By all rights, Steel City shouldn't be as good as it is. The story of 20-year-old P.J. struggling to piece together a life while his dead-beat dad serves time for manslaughter and his mom cobbles together a new family is the depressing stuff of which Sundance 2006 is made. But first-time director/writer Brian Jun makes sad-and-slow work, partly because he never condescends to his working-class Midwestern characters nor resorts to such novice tics as an intrusive soundtrack. His cast doesn't hurt, either. American indie film actors tend to fall into three categories: 1. The up-and-coming 2. The overlooked 3. The dregs. Jun sidesteps Category 3 like a pro, providing character actors Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) and John Heard (The Chumscrubber, The Sopranos) with material they can sink their well-seasoned chops into. And relative newbies Tom Guiry (P.J.) and Clayne Crawford shine in serious turns as brothers bouncing off each other and their legacy of neglect. It's in those explorations of male relationships that Steel City shines brightest; scene after scene comprised solely of grunts and nods and, yes, fisticuffs lead us back to how little wiggle room restrictive codes of behavior allow men who're wrestling big emotions. Some shoddy editing, as well as its possibly unmarketable subject matter, may keep this film under the radar, but let the record show that it won't be deservedly so.