Small Town Murder Songs

I was gliding through the selection of Indie films on Netflix, looking for something interesting to kill an hour or two, when I came across this film. The title intrigued me, as did the description, so I added it to my streaming queue. When the film began, I immediately liked the feel of it, set as it is in Canadian farm country, with big vistas and a stark, rural atmosphere. The music was totally unique, and fit the story perfectly. The only problem I had was that it was too loud at times, and probably a bit intrusive as well. I liked the "chapter titles," and thought they added to the film's feel. The character of Walter, the Chief of Police, was well drawn, although I would have liked a bit more detail to explain his past. Nonetheless, I was able to glean enough insight into his psyche to allow me to still enjoy the sterling performance of Peter Stormare (Fargo, Big Lebowski). This was probably the finest performance I have seen him give, and he deserves a good deal of recognition for it. Jill Hennessy turned in a compelling performance as a woman caught in the middle, and every minute she was on screen was memorable. The direction was spot-on, and I imagine we'll be seeing quite a bit more from Ed Gass-Donnelly in the future. If you like films that are more than just special effects and oddball cinematic techniques, you'll enjoy Small Town Murder Songs. Is it a murder mystery? Not really; there isn't much doubt about whodunit. This is a film about redemption, which is a subject not often handled as well as it is here. Highly recommended.

I'm not sure I can grasp how anyone could possibly rate this movie as low as 1 or 2 stars. I saw the angry reviews and thought I'd give this movie a chance since the trailer interested me. This movie has solid acting throughout, and exceptional acting from Stormare, who most of the movie is focused around. There have been complaints about the music, and I'll admit that the music did seem out of place at times. Since the music was to my taste and very soulful, I can give that a pass, but if you don't like glorious musical creations, it could get annoying to some. Although some elements of the story -- especially towards the end -- were left a bit too open for me, the beautiful cinematography, cast, and solid acting make it well worth a viewing.

Yeah, it's like a Coen film. Mainly because it's horrible. But also because it doesn't even try to make sense or mean anything.

The movie begins--and is intermittently littered with--ridiculous, meaningless religious expressions like "GOD FINDS US WHERE WE'RE AT". Enlightening? No. Meaningful? No. Pertinent? No.

And the music? It's mixed at an obnoxious volume level, and each and every song is an auditory abomination. Which fits in just fine with the awful script.

It's supposedly "artistic" and "sophisticated" to vomit out movies like this. I think it's lazy and pathetic. Leaving gigantic holes in the plot and nearly totally omitting character development doesn't "make you think", it makes you wonder why you're wasting your time on such a vacuous film.

To be fair, the director set himself up with a task that was going to undermine him. This is the story of a severely bottled-up individual who has a history of rage and violence, who has separated himself from larger society both because he can't trust himself and they know they can't trust him either. But to play such a character means going inward so much that it doesn't give the viewer a whole lot to look at. There are long stretches of this short movie where we see the protagonist simply frozen with his own torment.

The standout performance here is by Jill Hennessey, who conveys such resentment and antipathy toward the protagonist that it practically jumps off the screen. Every frame she's in the movie becomes compelling. If there had been more done with the back story between these two it might have made for a more interesting story.

Regarding the music - this kind of new-gospel is not to my taste, but even if it were, the fact that it's amped-up so loud compared to the rest of the film, where the characters barely speak above a whisper, is completely off-putting. What is supposed to add emotional and spiritual impact ends up just sounding bombastic. I felt aurally mugged.

I have always admired Peter Stormare's acting but I am unable to recall him in a leading role - until now. He provides a strong performance as a religious police officer with violent and painful past, and there are very few scenes without his presence. As for the rest, I cannot find more outstanding features: the plot is slow and dull (the killer can be figured out early), religious soundtrack and church links are annoying, other actors/characters are not catchy. Even in terms of pondering and profundity, there are far more interesting and versatile movies, even from Canada. Luckily, its duration is 1 hour and 10 minutes only.

Thus, a film for art's sake, but not interesting to follow. It could just have been a psychological film without any crime at all. By the way, I like the Coens a lot and have seen all of their films. Small Town Murder Songs does not measure up to them.