe something bad may have happened to her and it’s up to them to track her down and save her if need be.

What follows is their odyssey across the home of the “original” Odyssey. Starting with the locations of some of her last known shoots, they meet allies along the way, some fellow seekers, some former colleagues, and employers. Chased by cultists, sheltered by a wealthy widow, and testing their long-time friendship to new breaking points, everyone has a piece of the puzzle for our guys, but they’re as in the dark about Laura as anyone.

With only a sextant, a promotional bar-crawl map, and a pilfered light meter that might or might not have magic powers, they travel through wild, abandoned landscapes, dogged by the occasional Bruckheimer-style cinematography that adds gravitas to their most random and trivial moments. The more they learn about Laura, the more empathy and concern they gain for her. In the end, they go from being two sex-obsessed weirdos to better, kinder men who just want to find out what became of their beloved actress and make sure she’s doing OK.

— Susan Manly Cooke, Red Rock Film Festival