Finding North

At first, Rhonda (Wendy Makkena), the bouncy, gum-chewing Brooklyn woman who still lives with her parents, and forlorn Travis (John Benjamin Hickey), who is mourning the death of his lover by contemplating suicide, seem an impossibly odd couple. But when Rhonda, thinking Travis is straight and lonely, follows him onto a plane bound for Texas, the two strangers slowly develop a friendship that is honest, equal, and refreshingly sex-free.

Makkena and Hickey have an energetic on-screen chemistry that, with the help of first-time director Tanya Wexler, lets them skirt the already overdone straight-gal/gay-guy issues and set out on a universally familiar journey of self-discovery and companionship. Their mission -- to complete a scavenger hunt based on audiotaped clues left behind by Travis's AIDS-stricken lover, Bobby -- opens the door to a natural, subtle comedy that softens their struggle with loneliness, dependency, and loss. Ultimately, their relationship is more of a comfort than the dreary statement on death, homosexuality, or AIDS it easily could have been. By the end of the film even Bobby, who is only a voice from a tape recorder, feels like an old friend.

-- Jumana Farouky