WRITER/DIRECTOR JESSE WATSON'S FILM TO SCREEN AT STIFF >>>

We all have multiple identities. Sometimes, Tacoma's Rick Walters makes films. He produces, acts, and has even written and directed his own short, 2011's Scamp. At other times he wears the title Dad for his son Race (the two performed together in Scamp).

But on this particular day Walters plays yet another role - Operations Sergeant at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Dressed in full ACU (army combat uniform), he drives me across the vast post (where he works full-time) toward the French Theater, for a privileged screening of his latest producing effort. I'm no solider, but I get to be an audience of one this afternoon.

I have about 600 seats to choose from within the movie house. I plop down in one as the lights dim, looking forward to seeing A Man, Buried, which I've heard about online for more than a year. The film brings back to the screen a few local faces I recognize: Darlene Sellers (Fantastic Confabulations) and Tony Doupe (who I met just weeks ago on another Andrew Finnigan production, Koinonia).

As it turns out, Buried lives up to its original premise, that of a crabby drunk who unearths a better version of himself from his backyard. Kyle (Doupe) passes his days by guzzling beer after beer on the porch and staring at a broken-down truck as immobile as he. He's clearly dug himself into a deep, muddy crater of alcoholism. Helpless to help, his wife Pam (Sellers) and kids manage to tolerate the pitiful patriarch, but barely. When forced to bury the family cat, Ryan (played by Doupe's real-life boy Dawson) finds another father waiting for him underground.

Folks, get ready for Kyle 2.0. This new and improved model plays with the kids! He showers the wife with compliments! And, best of all, he makes breakfast for everyone without complaining! Now, what to do about ol' 1.0. ...

The story's Kafkaesque quality makes sense given its director Jesse Watson's background as a writer of short fiction. Like The Metamorphosis, the fantastic finds no easy explanation for its appearance. Nor do the characters in a work like Buried require one; they simply accept this magical phenomenon, which viewers may find liberating or frustrating. It took me awhile to understand "bad" Kyle's lack of response to his superior copy as both an aspect of magic realism, and a statement about the level to which addiction has deadened Kyle's emotions and motivation.

Watson found a good deal of autobiography to inject into an otherwise absurd tale. "I was in active addiction at the time I came up with the idea for the story, and was in complete denial about it," he recalls. "There's a lot of irony for me personally in the story, because I wrote it about myself in a lot of ways without knowing I was writing about myself."

Watson-as-writer unconsciously reflecting on Watson-as-addict - one most sharply feels this tension between two sides of the same person during the scene in Buried where Kyle and Kyle raise the stakes for dominance over a chess game. (Ironically, Doupe acts out a very similar match with his mirrored self in Koinonia.) But unlike moving pieces across a board toward the winner's square, wrestling dependency within yourself never has a clear ending.

"Addiction is not something you win," Watson reminds me. "At the very best, it's something that you can bury. And when you bury it, you pretty much bury it in your backyard. And you're going to look at it every day, and remember that there it is: That's the other me that's right there, just waiting to come out someday."

It appears Watson's "other me" triumphed for a time. During production he left for rehab, and left an unfinished film for director of photography Chris Taylor. But before Buried could descend into the grave, Taylor called on Walters to assist as producer. Together they fleshed out the script, shot the remaining footage, and completed post-production on a project that began over two years ago.

Watson appreciates these committed filmmakers for resurrecting his vision, expressing "immense gratitude to everyone who put their effort into it, especially Chris Taylor." An entertaining modern-day allegory that skillfully blends the comic and dark sides of life, A Man, Buried plays on May 6 at Seattle's Grand Illusion Cinema. (Purchase tickets at http://qwertythemovie-eorg.eventbrite.com/)

Walters has plans to make this fine film even better, with your help. For donating funds to improve Buried's sound design, visit the film's Kickstarter webpage: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scamp/diggin-deep-to-help-find-a-man-buried.