Backgammon

Vail-based filmmaker Francisco Orvañanos borrows elements from a psychological thriller to present a classic mystery that opens with three college kids—Lucian, his girlfriend Elizabeth, and their friend Andrew—going to spend a weekend at a country mansion. They're greeted by Miranda, Andrew's older sister, who's accompanied by Gerald, the weirdly annoying, Baudelaire-obsessed boyfriend she tries in vain to control. Overwhelmed by Gerald's antics and his naked paintings of Miranda, Andrew and Elizabeth split. But Lucian stays. He doesn't like being cowed—and it doesn't hurt that there's a simmering sexual tension between him and the flighty, flirtatious Miranda. When Gerald, having goaded Andrew into an alcohol-fueled poker marathon, explodes after losing everything, Miranda finally gives him the boot. Or so she and young Lucian hope. But as they begin to dance around each other, their surroundings show threatening signs that Gerald may never have left. (Denver International Film Festival)