Despite our most fervent hopes, 2021 was the second strange year for both cinema and the world. Festivals were either online or continued a hybrid format (Slamdance just announced that due to omicron, they will be online only in January), and that communal feeling we have missed being in theaters together has only partially returned. All this to say it was a most unusual twelve months—again.

How has Tom Skerritt never been the star of a movie before? It took a while—way too long—but now at 87, Skerritt delivers a performance that belies a soulfulness and reservoir of talent that has only been briefly glimpsed in his numerous supporting roles over the years.

“East of the Mountains” opened Thursday as part of the (virtual) Seattle Film Festival, which is the precisely correct venue given