Outcast tale. R. 1 hour, 45 minutes. At the Mayan.
As much as they like the untold tale, indie filmmakers also like to try their hands at genre — be it Western, sci-fi feature or gangster flick.
With “Terri,” director Azazel Jacobs takes a nicely askew whack at the high-school misfit comedy — though “comedy” is too chipper a word for this quietly amusing, but also a bit bruising tale, in which a sensitive teen is befriended by his school’s vice principal.
Indie mainstay John C. Reilly portrays the quasi- mentor, Mr. Fitzgerald, with typical and eccentric vigor. But it is newcomer Jacob Wysocki, in his big-screen debut, who carries the weight of “Terri,” literally as well as figuratively.
As the plus-size teen who shows up at school wearing pajamas, Wysocki surprises and rebuffs assumptions. He embodies curiosity, confusion and subtle courage.
Nicely realized by Jacobs and co-writer/novelist Patrick DeWitt, this character isn’t a victim, even though he is taunted at times. Nor is he mentally disturbed, which his PJ uniform might suggest.
Teenage Terri is both the ward of and the caretaker of his Uncle James (Creed Bratton), who has bouts of confusion and lucidity.
They live in a Southern California locale that combines town and country. Beguiling shots of Terri tromping through scrub on the way to school give the film the flavor of a deeper fable.
At their first meeting, Mr. Fitzgerald tells Terri, “There are two types of people: the good-hearted and bad-hearted.”
“Which am I?” Terri asks, his guilelessness pretty much providing the answer.
When he comes to the rescue of Heather (Olivia Crocicchia), Terri turns out to be chivalrous as well. His leggy classmate’s popularity plummeted when she acted carnally with another student in a home- ec class. (Home-ick is more like it).
But then, bodies are a theme throughout the movie. A jerk of a classmate calls Terri “Double D.” Heather’s pleasing physique is curse as much as bounty, the script suggests. Then there’s Chad (Bridger Zadina), a cocky-insecure whelp who tugs out his hair. He completes a complicated, achy triangle with Terri and Heather.
This is one of the questions “Terri” poses: What goes into the manufacturing of the “monsters” at a high school?
Mr. Fitzgerald has his own ideas. But the movie also makes a fine argument that outcasts don’t necessarily want to be citizens in a community of the ostracized. Individuals don’t much appreciate being castaways on the Island of Misfit Toys.
In his 2008 critically hailed — though under the radar — drama “Momma’s Man,” Jacobs proved himself nimble in cramped quarters. That very personal feature starred his parents, Ken Jacobs (the experimental filmmaker) and Flo Jacobs, and was shot in their crammed New York apartment.
In “Terri,” Jacobs and talented cinematographer Tobias Datum once again do a deft job conveying the texture of a home, this time the unkempt, jammed warren Terri shares with his Uncle James.
Beautifully composed, “Terri” isn’t a fleet outing. And there are a couple of too-broad depictions intended for laughs but not quite worthy of such a nuanced work. But it has heft — and we mean that in the richest of ways.
