Friday, April 3, 2020

Blow the Man Down (2019)

This excellent thriller about sisters in a Maine fishing village and the matriarchs who really run the place has brief flashes of humor. Be forewarned--there's a gruesome murder in the first act.

Sophie Lowe and Morgan Saylor play the Connollys and the "old ladies" are June Squibb, Marceline Hugot, Annette O'Toole, and Margo Martindale. Gayle Rankin has a fine part as a hooker.

The movie was directed and written by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy and their script was nominated for the Best First Screenplay Spirit Award, among others. Yes, there are flashes of humor, but this is another movie that someone shouldn't have put on a list of comedies. Although we might not have seen it if it hadn't been on one of those lists.

Cinematographer Todd Benhazi provides the beautiful shots of Massachusetts standing in for north coastal Maine.

The most striking part of the soundtrack is the male quartet, led by David Coffin in his film debut, singing the title track and other songs but I can't find any online links to the soundtrack other than this list. Jordan Dykstra and Brian McOmber are credited as composers.

Saylor was last blogged for McFarland, USA, Squibb for Other People, and Martindale for Wilson. Hugot and O'Toole have been in lots of things and fans of the Netflix series GLOW will recognize Rankin as Sheila the She-Wolf.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics give it a near perfect score, averaging 99% and its audiences are a little cooler at 78. We streamed it on Amazon Prime Video on March 26, 2020.

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