“American Fable” (more precisely, “The American Parable”, the English American Fable ) is an American feature film- thriller , the directorial debut of Anne Hamilton. The film premiered in 2016 at South by Southwest , and the film was released in early 2017 .
| American fable | |
|---|---|
| American fable | |
| Genre | thriller |
| Producer | Anne Hamilton |
| Producer | Anne Hamilton , Kishori Rajan, Carrie Holt et al. |
| Author script | Anne Hamilton |
| In the main cast | Peyton kennedy Richard Schiff Kip Pardou |
| Operator | Wyatt Garfield |
| Composer | Ginger shankar |
| Film company | Prime mover pictures IFC Midnight (Distributor) |
| Duration | 96 min |
| A country |  USA |
| Tongue | English |
| Year | 2016 |
| IMDb | ID 4671002 |
Content
Story
The action takes place in 1982 during the reign of Ronald Reagan. In the rural outback of Wisconsin, a farmer Abe lives with his wife and two children, son Martin and daughter Gitti (short for Gertrude); they are expecting a third child. Although Abe always tells her daughter that they live in the best place in the world, the situation of farmers is deteriorating from year to year - many were forced to sell their farms and leave for debt, some of the neighbors committed suicide.
Once, while walking around the neighborhood, Gitti discovers an elderly man in a silo , to which his father forbids her to approach. He says that his name is Jonathan and he is locked in a tower, but asks not to tell his father about him. Meanwhile, Abe falls down the stairs and gets injured, she is forced to be at home in bed. Gitti later hears on TV an announcement about the disappearance of a developer who bought farm land on their staff. A friend of Abe Vera also appears, who tells Abe's wife and son about their secret plan: Gitty, who overhears their conversation, realizes that Jonathan is being held hostage for now. Gitti often visits Jonathan and gets close to him: he tells her stories, she brings him books and plays chess with him.
Gradually Abu gets better; Gitti believes this was thanks to Jonathan, whom she had requested. Jonathan himself, however, is getting worse, Gitti notices traces of beatings and realizes that he was beaten by Martin. Jonathan asks Gitti to call the police. At home, Gitti finds a severed finger in the refrigerator and later realizes that it is Jonathan's finger. Martin does not allow her to call the police and forbids her to go to Jonathan under the threat that he will tell his father about it. During a general dinner in the presence of father, mother, Vera and Martin, Gitti talks about his meeting with Jonathan, saying that it was because of him that Abe got better. Vera and Abe discuss that since Jonathan now knows their name, they have "only one way out." Fights begin at Sarah and Abe takes her to the hospital, where they have a daughter.
At night, when Gitti manages to call the police, Martin rushes after her with a gun and wants to shoot her while she climbs the tower. Then Martin kills the policewoman Ethel, who has come to the rescue. Gitti runs away from him into the abandoned house of one of the farmers, and when he leaves and Martin catches up with her, he stumbles and falls into an empty well. Abe, returning from the hospital, arrives at the silo. Jonathan by that time manages to get out of the tower, breaking the door brought ax Gitti. Abe points his gun at Jonathan, but the run-in Gitti keeps him from shooting, and Jonathan runs away.
In the epilogue, Gitti is shown, to which Jonathan arrives at the farm in a car. On the radio, the news reports that the situation has changed, and now many farmers will soon return back to their homes.
Cast
- Peyton Kennedy - Gitti
- Richard Schiff - Jonathan
- Kip Pardou - Abe
- Marcia Miller - Sarah
- Gavin Mackintosh - Martin
- Zuleika Robinson - Vera
- Charlie Bubbo - Michael
- Spencer Moss - Heidi
- Rusty Schwimmer - Ethel
- Teresa Tilly - Anna Winters
Criticism
A Hollywood Reporter reviewer noted that the film feels the influence of Terrence Malik , on the set of one of whose films (The Tree of Life ), Hamilton worked; in general, however, the constant switching between reality and fiction of the Gitti seemed to the reviewer rather disappointing [1] . Noting the logical development of the plot, the Variety reviewer compares the film with “ The Faun Labyrinth ” and concludes that Hamilton, nevertheless, managed to create an attractive aura of miracle and horror, with which the Ginger Shankar soundtrack goes well [2] . Sheila O'Mellay, who wrote a review of the film for the site of Roger Ebert , noted that it’s hard to believe that the film is a debut, it’s so masterfully built in the “surreal and magical atmosphere of a melodramatic family thriller.” She also considered Peyton Kennedy a “revelation” of this film, calling her playing the part “adult,” and Hamilton's overall debut was “extremely impressive.” [3]
At Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 71% approval based on 14 reviews, with an average score of 7.1 / 10 [4] .
Notes
- ↑ 'American Fable' Review | Hollywood reporter
- ↑ 'American Fable' Review: Anne Hamilton's Dreamy Fantasy - Variety
- ↑ American Fable Movie Review & Film Summary (2017) | Roger ebert
- ↑ American Fable (2017) . Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Date of treatment March 5, 2018.