Yellow Bird

Director Angus Benfield Cast Angus Benfield (Inventing Anna), Brian Doyle-Murray (Caddyshack), Kathy Garver (Family Affair), Plastic Martyr (Battle for Pandora), Melissa Disney (Superman vs The Elite)

"Synopsis: In the style of The Office and Schitt’s Creek comes a fun new comedy about searching for happiness, “Yellow Bird.” This heartfelt film, set in a small country-town grocery store named "The Yellow Bird," is centered around once successful PR specialist Jake (Angus Benfield), now a stock boy in his mid-forties, struggling with his sobriety, and his conscience in the guise of a gnome (Brian Doyle-Murray) who is determined to remind Jake of all his failings, including his marriage. Jake’s mother, Rachel Rush (Kathy Garver), is struggling with Alzheimer's and is living in an RV. Rachel is holding onto a past she remembers as much more adventurous and exciting than this life and is determined to find it once again, and Scotty, the protagonistic store manager who is stuck in a job his father wants him to be in, and so makes all the fun and quirky employees at “The Yellow Bird” miserable in return."

Yellow Bird is among the recently selected catalog at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival - Independent Film Showcase.

There are points where Yellow Bird begins to flow toward a direction but seemingly stumbles into the plot as it continuously fails to recognize itself; does it want to convey an overall positive message? It's clear that the goal was to convey a positive message but the attempt gets lost in translation, drowned out by the way body & age shaming is rampant throughout, with women being the primary target. The positive representation of women in the story sees them serve as props & plot devices, they essentially serve as mirrors for our protagonist to prove to us that he in fact, is a good man.

The talking garden gnome, voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray, is treated more as an afterthought which makes less sense as the story continues on, leaving...