''American Fable'' is a 2016 American
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
written and directed by Anne Hamilton. The film stars
Peyton Kennedy
Peyton Kennedy (born January 4, 2004) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Betty Nelson on the ABC television drama series ''Grey’s Anatomy'' (2018–2019). She is also known for her film roles in '' The Captive'' (2014), ' ...
,
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...
,
Kip Pardue
Kevin Ian "Kip" Pardue (born September 23, 1975) is an American actor and model, who became known for his roles in the films ''Remember the Titans'', '' But I'm a Cheerleader'', ''The Rules of Attraction'' and ''Thirteen''.
Early life and educa ...
, Marci Miller,
Gavin MacIntosh and
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson (born 29 June 1977) is a British actress. She first came to attention as Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief on the 2001 series ''The Lone Gunmen''. She has appeared in the films ''Hidalgo'' (2004), ''The Merchant of Venice'' ...
. The film was released on February 17, 2017, by
IFC Midnight
IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its Sun ...
.
Plot
Young Gitty, an 11-year-old girl living on a farm in 1980s rural America, tries not to worry about her family losing the farm and seeks to escape the stress of her home by exploring the farm and its lands. She is shocked to discover, however, that the developer buying up local farms is now seemingly being kept prisoner in the family's old abandoned grain silo at the edge of the farm. Gitty begins spending time with the man, ultimately finding herself torn between loyalty to what she thinks is right, and loyalty to her own family. All is not as it may seem, though, as the family finds itself involved with individuals who are like something out of a fairy tale.
Cast
*
Peyton Kennedy
Peyton Kennedy (born January 4, 2004) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Betty Nelson on the ABC television drama series ''Grey’s Anatomy'' (2018–2019). She is also known for her film roles in '' The Captive'' (2014), ' ...
as Gitty
*
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...
as Jonathan
*
Kip Pardue
Kevin Ian "Kip" Pardue (born September 23, 1975) is an American actor and model, who became known for his roles in the films ''Remember the Titans'', '' But I'm a Cheerleader'', ''The Rules of Attraction'' and ''Thirteen''.
Early life and educa ...
as Abe
*
Marci Miller
Marci Miller (born August 2, 1988) is an American model and actress. She portrayed the role of Abigail Deveraux on the NBC soap opera '' Days of Our Lives'' from 2016 to 2018 and from 2020 to 2022. Miller's performance of Abigail has been met ...
as Sarah
*
Gavin MacIntosh as Martin
*
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson (born 29 June 1977) is a British actress. She first came to attention as Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief on the 2001 series ''The Lone Gunmen''. She has appeared in the films ''Hidalgo'' (2004), ''The Merchant of Venice'' ...
as Vera
*Charlie Babbo as Michael
*Spencer Moss as Heidi
*
Rusty Schwimmer
Rusty Schwimmer is an American character actress and singer. She has appeared in films such as ''A Little Princess'' (1995), ''Twister'' (1996), '' The Perfect Storm'' (2000), ''Runaway Jury'' (2003), '' North Country'' (2005), ''The Informant!'' ...
as Ethel
*Theresa Tilly as Anna Winters
Release
The film premiered at
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
on March 13, 2016.
On August 16, 2016,
IFC Midnight
IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its Sun ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on February 17, 2017, by IFC Midnight.
Reception
On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''American Fable'' holds an approval rating of 75%, based on 16 reviews, and an average rating of 7.26/10.
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
reports a score of 55/100 based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
References
External links
*
*
2016 films
2016 thriller films
American thriller films
2010s English-language films
Films set in Wisconsin
Films shot in Wisconsin
Films set in the 1980s
2010s American films
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