Digging For Fire is the film mumblecore cinema has been trying to achieve over the past decade. Joe Swanberg finally creates a film that involves several meandering characters, in a short space of time whilst effectively displaying a stylistic touch to the film.

In Drinking Buddies, it became very clear that Swanberg is an excellent director of actors - the performances by Kendrick, Johnson, Wilde and Livingston were phenomenal and the film worked well as a whole. However, with Digging For Fire, Swanberg takes the film to the next level - not just focusing on the dialogue, but also using cinematography and editing to intensify what could have been another run-of-the-mill independent mumblecore production.

Jake Johnson, a very funny man who I am glad to see gaining more recognition, co-wrote and stars in this film, as a man who takes a 24-hour-ish break from his wife and kid at a swanky house. He parties with a collection of old friends and discovers a human bone and a gun in the backyard.

The premise is great fun, and with a cast like this, the film cannot not be enjoyable to watch: it includes Mike Birbiglia, Orlando Bloom, Rosemarie DeWitt, Sam Elliott, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Ron Livingston, Jenny Slate and Sam Rockwell - to name a few.

Orlando Bloom gives his best performance to date (not difficult) and Sam Rockwell is always a reliably charismatic actor. He creates the most accurate impression of a conversation with someone high on coke that one begins to wonder if he's gone method. Mike Birbiglia and Sam Rockwell interacting created some funny friction:

“If you don’t wanna dig… then how 'bout some hookers?”
“No, I… That’s an illogical jump you made there.”

The soundtrack is exceedingly simple, but unique in tone, emphasising rather than adding to any emotions in a scene. In the end, that is what the film is about : a meditation on relationships and the subsequent emotional resonances. There is black comedy, sexual tension and marital problems - yet the film does not fall into the contemporaneous snarky and cynical conclusion it could. Instead, it approaches modern values with heart as well as reason.