Painted Horses (2017)

***Indie flick starts shaky with contrived teen attitudes, but improves and is moving***

A single woman (Madelyn Deutch) moves in with her aunt in Paris, Tennessee, to teach history at the local school where her students are so problematic she’s tempted to quit. The class is forced to meet at a KOA office due to flooding problems at the school wherein Ms. Hoog decides to send the kids on treasure hunts to learn about local history. But this stirs the ire of the biddies on the school board. Linc Hand is on hand as her potential beau.

“Painted Horses” (2017) is one of those super low-budget movies by indie filmmakers who want to take advantage of their beloved local region, like “The Legend of Tillamook's Gold” (2006) and “Falcon Song” (2014). The production quality...