‘Blow The Man Down’: Morgan Saylor & Sophie Lowe Set The Stage For Two Clever Filmmakers You Must Now Keep An Eye On [Tribeca Review]

The region of New England, Maine might just be the inverted Florida of the North. While Florida is the obvious hot, sweaty mess we want to ditch into the sea, Maine’s quirks are much more subtle, ambiguous and even deceptive. Secrets, history, baggage, people that keep their cards close to the chest, all of these inscrutable dynamics cleverly come into play with murder, grief, and crime in the inventive and original “Blow The Man Down.”

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Aiming for the off-kilter black comedy of “Fargo,” writer/director team Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy craft a film that’s as initially as cold as the area their characters inhabit. There’s a blasé approach to violence and an insistence on taking a detached stance on the humdrum lifestyle of the folks in this very Maine New England town. But just when you think you have the film pegged as a crafty Coens disciple—and admittedly those flourishes are present—the movie twists and turns to say things about unturning a blind eye, small town dynamics, family and something warmer about the legacy of wise women who have seen much more than you know.

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Sometimes the cold, icy detachment is a bit distancing, but there’s no denying the talent behind the camera and the beautiful compositions they compose. The winner of Tribeca’s award for Best Screenplay (well-deserved), it’s an easy film to underestimate if you’re not paying attention, but Cole and Krudy craft a lot of subtle details into their crisp cinematography and resourceful screenplay. Other strengths are the eccentric performances by Morgan Saylor (“White Girl“)and Sophie Lowe (“Beautiful Kate“) and the terrific, underlying themes of feminist fury that keeps a tidy watch over such a small town.

The Connolly sisters, Priscilla (Lowe) and Mary Beth (Saylor) are grappling with the death of their mother, when the latter younger sibling is forced into a panicked act of self-defense one night which leads the two to cover up a crime scene. Their desperation accidentally kicks over one of many sharp rocks and leads them to learn about the hidden underbelly of their coastal home town and their mother’s involvement in setting it all up. Margo Martindale’s Enid— the owner of the local brothel—circles them and their participation in the crime, but she too must watch her back as the towns self-appointed matriarchal guard dogs try and put an end to her more illicit business ties. Juggling dark, situational comedy with genuine thrills is awkward, but “Blow the Man Down” manages to walk that tone well. It’s a film that thrives best when engrossed in particular moments of absurdity rather than any of the character’s relationships.

To the film’s minor detriment, there are perhaps one too many characters that we don’t learn enough about to care about. While Lowe’s Priscilla and Saylor’s Mary Beth are engaging primarily due to the offbeat energy and great performances, both bring to their characters and the “us vs. the world” mentality they take on as sisters facing down grief and possible imprisonment. Their co-stars, including June Squibb and Annette O’Toole, arguably aren’t served as well (but it’s also not their story). Martindale demonstrates her usual level of effortless charisma, but Enid is too separated from the world of Mary Beth and Priscilla to be anything more than a larger than life antagonist. Similarly, Gayle Rankin’s Alexis in her own film would be interesting but here is introduced too late and most of her emotional beats come from a character we never met or see interact with her. In the end, it’s the sister’s story and their commitment, then echoed by the women of the town, to keeping one another safe that makes for this mad-cap journey to be as entertaining as it is.

Cole and Krudy shoot with a refined sense of delirium where every scene has our characters on the edge of a nervous breakdown; the atmosphere of the film adds significantly to its overall quality. There’s also a terrific series of sea shanty interludes acting as a fabulous Greek chorus. With purposefully naïve leading ladies who might be the type to leave evidence at crime scenes and characters across the board whose intentions are questionable at best, the sly, arch mood of the film alleviates anyone who might feel too suspiciously inept. Grizzly violence is given levity by dark humor and abrupt cuts to next scenes while the film’s acerbic wit refuses ever to underplay the dire situation they’ve found themselves in.

It’s the work of Cole, Krudy and cinematographer Todd Banhazl that brings an eeriness to the film, with its beautiful settings shot on location in Maine, a chilliness injected into every frame that anyone born and raised in the state (this writer included) could quickly identify with. Where the film may lose some of its momentum in its plot divergences and unsteady character building it more than makes off for with its technical excellence and work by the directors that promise a delightful, singularly strange and wicked career ahead. [B+]

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