Red, White & Blue (18)

Starring: Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller

American Psychos, Part 3. British independent filmmaker Simon Rumley pieces together a story of strangers meeting, first amorously, then calamitously.

Central to it is Amanda Fuller as Erica, a nymphomaniac in white boots who can barely support herself but keeps the promiscuous males of Austin, Texas, fairly busy. Only fellow boarding-house resident Nate (Noah Taylor) treats her as a friend, though his past as a US Army interrogator in Iraq spells trouble down the line. Franki (Marc Senter), a wannabe rockstar who looks after his ailing mother, will make a tragic discovery that connects him to a one-night stand with Erica some time back. Rumley's acute observation of these marginal lives seems to position the film as an eccentric romance, until an out-of-nowhere revelation tips it, kicking and screaming, into psychotic darkness. The three leads are superb, Fuller in particular conveying a spiritual damage that has no outlet other than casual sex.