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

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.

Lake City is a powerful film, well made, well casted and well scripted. The direction is remarkable and the acting is fabulous. Each actor comes across very natural and the characters are very believable....at many times, it is almost like watching a real life situation. The director's have dealt with the story in a very special manner - delicately maintaining the fine balance between the feelings of love, anger, rage, guilt, and compassion. The mother and son relationship is the best any celluloid has ever been able to portray. Please do not miss this special film - A Must See!! I also had the pleasure of meeting both director's (Perry Moore and Hunter Hill) at the informal q n a at the Quad Cinemas in NY. Getting to know about the budget and time frame of the shoot, it was beyond impressive. I wish both Perry and Hunter my very best and would love to see more films that I am confident will make a difference contributing to GOOD cinema. thanks for a great film.

Recently, I met Mr. Perry Moore (Director) of Lake City,

His film touched me. I really think this man is a genius in the making. Lake City is a film about pain, and suffering, of things said and unsaid a film about a mother and son's struggle to forget a terrible accident gone wrong. The cast was beautifully put together.

The film touched on the human side of life. It showed how vulnerable pain can make us. How if kept inside can make us hurt. But, in Lake City you get to see it all. you see pain, you see a man struggle with responsibility and you get to see him grow along with his mothers help. At the end ...... Well, you decide. "Go see it"

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.