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

Reviewed by Katharina Martin. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

Small Town Murder Songs is an intriguing story about a small-town cop named Walter, played by Peter Stormare. Written and directed by Ed Donnelly, this proved to be a unique and wonderfully executed film. The movie begins with a religious quote that is a theme which reiterates throughout the film. Donnelly incorporates religion as a major motif for this film, as it relates it to both the plot and characters. He splits the movie into sections and heads each one with a scriptural quote that relates to the forthcoming part of the story. By accompanying these dramatic touches with a deep-toned soundtrack, the audience literally feels the pressure Walter is feeling on-screen. The music is almost a character itself in that it is a huge determinant on the impact of what is visually happening on screen.

As the plot unfolds, a number of characters are presented that each add their own element to the drama. There is Rita, (Jill Hennessy) a woman who Walter previously had an affair with. She acts as the femme fatal in Walter’s life, as she is somewhat of an obsession of his. She also happens to currently be in a bad relationship with her live-in boyfriend, (Stephen Eric McIntyre). The story begins with Walter discovering a woman murdered just outside of own his somber, slow-paced town. As part of the police force, Walter quickly finds himself in the midst of struggling to unravel the mystery of who committed this crime. All his bias and instinct point to Rita’s white-trash boyfriend Steve as the culprit. But as Walter gets involved in the sour relationship between Steve and Rite, his past begins to rear its ugly head. As Walter desperately tries to keep his life together amidst all the drama, Donnelly uses his current relationship with Sam (Martha Plimpton) as another reference to religion. Sam is the typical “good wife” character who is chatty, cheery, and always eager to please. She is employed at the local diner as a waitress, and is a God-fearing, good christian woman. She stand to contrast Walters inner and outer conflict with “sin”, and rounds out the rough feel of the rest of the cast.

Overall, the performances and score really made the movie as impressionable as it was. Emphasis must be placed on Stormare’s depiction of Walter, and the fact that this was a low-budget independent film. It just goes to show that you don’t need millions of dollars to make an award-winning movie.