Bell Diamond

Cathy Dolan wants to leave her husband Jeff. She asks advice the of her girlfriend Haley, packs her bags and tells Jeff she's leaving him because she wants a baby. Jeff says there's nothing he can do about it, helps carry her things and then gets drunk. Cathy asks for advice from another girlfriend, Laura, who helpfully remarks that she'll know best herself. Then Cathy disappears for a few months from the scene. But one day she calls Jeff again and asks whether he will pick her up from the bus station. He stands excitedly at the stop but when he sees Cathy, he is shocked and worried: she is very pregnant. Cathy however looks happy and determined. Jeff's expression becomes darker, but then he too smiles and seems to be looking forward to it...For Bell Diamond, Jon Jost made impressive use of the location, the decaying industrial town Butte in Montana, and of the amateur actors who more or less play themselves. As in much of his work, this story about little people in small-town America is a vehicle for biting social criticism.