''Tuscaloosa'' is a 2019 American drama film directed by Philip Harder (in his feature film directorial debut), and starring Devon Bostick and Natalia Dyer. It is based on the 1994 novel of the same name by W. Glasgow Phillips.

Plot

Billy Mitchell, a recent college graduate, falls in love with Virginia, a patient at his father's mental institution just after the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

. Mitchell and his best friend Nigel, who is black, fight against the racist cops and other authorities. Mitchell is torn between helping his slightly crazy girlfriend escape, maintaining a friendship with his childhood friend, and making his successful father proud of him.

Cast

* Natalia Dyer as Virginia * Tate Donovan as Doctor * Devon Bostick as Billy *

Marchánt Davis Marchánt Davis () is an American actor. He is known for his performance in the 2019 film '' The Day Shall Come''. He also played a supporting role in the film ''Tuscaloosa'' (2019). He was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance ...

as Nigel * Nathan Phillips as Deputy *Bruce Bohme as Papa * YG as Antoine *

Paul Cram Paul Matthew Cram (born October 31, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his role as "Zee", in the film ''Intermedio''. Filmography * '' Sugar & Spice'' (2001) - as Fickle Video Renter (uncredited) *''Intermedio'' (2005) - as Zee *''C ...

as Earl *John Murray as Orderly

Production

The film was shot entirely in the state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, with a number of scenes taking place at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

and some at and around director Philip Harder's home. Harder first read the novel in the late 1990s and was immediately interested in directing a film adaptation. He approached Pixel Farm, a Minneapolis-based visual effects company that Harder had worked with regularly on music videos and commercials, to create the movie. Production was set to begin around the late 2000s, with a $3.4 million budget and Thora Birch in talks to star. The

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

set back production and Harder was unable to get the funding necessary for the film. Patrick Riley, one of the film's producers, was a neighbor of Harder. After getting to know him, he decided to help fund the movie. Most of the film was shot in two weeks in the fall of 2017.

Reception

The film has rating on

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 ...

based on critic reviews. Brian Shaer of ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' gave it an eight out of ten. It has an average score of 3.3/5 on

Letterboxd Letterboxd is an online social networking service co-founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011. It was launched as a social app focused on sharing opinions about, and love of film, and is maintained by a small team in Auckland, New ...

References

External links

* American drama films Films based on American novels Films shot in Minnesota 2019 drama films 2019 films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2019 directorial debut films {{2010s-drama-film-stub