October Country (Friday, October 29, 2010) (142)

More than a documentary film, per se, October Country is a visual artwork about the Mosher family in in the Mohawk Valley of New York. Co-directors Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher present us with a taste of real-life Americana: big, complicated families struggling to pay bills and stick together, helping one another, fighting and dealing with drinking, drugs and jail and watching the July 4th fireworks from the parking lot of their WalMart.

What we see is certainly a document, but it is so visually gorgeous that the narrative we're presented with, the lives of these honest working-class people, is almost less important than the overall stylistic feeling of the work. I once heard a film described as impressionistic in tone and style, and have to say that if there was ever a work that met that concept, this is it.

This is the story of the Mosher family through several generations. The grandmother Dottie and her husband Don lead the clan. She's a smart and good woman and the most stable person in the family. He is a hard Vietnam Vet who struggles with PTSD as much as he struggles to be a father and grandfather. He has good instincts about people, but can't deal with stuff on the ground.

Their daughter is Donna, a likable woman who constantly gets involved with destructive men. Donna has two kids we see onscreen, Doneal and Desi (I assume Donal is either Donna's son as well, though it is never said directly, I don't think). Doneal is now a mother herself and struggling with her own abusive baby-daddy. Finally, throw into the mix Chris, a local boy who Dottie and Don have tried adopting, but who can't stay out of trouble and Denise, Don's sister who is rather estranged and now practices Wicca. This is a fucked-up family, but probably a very normal family. Over the course of the year we see them, they act and react to things in very normal ways, but it's the texture of the film that really adds their story beauty.

There is an overwhelmingly melancholy tone here, but melancholy brought up to the artistic, expressive level of Hamlet. It is dripping with frankness and powerful sadness. I know this is an inconsiderate thing for me to sit here and just their lives as pitiful, but I can feel nothing other than this. I am not sure the Mosher's would disagree much, but they just wouldn't think about it much. What we see is that their lives don't involve much reflection or analysis; they know their positions, they push ahead and they deal with stuff as it comes up.

Ghosts are a powerful theme throughout this film. We are told that the Herkimer County, NY is considered one of the most-haunted parts of our country (by people who measure these things) and the Mosher family is clearly haunted by their past decisions and actions. We see the family celebrating Halloween and, of course, see aunt Denise practicing Wicca.

The cinematography, editing and beautiful music (by the two filmmakers as well as Danny Grody and Kenric Taylor) all capture this haunted and dark quality of the setting and the story as well. Much of the film is shot at night, with the jet black sky looming over everything. The interiors are illuminated with cheap bulbs and strings of holiday lights, giving everything a yellowish, muddy quality - but the camera's own pure white light makes everything jump out bright and crisp. It has the feeling of Kadachrome prints in that to colors are bright, but backgrounds are dull (of course there's a long history of Kodak in melancholy Upstate, New York).

Part of me feels like it could be a bit unfair and manipulative for Donal Mosher to present his family in this way. How are we to react to them other than feel deep pity and embarrassment for their situation? But of course, he's not really judging, he's just presenting us with their story and adding an aesthetic frame of reference, which could easily come out of his own experience. This is after all a film he wrote, so it is not ridiculous to think that this is his way of working through his own ghosts and feelings about the region and his family. That is exactly what art does, no?

Stars: 3.5 of 4