Box Elder (film)

2008 American film

Box Elder

A comedy about dudes, bros, and dude-bros.

Directed by| Todd Sklar
Written by| Todd Sklar
Produced by| Todd Sklar
Brock Williams
Starring| Alex Rennie
Nick Renkoski
Chad Haas
Todd Sklar
Cinematography| J. Rockwell Seebach
Edited by| Kamau Bilal
Distributed by| Range Life Entertainment

Release date

* March 3, 2008 (2008-03-03)

Running time

| 91 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Box Elder is a 2008 American independent film. It was written and directed by Todd Sklar, his first feature film. The film stars Alex Rennie, Nick Renkoski, Chad Haas, as well as Sklar.

## Plot

[edit]

Box Elder follows best friends and roommates, John Scott (Sklar) Alex, Nick, and Chad (Haas) through their final years of college at the University of Missouri. The loose narrative structure is anchored by John's breakup with his girlfriend Laura (Hina Abdullah). The four dudes party, eat sandwiches, and repeatedly ignore their scholastic responsibilities.

## Cast

[edit]

Actor  | Role

|

Alex Rennie  | Rennie
Nicholas Renkoski  | Nick Becker
Chad Haas  | Bradley Fletcher
Todd Sklar | John Scott
Hina Abdullah  | Laura Glaser
James Ponsoldt | Robby "Couv" McGouven
Brian Sturgill  | Matt Vaggey
Kyle Ayers  | Phil Ryerson

## Distribution

[edit]

In the Spring of 2008, Sklar and a number of cast and crew from the film toured the film from city to city, mostly focusing on college campuses and art-house cinemas.[1] Sklar, via his distribution company, Range Life Entertainment, entered into direct 50-50 revenue-sharing deals with the majority of the theaters at which Box Elder screened.[2] According to the filmmaker at numerous post-screening Q&A sessions, Sklar will be bringing Box Elder, along with a number of other films, back on the road and into theaters in the fall of 2008.

## Critical reception

[edit]

During the film's engagement at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, Time Out Chicago gave the film 3 stars and said it, "plays like a cross between Richard Linklater’s Slacker and TV’s Seinfeld."[3] The Chicago Reader gave a brief review, praising, "the dialogue has actual wit in addition to the usual ironic gloss and Sklar's vision of college is the fond fiction we all like to remember in adulthood."[4]

## Soundtrack

[edit]

Song  | Band

|

"Roadrunner"  | The Modern Lovers
"Get Real"  | Hockey Night
"Charm School"  | Bishop Allen
"Mazatlan"  | The Plastic Constellations
"This Western Lot"  | The Plastic Constellations
"I Need You"  | The Rationals
"Stand Up (Let's Get Murdered)"  | P.O.S
"The Monster Mash"  | Bobby Pickett
"Bad Kids"  | The Black Lips
"It's Us"  | The Plastic Constellations
"Gusto"  | Ha Ha Tonka
"Manpark"  | Lifter Puller
"Cold Hands"  | The Black Lips
"Set You Free"  | The Black Keys
"Back to the Lake"  | Guided by Voices
"Old World"  | The Modern Lovers

## References

[edit]

1. ^ August, John (6 July 2008). "JohnAugust.com: Self-distributing an indie-feature". johnaugust.com. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
2. ^ Flasher, Eli. "The Great American Bromance". Minnesota Daily. Archived from the original on 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
3. ^ Gronvall, Andrea. "Box Elder Review". timeout.com. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
4. ^ Jones, J.R. "Box Elder". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2008-05-15.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Box Elder at IMDb
* Vox Magazine - Box Elder and the Sundance kid