Written and Directed by Bridget Savage and Danielle Krudy
Starring Sophie Lowe, Morgan Saylor and June Squibb
Running time 1 hour 30 minutes

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport

It is always the small quaint towns that one has to worry about. Sure they are quiet, but that silence usually signifies secrets.

Bridget Savage and Danielle Krudy’s feature film debut, Blow the Man Down tells the story of two grieving sisters, Priscilla (Sophie Lowe) and Marybeth Connolly (Morgan Saylor) living in the tight-knit seaside fishing community of Easter Cove, Maine. (A quick google search revealed that this is most likely a fictional town.) The film opens at their mother’s wake. After the girls’ mother succumbed to a ghastly long term illness, the sisters have found themselves in a financial predicament. They are the owners of a dead-end fish business and on the verge of losing their home.

Clearly, the Connolly sisters are dealing with a lot. However, Marybeth is more prone to show it. After becoming quite upset with Priscilla at the wake, Marybeth decides to have a drunken night of debauchery. This involves going home with a dude, erratic driving and a corpse. With the help of her level-headed sis, Priscilla, and a reminder of the grossness that is coleslaw, Marybeth manages to clean up the remains. For novice body dumpers, they don’t do half bad. They had enough wherewithal to realize that if they were gonna fit the carcass in the cooler, they’re gonna have to chop it up. It is important to note here that this film is only ninety minutes in length and manages to pack a lot into its run time and an ice chest. This is the type of film that never comes up for a breath and as an audience member, I was impressed with how efficiently so much ground was covered.

Of corpse (sorry but not sorry... I had to) this is probably no surprise, but the sisters make one mistake when performing their cadaver clean-up: they leave the knife behind. This inevitably haunts them later and becomes the mcguffin of the plot. When Enid, a local Easter Cove resident, discovers the weapon, this opens up a can of worms that reveals the sordid underbelly of this supposedly peaceful village. This also leads to the Connolly sisters learning the truth about their mother and her involvement in the town’s seedy dealings and management of the local brothel.

Like breadcrumbs on a trail, plot points are dispensed by the filmmakers bit by bit. This method of storytelling was extremely effective in building tension and provides the opportunity for a viewer to independently put the pieces together. The directors reveal the details at opportune moments and it was clear that choices from the duo were not made as afterthoughts. Down to the opening title credits (which I loved by the way, look at the poster here) and music, everything was meticulously planned in order to create the mood of the atmosphere and the salty inhabitants. What I loved most about this story, was the characters. They are extremely colorful and it was really neat to have women cast not only at the heart of the story but driving it too.

I saw this film at the Toronto International Film Festival, as I made it a personal goal to try to see as many women made films as I possibly could. Surprisingly, when committing to this challenge, little did I realize I would be taking a trip to Bummer Town, as the majority of the movies on my watch list featured a dead mother (which I wrote about here). I might be a bit biased with my recommendation here, as I do have an extreme fondness for the sea, but highly recommend that you check out this flick on the big screen if you can. With that said, Blow the Man Down will definitely make for a wonderful Friday night watch under a blankie with your favorite take out. The film was purchased by Amazon, so this could be a plan in the foreseeable future.

Regardless of how you watch it - just do it! These are filmmakers that I will definitely be keeping an eye on and can’t wait to see what they do next.

Available on demand from Amazon Prime beginning March 20, here.