Beneath the Harvest Sky

Beneath the Harvest Sky is a 2013 independent drama that centers around the lives of two teenage best friends living in Rural Main.

Written and directed by Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, Beneath the Harvest Sky is a good film with a strong story about the lack of options that some growing up in rural areas might face. The two main characters Casper and Dominic are two best friends who get caught up in a prescription drug business run by Casper's uncle that puts a small rift in their plans to move out of their small town and start a new chapter in their lives when Casper wants to continue what he's doing and Dominic want's to leave. It's a sad film that shows that life isn't always all sunshine and rainbows, and that it's up to you to choose the path in life you want to go down.

It was wonderfully written and directed with very real characters dealing with real situations. The cast is terrific, the setting is perfect, and I was completely caught off guard by the films ending. If you haven't seen this movie before, I would definitely recommend checking it out.

I just read a review where they said you are on the edge of your seat with anticipation. I was on the edge of my seat bout to walk out maybe, but certainly not with anticipation. This movie was slow slow slow, and the sound trac only added to the crawl. Don't get me wrong I did give it a few stars, but that was only because the acting was plausible. If you didn't read the summary before watching you may have a hard time figuring out where exactly they are. Canada, Maine, Oklahoma (for the Tulsa reference)... but in the end you know where you are... on the edge of your seat thankful this movie has ended. On one side note this film does make you appreciate what you may have at your own home... kids with direction and responsibility. One last thing about this movie that bothered me, kinda. Everybody in the movie seemed angry and bitter. Is this little town so depressing that it causes such bitterness and unloving parents? Who knows. Watch this movie at your own risk. I recommend painting a wall before sitting down to watch. My guess is that you'll turn to the wall and watch that dry instead.

It's VanBuren, Maine. Dominic Roy (Callan McAuliffe) and Casper (Emory Cohen) are best friends. Casper's girlfriend Tasha (Zoe Levin) tells him that she's pregnant. He comes from a dysfunctional family. He disrupts class, breaking and entering for his criminal dad Clayton (Aidan Gillen) and hates his mother (Carrie Preston). Clayton pulls him into the world of smuggling drug in from Canada. Dominic hopes to move to Boston with Casper. He lives with his mother (Carla Gallo). He works hard on the potato farm to earn the money to buy a car. Nice girl Emma (Sarah Sutherland) is also working there to pay for college.

It has a lot of the trappings of indie filmmaking of today without the something special to distinguish it from the rest. It has the dysfunctional lower class folks. The story is unoriginal. It has the hand-held shaky camera work. The two leads just aren't special enough. They are fine actors but there are not stars. They don't show or allowed to show the spark that would energize this movie. It moves a bit too slowly and needs to elevate the danger much sooner.

I watched this a couple years back and I kid you not, I could not remember a single thing about it. Ended up rewatching it today and eventually some things came back to me.

It's about 2 teenage-friends in a smalltown in the middle of nowhere; Casper and Dominic. Dominic is a 'good kid' while Casper is the town 'bad boy' who's extracurricular activities involves being part of his father Drug business.

The pace is really slow but the acting is good enough to still keep your patience (especially Emory Cohen who's absolutely brilliant as Casper).

While the main focus is on them there is plenty of other characters that are put in focus from time to time, one of which is Casper's father (albeit he's not very fatherly) played by Aiden Gillen who most people will recognize as Petyr Bailish from Game Of Thrones).

And even though there is a criminal element to the plot I should point out that it's not a crime-movie in that regard, most of the film is about life in a small town and all that that entails.

The characters feel realistic, especially the teenagers whom I can imagine a lot of people can relate too and visually it looks nice as well.

But although the movie does have a lot of plus-points I have to consider the fact that I had managed to forget all about it and that it lacks that extra emotional punch, so I can only get myself to give it a 6, a strong 6 though.

Wow. I thought this one had some potential. But as stated in the title, it was absolutely painful. I'm not saying it wasn't without merit. The cinematography was pretty good. Definitely not a small, budget film. And the acting was decent. It's just that the storyline was miserable. It takes place in a bleak Maine town near the Canadian border. There are pretty much no jobs except for picking potatoes. So the kids in the movie have no future to look forward to. One of them gets his girlfriend knocked up. And naturally, there get into running drugs. As it turns out, this is one of those movies I quit halfway through. There was nothing pleasant about it. '

If you're in the mood to get really depressed, check it out. You'll love the miserable characters.

--MovieJunkieMark.