Small Town Murder Songs (Ed Gass-Donnelly, 2010): Canada

Reviewed by Stacie Manifold.  Viewed at Metro 4 Theatre at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

Small Town Murder Songs is the second feature film brought to us by director Ed Gass-Donnelly.  This film premiered in 2010 at the Toronto International Festival and has gone on to win the FIPRESCI  Best Film Award at the Torino Film Festival and a Best Actress award for Martha Plimpton’s portrayal of Sam at the Whistler Film Festival. Ed Gass-Donnelly has strong background knowledge in theatre as well being the son of Ken Gass, a very well-known and respected British Colombian playwright and director.

The film introduces us to the character Walter (played by Peter Stormare), a sheriff in a small town.  You get the impression that Walter has some demons in his past that he is working on overcoming by turning to religion.  He has a couple women in his life which represent the past and the future.  Sam (Martha Plimpton) is his current live in girlfriend with loving intentions and nothing but support for him.  Rita (Jill Hennessy) is his ex-girlfriend who knows first handed the demons of his past that he is trying to forget.  Upheaval is brought to their town with the killing of a local girl.  Big-wig detectives are brought in to help solve the murder and the story focuses on the dynamics of the relationships and characters that reside in this small town.

The film is both written and directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly.  There are a few choices he made that makes this film stand out and help with its success.  First, the location of the movie is vague.  The characters have an accent that links the location to Canada, but the only mention of a specific place is the seal on the side of the cop car and isn’t revealed until the later part of the movie.  This anonymity is useful because you do not form an opinion about the characters based on a pre-conceived notion and it reminds you that the events in the movie are not limited to a particular place, but could happen anywhere.

The second tool in setting this movie apart is the use of the soundtrack.  The majority of the soundtrack is original music from Bruce Peninsula, a collaborative music group founded by Misha Bower and Matt Cully.  Bruce Peninsula is self described as a wide-eyed rock band, mining the depths of folk, prog and soul music.  The songs in the film were sweeping and reminiscent of gospel.  They were paired with expert cinematography by Brendan Steacy showing vast landscapes and really setting the mood for the upcoming scene.  Many times, the soundtrack played loudly over the acting and no words were heard.  You just watched the actors movement and listened to the lyrics.

I found Small Town Murder Songs to be a well-made, thoughtful film that kept you guessing throughout the film and never really answered your questions.  I think the writer/director intends the viewer to look within themselves for the answers.