Time for an Avalanche – Prince Avalanche might be the biggest second chance movie of 2013.

In theaters Friday: The Lone Ranger, Despicable Me 2, The Way, Way Back [limited]

New on Blu-ray: 56Up, Inescapable

Prince Avalanche might be the biggest second chance movie of 2013. Winner of the recent Berlin Film Festival, the woodsy dramedy from David Gordon Green marks the 38-year-old filmmaker’s return to independent aesthetics after a questionable excursion into bigger budget comedies with patchwork results—Pineapple Express was good, Your Highness and The Sitter, eh, not at all really.

Green burst out of the gate in 2000 as a North Carolina-based, low-budget Terrence Malick for the Aughts with the gorgeous, meditative George Washington. Three years later, he cemented his status as a visionary young director with All The Real Girls, a stunningly orchestrated, Ashville-set drama that helped launch the careers of the critically-acclaimed Paul Schneider (Bright Star) and new “Jack Black” Danny McBride (Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Eastbound & Down). Girls also proved the chops of Zooey Deschanel, who until then had only one other meaty role to her credit in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous.

After Green’s darker, John Irving-esque Snow Angels arrived with little fanfare in 2007, perhaps he saw a dead end on the indie road and took his studio detour with pals McBride and James Franco in tow. But now, Green is back, and Prince Avalanche‘s two stars are in need of a revival just as much as their director, if not more.

Other than returning for the upcoming Anchorman sequel which should be a blast, Prince star Paul Rudd’s wheels have been spinning in the lame stream comedy mud of late, and his co-star, Emile Hirsch—who, coming off Lords of Dogtown, Alpha Dog and Into the Wild, was among the most promising young talents in Hollywood—has fallen completely off the map.

The film follows these two schlubs who desert the city for a summer gig repainting highway lines through an isolated stretch of countryside after a devastating wildfire. With Green’s renewed eye on patiently paced characterization, tree-hugging cinematography and his talented, underrated cast, Prince Avalanche could be a dark horse standout of this year at the movies. The film is in select theaters and on iTunes Aug. 9. Watch the trailer below: