{"id":20222,"date":"2020-03-19T14:57:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T21:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20222"},"modified":"2020-03-19T14:57:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T21:57:04","slug":"blow-the-man-down-features-great-performances-and-plenty-of-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20222","title":{"rendered":"BLOW THE MAN DOWN Features Great Performances and Plenty of Atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/24_0008_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10620\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The following feature film debuts on Amazon Prime on Friday, March 20th. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, this week marked the delay of, well, just about every\nmovie slated to come to theaters over the next two months. While that isn\u2019t the\nbest of news for anyone looking forward to seeing <em>A Quiet Place Part II<\/em>,\n<em>Mulan<\/em>, <em>The New Mutants<\/em>, <em>The Lovebirds<\/em>, <em>No Time to Die<\/em>,\n<em>Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway<\/em>, <em>Antlers<\/em>, <em>Black Widow<\/em>, <em>Spiral<\/em>,\n<em>The Personal History of David Copperfield<\/em>, <em>F9 (Fast and the Furious)<\/em>\nand many others, it does open the door for a few smaller films to earn some attention.\nOne such example is <em>Blow the Man Down<\/em>, a little mystery flick that is\npremiering on Amazon Prime this Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Blow-the-Man-Down-restaurant-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20223\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set in a port town in Maine, the film tells the story of\nsisters Priscilla (Sophie Lowe) and Mary Beth (Morgan Saylor), who have\nrecently lost their mother. The older sibling, Priscilla, is the level-headed\nand reliable one struggling to make ends meet as a fishmonger, while Mary Beth\nis more of a wild child yearning to leave their home. After the two get into an\nargument at their mother\u2019s wake, the younger girl heads out to get drunk,\nleading to a horrific event. Priscilla is called in to try and help her sister\nout. However, their actions set in motion a series of events. A friendly\nOfficer Brennan (Will Brittain) begins to become suspicious of them, and over\nthe course of the film secrets about the town and citizens are revealed. Some\nof the locals involved include a friend of the sisters\u2019 late mother named Enid\n(Margot Martindale) and trio of seniors Susie, Doreen and Gail (June Squibb,\nMarceline Hugot, Annette O\u2019Toole).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Blow-the-Man-Down-hair-squibb-street.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20224\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The end result feels like an interesting mix of eccentric\ncharacters with the cadence you might see in a film like <em>Manchester by the\nSea<\/em> placed together in a murder-mystery plot, and backed by a chorus of\nfishermen who appear at intervals to croon some of the film\u2019s themes. Surprisingly,\nthese elements fit together very snugly. This movie excels at creating a very\nspecific sense of atmosphere. The northeastern docks, stores, homes and\nshanties with cracking paint and peeling wallpaper are almost a character in\nthemselves. These backdrops greatly assist in creating an appropriate mood and\nphysically project the frayed, ragged, decaying edges that many of the townspeople\nare covering up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Blow-the-Man-Down-lecture-FIXED-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20227\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the crime and plot itself may not be anything\nrevolutionary, the eccentricities on display are thoroughly enjoyable to watch.\nCharacters who try too hard to be quirky can be grating, but all of the\nperformers in this feature do it with ease and are exceptional in their parts.\nAs they come into contact with one another, conflicts do arise and plenty of\ntension is generated. Early on, there are wince-inducing moments as the sisters\nbegin to panic and try to cover their tracks in order not to become suspects in\nan investigation. Of course, they can\u2019t help but make mistakes along the way. And\nwhile some of the seniors don\u2019t explicitly pressure or threaten others for much\nof the running time, they most certainly make their own plays as events unfold,\nsubtly exuding menace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The feature also moves at a zippy pace and never lags as\npast relationships finally come to light and the town\u2019s most powerful forces\nexert their influence. <em>Blow the Man Down<\/em> boasts intriguing ideas, some\ngreat performances and plenty of ambiance. It\u2019s an entertaining little independent\nfilm that should certainly please anyone who enjoys watching crime or murder\/mystery\npictures. And it\u2019s nice to know that while many entertainment options are being\nlimited, there are still some worthwhile features coming around that will\nprovide movie enthusiasts with something new. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following feature film debuts on Amazon Prime on Friday, March 20th. Well, this week marked the delay of, well, just about every movie slated to come to theaters over the next two months. While that isn\u2019t the best of news for anyone looking forward to seeing A Quiet Place Part II, Mulan, The New [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,1532,3060,3061,3062,3063,4910,11337,12941,13099,13193,14239,14399,14523,17880,18721,24283],"class_list":["post-20222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-annette-otoole-2","tag-blow-the-man-down","tag-blow-the-man-down-film-review","tag-blow-the-man-down-movie-review","tag-blow-the-man-down-review","tag-crime","tag-june-squibb","tag-maine","tag-marceline-hugot","tag-margot-martindale","tag-morgan-saylor","tag-murder","tag-mystery","tag-seaside","tag-sophie-lowe","tag-will-brittain"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}