Halfway to Zen

After release from prison, Nick is flipping burgers and trying to walk a straight line. He takes care of his father, Pop, who's forgotten what a terrible dad he once was. His dementia is escalating faster than the trains that pass through their small American town. All Nick has is memories - beautiful, painful and discolored with violence. But Nick is given a shot at making new ones with Edie, the 11 year-old daughter he lost a decade ago - only Edie is now Eddie, insisting she's a boy, and she's come with her mother, Vick, who's got her own problems - not least of which is Nick. It's a ragtag team of bulletproof misfits, each hoping to shed the past and grow new skin. The road to peace is rugged, though, and the map is all wrong. But the first step will get you halfway there. (Sedona International Film Festival)