MARY-BETH: I lost control with a brick.
PRISCILLA: You said it was a harpoon.
In a fishing town-- you can almost smell the sea-- a pair of young women, Mary-Beth (Morgan Saylor) and Priscilla (Sophie Lowe), mourn their mother and wonder if they can, or should, keep her local business afloat. Audiences may wonder if the sisters can stay in a room together without killing each other. People grieve differently. Mary-Beth gets drunk and picks up a young man. She then stumbles over evidence he actually has killed someone. In the subsequent confrontation, she kills him. The sisters' attempts to conceal his death result in sinister comic situations that entangle them with their late mother's associates: the influential older women of their small coastal town.
As the sisters attempt to address a piece of damning evidence they left at the scene of the crime and cover-up, locals discover a body. It's not, however, the body of the man they killed.
A blend of neo-noir and black comedy, this 2019 film features a strong cast, eccentric characters, improbable twists, and strong cinematography. Vocally-gifted extras contribute to the score, singing "Blow the Man Down" as a bridge between scenes. The writer/director team of Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy clearly want to be the female Coen Brothers with a New England twist. If you like that approach to film-making and have a taste for dark and quirky humour, you will probably enjoy Blow the Man Down.
And if you still have a conventional, cleaned-up view of little old ladies, you may find your views shaken.
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