‘Off the Map’ finds its way into theaters

“The Upside of Anger” isn’t the only Joan Allen movie opening Friday. Also hitting theaters is the small, independent drama “Off the Map,” which has been playing the festival circuit since its premiere two years ago at Sundance.

Directed by Campbell Scott, from Joan Ackerman’s adaptation of her play of the same name, “Off the Map” finds Allen playing a free-spirited wife and mother living outside Taos, N.M., in 1974. Allen’s earth mother Arlene -- she sometimes tends to the vegetables au natural -- is trying to keep her family together during the hot, dusty summer months: Her husband, Charley (Sam Elliott), is losing his months-long battle with depression and her precocious 11-year-old daughter Bo (Valentina de Angelis) longs to escape the desolate environment.

Bo spends most of her time in the wilderness daydreaming and using her bow and arrow to kill animals for their dinner. Arlene and Bo frequently visit the local dump, where they find furniture and other used items they renovate.

Entering their cocooned midst one day is William Gibbs (Jim True-Fost), a young, novice IRS agent who is sent to their modest home to audit their taxes. But Gibbs finds himself drawn to the allure of the sparse New Mexico countryside and ends up staying with the family.

Amy Brenneman plays the adult Bo who narrates the lyrical story of her childhood.

The son of the late George C. Scott and Colleen Dew- hurst, Campbell Scott made his behind-the-camera feature debut nine years ago by sharing directing credit with good friend Stanley Tucci on the acclaimed indie-comedy “Big Night.” The duo were nominated for several awards and won the Boston Society of Film Critics’ best new filmmaker honor.

Scott, 43, though, has never abandoned the acting side of his career. In fact, he has developed into one of independent cinema’s busiest leading men, starring in such provocative films as 2002’s “The Secret Lives of Dentists” and “Roger Dodger,” for which he received a best actor award from the National Board of Review. Scott recently completed several films, including roles in “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” “Duma,” “Loverboy” and “The Dying Gaul.”