By the late-1950s, Film Noir had fallen into cliche and banality. Its swan song, 1958’s Touch of Evil, may be among the best Noirs ever made but it wasn’t enough to save the doomed genre. As the disillusionment and fatalism of the 1940s were lost in the surface fulfillment of the post-war American Dream, shadows and contrast gave way to technicolor and happy endings. As the years waned, more and more moviegoers abandoned the darkness for the light, effectively killing off an entire genre by the most nefarious means available: the introduction of sustained hope and prosperity into American life.
Of course, Film Noir never really went away completely. Its influence has lingered over the years in films both hailed as masterpieces and those dismissed as late-night fodder. As a die-hard fan of cinema’s dark plunge into the depths of the human soul and the demons one finds within, I can’t help but giggle upon discovering a film that captures the spirit of these bygone days – and with a fresh twist to boot.
Blow the Man Down doesn’t take place in Los Angeles, or New York, or San Francisco, or anywhere else associated with rain-soaked and shadow-filled back alleys, but its underbelly is just as seedy. Easter Cove, Maine may seem like a normal seaside fishing village, but its secrets run deep and its true influence comes from a surprising place. Writers/directors Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy have replaced Noir’s traditionally patriarchal and masculine tendencies with ones strictly feminine, giving the power and influence to the women of their sleepy little hamlet instead of the ineffectual and infantile men who reside there. As the plot unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear who wears the pants in Easter Cove and why.
Along with a strong nod to Stephen King-styled dialect and the horror author’s macabre sensibilities, Blow the Man Down is steeped in the kind of regionalism found in the best that Joel and Ethan Coen have to offer. This is a film that revels in colloquialisms and the mundanely grotesque (provided by an excellent cast including Morgan Saylor, Sophie Lowe, and Margo Martindale) while serving up a classic onion-peel mystery. What starts as a small tale of two sisters dealing with the immediate aftermath of their mother’s death, spider-webs out to include a criminal organization, the women who run it and work for it, and a haphazard attempt at solving a murder tied to it. Throw in a few additional murders, some cover-ups, and a bag of missing money, and we’ve settled nicely into a small-town Neo-Noir that throws some big punches.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.