Chillicothe

I'm from Ohio, and I've been to Chillicothe. The whole reason I picked up this movie at the rental place was because of the name. Wow. I was completely blown away by this movie. There's something so real and true about this movie. Moments of it are so incredibly funny, and then five minutes later you're hit with a moment of such sadness that you want to cry for these characters.

I was living in Anderson, IN. I got most of my movies back then ad the library. One day, I happened upon this video. I thought, what the heck. Boy was a pleasantly surprised.

The story bounces from one character to another, focusing on the friendship of four young males living in Tulsa. The last, Wade, sees his friends getting married and having kids, while he keeps pining about the one that got away.

Yeah, there are lots of pop culture references. Some situations have you going, yeah, I've been through that. Like figuring out what CD you need to sell so you can get gas for your car.

In the end, it's satisfying because it doesn't cut corners and just give you the happy ending. It feels real, unlike much that comes out of Hollywood.

So I implore you, if you find this one someplace (which is getting harder and harder to do... I have my copy) watch it. If you like it like I did, watch the three other Todd Edwards films out there (Hoodwinked and Hoodwinked Too, and Jeffie Was Here). You'll be glad you did.

So I was talking with my brother (he's in Orlando, I'm in L.A., we're both from Enon, Ohio) on instant messenger the other day about a screenplay I want to write. It's about a guy that can't choose between growing up and staying a teenager forever. He asks if I've seen "Chillicothe," made by a fellow Ohioan (he saw it at a festival last year). "Nope," I reply, and I look for it on imdb and find all these great reviews. I doubted I ever WOULD see it, my pessimism being rooted in working with independent films since I moved out here. Luck has it, a couple of days later I'm rummaging through video tapes in the office and sure enough there is a copy of "Chillicothe". And that's only the first happy accident. The film itself is the big payoff.

Introspection without egotism. Adventurous without overstretching. Emphasizing the strengths of unknown actors. Very little useless dialogue. Nice segues into thoughtful non-sequitors (the video-store guy). And, it has similar characters and situations to those I want to use in MY screenplay, but with an entirely different story. Thanks to all that, I absolutely loved it. A very nice job, Todd. I wish you all the luck in the world. And don't worry about whether people can pronounce the title or not. If they like it (and they will) they will learn.

P.S. - I sold many great CDs to partially fund my move to L.A. from Columbus, using the philosophy of "I will eventually miss it and have to buy it again" (lost almost all of my Hendrix that way). I had to double-check before I wrote this, but I did keep the "The Joshua Tree." Go figure.

I liked the story, a group of guys one by one figuring out the rest of their lives. However, I rated the movie as a 5/10 because for some reason, the end of the movie rolled around, and I had yet to find a reason to truly care what happened to the characters. But, there were some very funny moments, and I would probably watch this movie again someday. ..

I wrote and directed "Chillicothe" in 1997, and the 3 years that have followed have been a real education. An audience favorite at Sundance '99, this film has been screened for dozens of festival audiences across the country with tremendous response.

Thank-you to everyone who has rallied behind it. I am still very proud of "Chillicothe" and what it represents to me and my producing partners, but as Willie Nelson says, "I can't wait to get on the road again." So keep an eye out for us; this is only the beginning! I promise the next one will be easier to pronounce. -Todd Edwards ...