The Los Angeles Film Festival starts this week, and earlier, we brought you an exclusive teaser from one of the docs, “Levitated Mass,” and now we have another exclusive clip from a film playing in the narrative competition, “Winter in the Blood.” Directed by twin brothers Alex and Andrew Smith (“The Slaughter Rule“), the film is an adaptation of a 1974 James Welch novel, which tells the story of a young and troubled Blackfoot Indian in Montana, struggling with alcoholism and inner demons.
In this clip, our protagonist Virgil First Raise, played by Chaske Spencer, and his estranged wife Agnes (Julia Jones, both actors have paid their dues in the “Twilight” franchise), share an intimate moment marred by a sense of surreality, blending present time and memory within Virgil’s alcohol-wracked mind. To top it off, the clip is set to a Robert Plant cover of the song “Nothing Takes the Place of You,” a minor 1960s hit written by New Orleans musician Toussaint McCall. Plant recorded this cover exclusively for the film, and it captures the bluesy and bittersweet tone of this moment.
Here’s the official synopsis of the film and check out the clip below. “Winter in the Blood” premieres on Friday night, June 14th at 7:30 PM at Regal Cinemas 10.
A young, self-destructive Montana Blackfoot Indian, his mind groggy with alcohol and tormented by childhood memories, discovers that his wife has left him, taking with her his prize rifle. He sets out to find her, but what he’s really searching for is his own uncertain identity and a glimpse of salvation.
