Starring Kentucker Audley, Jake Rabinbach. Directed by Kentucker Audley. Nov. 28, 8 p.m. at Double Double Land (209 Augusta Ave.).
Sequels are usually attached to blockbusters, which is why it’s surprising—and quite charming—that micro-budget director Kentucker Audley has made a follow-up to his charming 2010 feature, Open Five. That film co-starred Audley as the struggling-filmmaker chum of a Memphis musician (Jake Rabinbach) wooing a prospective girlfriend visiting from Brooklyn with her own pal in tow. It delivered a wise, clear-eyed perspective on people who weren’t sure who exactly they were supposed to be.
Open Five 2 complicates this theme of identity crisis, although not always that productively. Rabinbach and Audley are back, but instead of playing their characters from Open Five, they are ostensibly playing themselves in the aftermath of shooting the first film. Once again, things end up in Memphis, but with a different set of women—Audley’s real-life partner, Caroline White, co-stars as his onscreen doppelgänger’s partner, while Elizabeth Behl is on hand as a friend of Rabinbach’s who’s literally along for the ride. The idea seems to be to blur the lines between reality and fiction. The film’s mandate is thus fairly insular, considering that most audience members won’t be aware of all the references. But, like its predecessor, the film is wry and relatable in a way that rises above simple navel-gazing.
