The city was called Easter Cove. A small town where every citizen knows each other, and (of course) talks to each other in the back. The city is cold too. As if the sun never shines completely to melt a pile of snow. Also the city is thick with masculinity, even when we first set foot there, we are immediately greeted by a row of bearded fishermen who sing loudly like fearless sailors.
But that is only outer skin, because in their debut, the duo director and screenwriter Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy made this “very male” city the stage for the story of women who were united (even in their camps) in order to “handle the situation”. What kind of situation? Well, this is a little complicated.
Meet the two sisters Connolly, Mary Beth (Morgan Saylor) and Priscilla (Sophie Lowe). The nature of the two is opposite. If the older sister, Priscilla, is like a typical simple good girl, then Mary Beth is more fiery, egocentric, and likes to spend the night at the bar. Saylor and Lowe were able to build strong dynamics based on these contrasting characterizations, arguing with each other as usual brothers and sisters. In the afternoon, both of them had just buried the mother, but who would have thought, at night, they had to bury someone else. A man named Gorski (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) whom Mary Beth meets at the bar. Best Movie Site
The word “buried” is actually not quite right. Intending to get drunk as an “opening” before continuing to have sex, Mary Beth was surprised to find fresh blood in the trunk of Gorski’s car. Having been involved in a chase, Mary Beth ended up stabbing Gorski with a harpoon and then hit his head with a brick. In a situation that represents the element of the film’s black comedy, Mary Beth and Priscilla tried to remove the body, including by cutting Gorski’s hand, putting it in the cooler, then throwing it into the sea.
Done? Certainly not. Cole and Krudy seemed to apply the notes they made when watching the Coen Brothers films. Dark humor, small town setting, the discovery of corpses, and separate conflicts that would later connect after many turns, even if compared to the Coen Brothers, Cole-Krudy is not as wild as that. Including the matter of mystery, which is less successful in playing elements of surprise and ignorance. The majority of important points have been displayed in plain view from the start, although at least, both directors understood the statement “some questions are better left unanswered”, then let some ambiguity last until the film was over.
Adding to the complexity is the presence of aged female figures. There is a trio of Susie (June Squibb), Gail (Annette O’Toole), and Doreen (Marceline Hugot), friends of our late protagonist mother, who are planning to close Oceanview, Enid’s house of prostitution (played by Margo Martindale through authority and intimidative aura that would later make anyone rethink to deal with it alone). At first glance, the three of them are a trio of annoying moralists, while Enid is a figure who is concerned with “the greater good” by bringing goodness through what is seen by bad people. But is that right? Movie Review
A corpse was found stranded. Initially Priscilla was afraid that it was Gorski’s corpse, until the police identified him as one of the girls who worked at Oceanview. The girl was shot dead before being drowned. Our moralist trio believes that Enid is behind the girl’s death. Is that just a sneaky accusation to stop their steps from closing Oceanview? Or was Enid really as evil as alleged? Especially in the initial scene, we see Enid, through the window, coldly witnessing the violence of a man against a woman. Is there a connection?
Wrap the mystery may not save a surprising twist, but another story about character studies. The study of (as I wrote in the above paragraph) the women who were confronted with the process of “handling the situation”. Along the way we are invited to observe how Mary Beth and Priscilla, Enid, as well as a trio of old moralist women, must solve problems that require them to put aside their rigidity of thought. And is Susie-Doreen-Gail really three moral morons? Women stand together for each other. That’s what Blow the Man Down wants to say. Top Movie