Read @ Joe’s

SLAMDANCE ’26: Breakout Feature

Title: Clovers (2026) Director: Jacob Hatley // Tom Vickers Writer: Jacob Hatley // Tom Vickers Studio: Pioneers of the New West IMDb Plot: Denizens of a North Carolina strip mall casino endure two tumultuous years. Joe Says: Clovers is a beautifully photographed portrait of decline, although exacerbated antics overtake the compassion, and, detrimentally, the overall documentary.

Beautifully shot and intimately framed, Clovers tracks three residents of Asheboro, North Carolina, once dubbed the “fastest dying city in America.” Filmed over three years, directors Jacob Hatley and Tom Vickers center their story around a quasi-legal strip mall casino and the orbiting lives of Jennifer Paschal, JD Cranford, and Sharon McNeill. Each is given space to unravel on camera, sometimes sympathetically, sometimes spectacularly. As the story progresses, though, exacerbated antics overtakes the compassion, which is more detrimental than entertaining to the overall documentary.

Jennifer Paschal, a former corrections officer turned video fish games proprietor, clings to optimism like it is a business plan while placing her dreams in long term storage. JD Cranford, a larger-than-life societal outcast, is determined to experience life unfiltered and preferably without prescribed medication. Sharon McNeill gambles and bar hops with serene conviction, steadfast in her worldview and uninterested in revisions. Together they are compelling in spurts, confounding in longer stretches, especially when the photogenic Jennifer fades away into the tattooed ink of JD.

Hatley and Vickers masterfully cut between the trio, but the documentary often mistakes duration for depth. The excruciating election night 2016 sequence drags on long past its point, as observation quickly diminishes into disbelief. Once the conversational line between elevating the 45th president as a fine and distinguished businessman converges with the proclamation over the “benefits” of meth has been crossed, the tragical becomes farcical and Clovers loses all its steam.

Clovers succeeds as a beautifully photographed portrait of decline and emotional stagnation, JD’s vision quest notwithstanding. Yet a tighter cut could have turned resignation into revelation.

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This review – and much more – is available as part of Cinefied’s Slamdance 2026 coverage

Be sure to catch Clovers – and many other indie projects – over at Slamdance