Two attractive twentysomethings meet for the first time in a Manhattan restaurant and engage in obligatory small talk.  What was intended to be a meeting between indie film director and potential star soon promises to be the beginning of a long and complex relationship that won’t end how either had planned.

So begins director Brian Ackley’s micro-budget bittersweet romance debut “Uptown,” shot guerrilla style with a skeleton crew in only nine days in various locations around New York City and New Jersey.  The premise is familiar.  Star-crossed romances makeup a large contingent of independent film.  They’re cheap to shoot and just about everyone can relate to falling head over heels for that forbidden fruit.  A new kind of hyper-realism, typified by the growing mumblecore movement, is also flooding the low-budget film world.

“Uptown” is neither a mumblecore film nor a stock doomed-romance picture, though it does exhibit properties of both.  It is shot on location, natural light is the dominant mode of lighting, a sizable portion of the dialogue is improvised and Hollywood clichés are deliberately spurned in the pursuit of honesty.  The result is an original piece of work that portends an uncommon maturity in the filmmaker.

First time directors are often overeager to showoff their skills and tend to pack every stylization, trick shot or effect in their repertoire into their first film.  Ackley wisely allows the story to unfold organically, giving his characters time to sit with their emotions and develop firm attachments.  This slow build of ordinary human interaction gives the narrative real stakes and adds weight to the inevitable conflict.  It is remarkable that such a hurried shoot can produce such a contemplative, quiet film.

Where “Uptown” betrays its low-budget status is in its production values, particularly in its cinematography and sound design.  Filmed on MiniDV, “Uptown” reflects that medium’s tendency to perform poorly in low light.  Exterior scenes filmed at night suffer the most.  The sound is also noticeably irregular.  Dialogue is loud and clear and easy to understand, but doesn’t always sound like it was recorded simultaneously with the video.  And ambient noise is sometimes disproportionately loud compared to the actors’ voices.  But technical flaws, mostly thanks to budget restraints, can be forgiven as long as a human core is powerful enough to shine through.

Luckily, “Uptown” has that core and delivers an intelligent, unique and honest narrative about desire, maturity, monogamy and the most elusive commodity known to man — true love.

To learn more about “Uptown” visit the official website.