In the observational indie dramedy The Scout, Sofia (Mimi Davila) is a movie location scout, racing around NYC to find shooting locations for the pilot of a TV episodic series. That means that, all day, she meets new people, some of whom reveal discontent in their own personal lives. That also means that her frenetic work life doesn’t leave her the time or space to reflect on her own life.
Sofia’s job is to coax complete strangers into letting a film crew take over their home, she needs to build some level of trust with them. Many share the dissatisfaction with their own personal situations. The first is a woman who has successfully raised children who are living their own lives far away from her. The second is a guy bewildered by his recently becoming a stay-at-home dad; “My life is basically over,”
We are our choices. Everyone Sofia meets seems to be asking “how did life turn out this way?, a question Sofia finally poses to herself.
Sofia encounters a home owner who was once a close gal pal. It looks like she’s rediscovered a rewarding human connection, but a job fiasco intervenes. Exhausted, highly pressured and gritting her way an avalanche of indignities, Sofia finally takes a moment to take stock of her own life.
The Scout is the first feature from writer-director Paula González-Nasser, who drew upon her own six years as a location scout. González-Nasser proves herself a keen observer of human nature. The Scout is essentially a theme braided into a series of vignettes and , González-Nasser’s construction of the story and its pacing are excellent.
Sofia is trying to satisfy the whims of a movie crew that generates plenty of droll humor, especially for their outrageous disrespect of the people who are offering their homes (“that’s an ugly door“). We cringe as the all-white creative team, every one of whom is surely on the political left, lapses into the most clueless ethnic stereotyping. They’re as serious as if they’re making Hamnet, but the pilot itself is clearly formulaic crap. (The guy who owns the fish store is pretty funny, too.)
The Scout earned buzz at its Tribeca premiere. Having opened this past weekend in New York, The Scout in rolling out more widely in theaters, beginning with the DTLA Alamo Drafthouse on Friday.
