Tumbledown 2015

     Hannah is starting to move on with her life after the death of her husband.  He was an acclaimed musician and she has been trying to write a biography about him.  She decides she can’t do justice to the material and she hires Andrew McDonnell to write the book that she can’t.  Andrew is an assistant professor in American studies at Hofstra University.  He is also writer from New York and he has a different take on the book and her husband’s life.  Andrew thinks Hannah’s husband committed suicide but Hannah doesn’t believe this to be true?

     Hannah is holding onto her grief and she has been unable to move forward in her life.  She writes for the local paper in her small New England town but she can’t seem to put on paper what she wants to say about the life of her husband.  Hannah and Andrew are also opposites, she lives in the snow of Maine and he’s in the skyscraper territory.  This film is a little slow, not a lot of sparkle to the plot but it is interesting with a good ending.  3 ½* (I liked this movie) 

    

105 min, Romance directed by Sean Mewshaw from a script written by Desiree Van Til with Rebecca Hall, Jason Sudeikis, Blythe Danner, Griffin Dunne, Richard Masur, Maggie Castle, Pepper Binkley, Alex Quijano, Bates Wilder, Mary-Bonner Baker, Zachariah Supka, Gabe Gibbs, Melanie Ehrlich.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, Roger Ebert 3* Sheila O’Malley, Rotten Tomatoes 70% critic 61% audience, Rollingstone 3* out of 4* Peter Travers, Commonsense Media S. Jhoanna Robledo Age 15+ 3* out of 5*, 3* positive, 3* role models, 1* violence, 4* sex, 4* language, 2* consumerism, 3* drinking, drugs & smoking, Letterboxd average 3*.

 

Special Note:  Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Stow, Leominster, Bull Run Restaurant, Devens, Concord, Princeton, Groton, Shirley, Massachusetts; Farmington, Maine.  Rose Byrne was cast in the role of Hannah but she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.  Hannah’s red truck broke down frequently and for at least one scene, had to be pushed down the street by crew members.  This was a top To Watch film for Tribeca 2015 and also premiered at Tribeca where it was well received.  Massachusetts filming was done because there is a program offering filmmakers who spend more than $50,000 in the state a 25% tax credit to offset the costs of payroll, set building and other expenses.  This is one of the more competitive film incentive programs in the county.