Narrow the Road

Wade (Hollow Out the Dark) delivers a rewarding tale of a boy’s quest to find his father in 1932 East Texas. William Carter, 15, has it bad: his mother is dying, the family cotton crop is blighted, the farm is about to be foreclosed on, and his father, Thomas, has disappeared. With the help of his friend Ollie Leek, a mortician’s apprentice, William goes in search of his dad. On the way to the town where Thomas was last seen, they stop to take in Dr. Downtain’s Mount Zaphon Medicine Show. They rescue an escapee from the show, a young woman named Lena Forester, whose mother sold her to the doctor. The three travel on together, following a trail of clues to Thomas’s current whereabouts that takes them through wild territory known as the Thicket, where they come between feuding families and encounter legendary bank robber Clyde Barrow. All the while, they are pursued by Downtain, who wants Lena back, and Wade builds tension as the trio desperately try to locate William’s father before Downtain finds them. The adventures are reminiscent of Davis Grubb’s classic Southern gothic The Night of the Hunter, with its stark evocation of good versus evil. This odyssey of the West is tough to shake. Agent: Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (Aug.)