Finding religion in the South

Roaring through the South in a beat-up 1970 Chevy Impala, alt-country singer-songwriter Jim White gives a guided tour to some of the off-the-interstate locales and milieus that inspire his music in the decidedly strange, delightfully demented documentary, “Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus,” as the Los Angeles Film Festival enters its final weekend.

Joined by fellow musicians the Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower and David Johansen, who act as the film’s haunted Greek chorus, White goes on a journey through the back roads of Florida, Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky.

With a 300-pound statue of Jesus in the trunk of the Chevy, White sets off on his road trip, speaking into the camera as he explains the nature of his musical journey as “trying to find the gold tooth in God’s crooked smile.”

Though he considers himself an “imitation Southerner” -- he moved there when he was 5 -- White has a knack for conjuring archetypal characters in his songs who are trenchantly resonant of the South, but also stridently unique.

With religion being a powerful force in their lives, the natives interviewed in the film, whether at a prison or a truck stop, spin gothic micro-narratives describing the grip that the good-versus-evil paradigm has on them. As one convict discusses his struggle to toe the line, he attributes his current predicament to the fact that “bad’s more fun.”

But the film’s emphasis is on the music and its sources, and it mixes performances by professionals and local amateurs, lacing it with a soundtrack full of gospel, blues and White’s own dark musings. Director Andrew Douglas’ impressive visuals find great beauty and poetry in the bayous, bars and two-lane highways of the region. His background as a photographer is clear in his compositions and the ability to make rusted-out old gas guzzlers and dripping Spanish moss look like art.

In the festival’s closing film, “The Clearing,” indie icon and Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford stars as a wealthy businessman who has grown overly complacent in his work and his marriage. When he’s kidnapped by Willem Dafoe, the subsequent struggle and FBI investigation open up his life and his wife’s to painful dissection. Helen Mirren costars. Longtime producer Pieter Jan Brugge makes his directing debut.

Disappearing act

Director Christian Petzold’s taut thriller “Toter Mann (Something to Remind Me)” continues the German Blockbusters series at the Goethe-Institut. Andre Hennicke plays busy attorney Thomas, who falls for an attractive blond he encounters named Leyla (Nina Hoss). While Leyla first plays hard to get, the affair quickly turns torrid. Just as quickly, she vanishes, drawing Thomas into a web of intrigue. A stylized, sleekly shot film, “Toter Mann” benefits from strong, controlled performances from Hennicke and Hoss, and the tightly wound, archetypally structured plot provides the requisite twists and turns without being predictable.

A long, long ride

Director Ryan Harper’s “30 Miles,” which places two men -- one white, one black -- in highly charged, tight confines, is one of the highlights of the Hollywood Black Film Festival. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs -- Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington of “Welcome Back, Kotter” fame -- plays Anthony, a Hollywood agent on his way to Las Vegas. Playing good Samaritan, he stops to pick up a stranded motorist.

Ernie (Rusty Gray) is a drifter with a smart mouth, and initially the men’s trip through the desert is uneventful as they become comfortable with one another, revealing more and more about their lives. The class differences between the two are more pronounced than their racial difference.

Eventually, however, every element of their personalities comes into conflict, bringing each one’s anger to a boil. Harper and screenwriter Cliff Gober have created a tense drama, dependent on the strong performances of the two main actors, and Jacobs and Gray deliver, revealing the rawness of two men brought into battle by their shadowy pasts.*

Screenings

Los Angeles Film Festival

Selected screenings

* “Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus,” 5 p.m. today; 7:15 p.m. Friday. Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., L.A. (866) 345-6337, www.lafilmfest.com.

Closing night

* “The Clearing,” 7 p.m. Saturday. Wadsworth Theater, 11301 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

Goethe-Institut

Sixth Annual Blockbusters Series

* “Toter Mann (Something to Remind Me),” 7 p.m. Tuesday. Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100. (323) 525-3388.

Hollywood Black Film Festival

Selected screenings

* “Convictions,” 5 p.m. today. Harmony Gold Preview House, 7655 Sunset Blvd., L.A. (323) 655-TKTS, www.hbff.org.

* “30 Miles,” 9 p.m. Saturday. Harmony Gold Preview House.