DVD review: 'Low & Clear'

On its lovely, rugged surface, the dramatic documentary “Low & Clear” seems like a roustabout buddy movie with fly fishing at its center. But in the tradition of the greatest of all fly-fishing movies, “A River Runs Through It,” this documentary is beneath its surface about so much more.

Like all good sports stories, it pays masculine homage to the rough ritual of play that so often exposes with compelling urgency those strengths and failings that make us fully human. And like all fine literature it carries the weight of myth rooted in everyday things – like friendship, rivalry and a shared journey.

The movie tells the tale of two lifelong but estranged buddies – J.T. Van Zandt and Alex “Xenie” Hall – as they reunite for a trip to the roiling rivers of British Columbia to catch fish and rekindle their friendship.

Two more unlikely fishing partners would be hard to imagine. Van Zandt (musician, boat builder and eldest son of the late Texas music legend Townes Van Zandt) is the prototypical Zen angler – more attuned to the peaceful pace of nature, the soothing rhythms of the cast, the organic luring of his prey, than to the carnivorous taking of fish. “Xenie” Hall (itinerate firewood salesman) is the very model of the gonzo wild man – lustfully counting his catch, restless and impatient with quietude, always dashing off to pursue bigger and bigger fish.

The two men’s angling styles aptly reflect their lives – one contemplative, patient and philosophical; the other brash, jittery and impulsive. “The biggest mistake made about fishing is that it is about catching fish,” Van Zandt says cryptically. Hall just plunges headlong into the river, never questioning why he does what he does.