Flood Streets

I've seen this movie twice, both times at New Orleans screenings, with New Orleans audiences, and found it gripping and inspiring both times. It's been interesting to watch storytellers, artists, writers, movie makers tell the various After stories and this is a good one, one that captures what After meant to a group of New Orleanians, specific characters who could (and do!) really exist here, but who we almost never see in films. New Orleans deals with the most overwhelming experiences with its own brand of humor and this movie finds those perfect moments to show us exactly what it was like. Flood Streets tells a story of who these people were and are, Before and After, and always.

Funny, touching, and real. Flood Streets is about life as we know it. Maybe its because Joseph Meissner and Hellen Krieger first handedly experienced Katrina and its after effects, but Flood Streets really brought to life the characters who frantically try to take back their lives after the hurricane.

What I liked most about the movie is that it showed the side of New Orleans that news channels and non-profit organizations didn't show—the uncertainty of one's identity after the storm took everything away. While everyone else was focused on rebuilding homes and paving streets, the movie focuses on the more tender subject of rebuilding and paving one's daily life. Even for an outsider like me, the movie relays the concerns, struggles, and inner battles of the protagonists clearly.

But even while feeling these volatile emotions, I was laughing out loud. Being funny and dramatic is not hard, but to do it free of clichés is nearly impossible, and the couple pulled it off better than I could ask for. The movie has just the right amount of spice and emotion. Mesmerizing movie.

I had the honor to see Flood Streets at the Boston International Film Festival, and I was absolutely blown away by what I saw. Flood Streets is a marvelous film about life in Post-Katrina New Orleans. The lives depicted in Flood Streets aren't extraordinary. The characters don't solve crimes or save the city, they aren't decision makers or "important people", they're just average New Orleans residents, trying to get by in the ruins around them. Flood Streets is both entertaining and moving. There are both lighthearted and touching moments, as well as sobering and moving ones. Flood Streets is driven by its dedicated actors, who act out one of the most authentic and real screenplays in a very long time. Helen Krieger's script is hands down of the best since "The Social Network", but it has a level of authenticity that only comes from being a New Orleans, Louisiana resident. Everything about Flood Streets is downright perfect from start to finish.

We saw Flood Streets at the Houston International Film Festival in its award winning debut and were overwhelmed by the quality and complexity of this super low budget film. Flood Streets definitely merits broader distribution and exposure to a wider audience. Joseph Meissner is a quiet, steely presence who glues the storyline and the many disparate characters together. Becky Stark is a memorable actress whose talent, both acting and singing, gives you smiles to take home and savor for weeks. Both Meissner and Stark should be "discovered" from this work. Helen Krieger's story rings so true that you forget that you are at the movies and feel that you are an observer following the characters around post-Kartrina New Orleans. The subtle way Krieger tells her story allows the audience to think and interpret for itself. The soundtrack of New Orleans jazz and a funky Klezmer band adds another level of joy for the film. Flood Streets is unique and memorable, there is nothing quite to compare it with. It should be in every film lover's collection.

A huge thank you to the filmmaking team, director/actor Joseph Meissner and writer Helen Krieger, for giving us this post-Katrina tale that's free of cliché; instead, the filmmakers let us simply enter this very specific world of New Orleans and live it for a while.

It's a rare experience for me to come away from a film and feel like I've truly been there...with those people...in those streets...in those houses. NOLA residents and Katrina survivors Meissner and Krieger have created a unique valentine to a city they clearly love, and their insider status gives the film an authenticity that only locals could provide. The specifics of post-Katrina life (no daily papers available, when will mail delivery resume?) are things outsiders (myself included!) probably didn't think about once the crisis was over. The handling of such details is masterful and the ensemble of performances is top-notch. Special shout outs to Joseph Meissner whose quiet intensity is absolutely mesmerizing, and to Becky Stark whose quirky energy and infectious laugh add just the right touch.

The film is based on Krieger's collection of short stories,"In The Land of What Now," and I, for one, can't wait to read them!