Lake City

Lucinda Williams croaks forlornly about a world without tears while sunlight radiantly burnishes the Autumnal hills. Enter Sissy Spacek who portrays a Hallmark heartland matriarch- stoic and strong. Add a son with problems with booze and wild women, a bratty kid, Dave Mathews (of The Dave Mathews Band) as a menacing drug dealer, and combine it all with a very murky and ominous family history. In an attempt to inject a degree of suspense into the narrative, a character in this film asks, "What's in that room?", and the answer is, "We don't go in there". Thus, viewers are guaranteed that a dark and mysterious family secret is about to be dredged up. Seriously, if you want to see how family secrets can be dealt with intelligently, check out, I HAVE LOVED YOU FOR SO LONG. In that film, they do it right. Even if you are a fan of melodrama, LAKE CITY strains too hard for just a few meager emotional revelations

'Lake City' is a film written and directed by Perry Moore and Hunter Hill, about a man named Billy (Troy Garity) running away back to his home down South and his mother Maggie (Sissy Spacek) to escape his drug connections. In tow, he has Clayton (Colin Ford) his girlfriend's son and a large amount of drugs sought by Red (Dave Matthews), a nefarious dealer. Though he does his best to keep his head down and readjust to life in the small town, his old life (and tragedies therein) proves too difficult to shake off, forcing a direct confrontation with both the life he has created (and destroyed) for himself and the life that he was running away from when he left.

Sissy Spacek as Maggie is clearly the rock at the center of the film, around which all other elements orbit and evolve. With each and every glance and turn of her sturdy but weathered face, she conveys the wisdom and strength of the 'people of the land', to spin a tired phrase, and the environment that they live in. Though the film's story ostensibly hinges on the actions taken by Billy, it is Maggie who is the film's heart and soul, personifying all of the conflicted feelings that Billy has about the rather double-edged notion of home, where you can count on everyone knowing who you are, but also on being the same person that you were when they first met you. Maggie's relationship with Billy is a complicated (and frequently tense) one, but as convincing as Garity is as a drug user, it is Spacek who lets us know just where the divide between them lies.

'Lake City' is a very solid film, and I highly recommend it. It may be a little hard to track down(it is available on Netflix), but I suggest you do; you won't be disappointed.

Lake City was a good film. My wife and I saw it at the SCAD festival(Savannah) and found it to be very entertaining. The Q & A with the Writer/directors and the films star was very interesting, too. For the budget and time it took to actually film this movie, I thought it was very good. Very impressive. It just goes to show that it can be done without extravagant budgets. I hope these guys can keep it up. As a struggling actor in Atlanta, GA, it was refreshing to see they used local talent as well as the bigger named actors. There are a lot of us talented actors out here that pray for movie-makers like this (that trust themselves and the storyline enough so that they can help showcase otherwise undiscovered talent). I hope they continue to make movies down South to give us actors (down here) a chance to be in a great movie someday. We want to know what is next? KUDOS and break many things in your endeavors guys.

This character driven film will appeal to those who like dramas that focus more on character development than action; although, there are moments of intense action. Sissy Spacek delivers a powerful performance as a mother who has yet to cope with her past. She unexpectedly finds herself reunited with her son who is running away from his troubles and she helps facilitate healing for both of them. I thought the camera-work and lighting played up the natural beauty of the idyllic rural town. The music and some scenes, though, have a made-for-TV (cliched) feel. Rebecca Romijn and Dave Matthews are notable for solid realistic acting. Troy Garity is adequate for the role, but in several scenes he looks like he is doing drama school exercises. I think this may be due more to the first time writer/directors than Garity. They seem conflicted on how to maintain realism vs being sappy. Overall, I think Spacek carries this movie and you develop a genuine bond with the characters.

Maggie (Sissy Spacek) is alone on her farm. George wants to sell both of their farms to a road construction. Out of the blue, her son Billy shows up with a boy named Clayton and on the run from a drug dealer. Billy and Maggie have issues from the past. Billy reconnects with Jennifer who is now a police deputy.

Sissy Spacek is certainly the big name in this and she keeps the attention of the audience. Troy Garity is nominally the lead but he lacks overall charisma. Dave Matthews, of his own band, plays the heavy villain. While he gets some of the grim of a lowlife, he does not have the power of a menace. There isn't enough of everything. The reveal of the past teases on for too long with limited effect. This should be a cold-blood crime drama but it only gets there at the end. It's too little too late. Nothing happens for far too long.