A disillusioned medical student is stranded for a summer in a remote community of counterculture pot farmers, the last place in the world he imagined he would discover himself.A disillusioned medical student is stranded for a summer in a remote community of counterculture pot farmers, the last place in the world he imagined he would discover himself.A disillusioned medical student is stranded for a summer in a remote community of counterculture pot farmers, the last place in the world he imagined he would discover himself.
- Earl
- (as Geoffrey 'Lizard' Robinson)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
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Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
[first lines]
Bogart: [in doctor's office] When I came home from the clinic everyone was asleep. Normally they'd hear my truck. We live in the middle of nowhere, so... I parked it about a half a mile down the road and I walked home, but my boyfriend heard. He hears everything. When he came in to see what was wrong, I just tried to pretend to be asleep. But I couldn't hold it in, and I started to cry.
Peter: Go on...
Bogart: Sorry. I was balling my eyes out, and uh, he held me. And I wished... I wished I hadn't done it. I wished... it was still inside me and still alive.
Peter: Um hmm...
Bogart: I've have four of them now. I don't know why when I make love I can't feel anything. Sometimes I think, well, I can't really see any reason to keep trying. They keep going.
Bogart: Aren't you supposed to say something. I just you I'm thinking about killing myself, I have no reason to live.
Peter: [scribbling on his clipboard] Um, yeah. Yeah. I think a prescription of, uh, Paxil might be the, uh, the right prescription. Okay.
Man: [out of frame] Anything else, Peter?
Peter: [reading his clipboard] Um, "can't feel anything... reason to kill..."
Man: Paxil. Really?
- SoundtracksI Want You To Be My Baby
Performed by Fairuza Balk
Composed by Jon Hendricks (ASCAP)
Published by Hendricks Music, Inc. (ASCAP) c/o Music Sales Corporation (ASCAP)
Produced by Paul Bessenbacher & Matthew Bowen
To briefly summarize the plot: a repressed, emotionally muted young man- with the people skills of a lawnmower- fails one of his med school finals (BTW his father is the examiner-Ouch!) and is suddenly adrift in his life for what is apparently the first time ever. He has an unlikely hookup with an attractive, free spirit named Bogart (Fairuza Balk) and accompanies her to her home in the title county up in the far north of California. Bogart then disappears and Peter, completely stranded, is slowly but surely absorbed by her eccentric, stoner family and their equally baked friends and neighbors. Exposed to their initially alien values, lifestyle, and worldview- and away from his overbearing father- Peter finds the freedom and safety to actually start being himself. However, the dark side of the drug world (in the form of violent thieves and the DEA) is never far away and it threatens to destroy Peter's refuge...
Even though there is a lot of pot smoked by nearly all of the characters, this is not really a stoner movie. Much of the humor is low-key but there are some absolutely hilarious moments along the way.The film's view of marijuana is actually rather realistic, it's pleasurable effects are shown but so are the downsides- particularly with regard to the violence and legal problems that accompany cultivation. Additionally, it is made clear that being born into the rustic stoner life, for all of it's freedoms, can be as much of a prison as the middle-class existence that was suffocating Peter at the film's beginning.
"Humboldt County" is really all about how somebody discovers the things that are truly going to touch their heart and give their life meaning. The various characters represent the different paths that people choose in order to find a sense of connection to others and a purpose to their existence. The characters are very human, and all the more lovable for that.The ensemble cast are excellent and their interactions with other seem touchingly real. However special mention should go to Brad Dourif as the stoner clan's patriarch.
The film preaches the values of simplicity, humility, how materialism is meaningless, the importance of caring for others, and recognizing how small individuals are in the bigger scheme of things. It is also very honest about the reality that, for adults, there are fewer and fewer easy answers to any of life's questions. An added bonus is the setting, Humboldt county looks absolutely gorgeous and is filmed with deep love. In conclusion, this is a funny, serenely paced slice of cinema that has a big, beautiful heart.
- cpbadgeman
- Apr 12, 2009
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Округ Гумбольдта
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $82,357
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $25,933
- Sep 28, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $82,357
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix