You might not be uplifted by October Country but you will be moved. Dragging my movie pal A.G. (who wanted to see a romantic comedy), we squeezed into IFC’s 35 seat theater #5 to see the film. A.G.’s eyes remained wide open along with mine as October Country unspooled its vivid, small-town portrait of the poverty and abuse haunted Mosher family. “Cycles, it’s all about cycles,” states a matter-of-fact Dottie, the lovable, big-hearted Mosher matriarch as she flicks the ashes off her discount cigarette. Let’s face it, poor old Dot has every reason to be cynical: Her once upbeat husband returned from Vietnam with a broken spirit, her daughter married a child molester, her granddaughter took up with an abuser and gave birth to a child she couldn’t afford and didn’t seem to want. And Chris, the foster son Dot hangs her hopes on, thieves from the family and lands himself behind bars. Only Desi, Dot’s spunky granddaughter takes in the wreckage with a child’s clarity and a hope for the future. “Compared to me, everyone is dumb as rocks,” she quips. Another Dot in the making? Let’s hope she has more to celebrate when she gets to be her grandmother’s age.

Donal and Palmieri’s lens takes in the Mosher family spectacle with a subtlety and love for detail that illuminates the characters and emotion. A sink full of dirty dishes and a dripping faucet, discarded clothes on the bathroom floor, endless burning cigarettes and flocks of crows wheeling overhead render texture and depth. October Country is a resonating film about the importance of family that leaves you thinking long after the credits roll.

– SC

Footnotes –
I saw this film in the smallest theater I have ever been in and liked it more than most of the movies that are now playing in the large theaters across town. October Country took the grand prize at the 2009 Silverdocs Film Festival and is worthy of more interest and a bigger screen.