''Small Town Murder Songs'' is a 2010 Canadian

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

crime film directed by

Ed Gass-Donnelly Ed Gass-Donnelly (born August 17, 1977) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. His first full-length film, ''This Beautiful City'', was released in 2008 and nominated for four Genies at the 29th Genie Awards. In January 2011 Gas ...

. The film premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on September 14, 2010. The film is written by Gass-Donnelly, produced by Gass-Donnelly and Lee Kim, and stars Peter Stormare,

Jill Hennessy Jillian Noel Hennessy (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian actress and singer. She is most known for her roles on the American television series '' Law & Order'', on which she played prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons, and ''Crossin ...

, and

Martha Plimpton Martha Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress. Her feature-film debut was in '' Rollover'' (1981); she subsequently rose to prominence in the Richard Donner film ''The Goonies'' (1985). She has also appeared in '' The Mosquito ...

. ''Small Town Murder Songs'' was shot in Conestogo Lake,

Listowel Listowel ( ; , IPA: �lʲɪsˠˈt̪ˠuəhəlʲ is a heritage market town in County Kerry, Ireland. It is on the River Feale, from the county town, Tralee. The town of Listowel had a population of 4,820 according to the CSO Census 2016. Desc ...

Baden, Ontario Baden ( ) is a suburban community and unincorporated place in Township of Wilmot, Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It has a population around 4,500 and was named after Baden-Baden, Germany. The approximate popu ...

and

Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman an ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. The film has been given a limited theatrical release in the United States beginning on May 26, 2011.

Plot

"A modern, gothic tale of crime and redemption about an aging police officer from a small Ontario

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radi ...

town who hides a violent past until a local murder upsets the calm of his newly reformed life." Stephen Holden, writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', explained the story:

Cast

* Peter Stormare as Walter *

as Sam *

Aaron Poole Aaron Poole (born March 17, 1977) is a Canadian actor. Early life Poole grew up in Barrie, Ontario and attended Barrie Central Collegiate. He is a graduate of the Etobicoke School of the Arts and George Brown College. He is of Italian descent. ...

as Jim *

as Rita *

Jackie Burroughs Jacqueline "Jackie" Burroughs (2 February 1939 – 22 September 2010) was a British-born Canadian actress. Early life Born in Southport, Lancashire (now Merseyside), England, she emigrated to Canada on 26 August 1948 with her mother Edna, ...

as Olive *

Ari Cohen Ari Cohen (born in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian stage and television actor. He was a cast member of ''My Babysitter's a Vampire''. He is from Winnipeg and attended the University of Manitoba, where he was an alumnus of the Black Hole Theatre ...

as Washington * Stephen Eric McIntyre as Steve * Trent McMullen as Officer Kevin * Alexandria Benoit as Sarah * Amy Rutherford as Ava * Kat Germain as Jenny

Release

Monterey Media acquired the United States distribution rights in 2011. The limited United States theatrical release began at the O-Cinema in

Wynwood Wynwood is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida. Wynwood is known for being an entertainment district, with artwork, restaurants, breweries, clothing stores, dance venues, among other retail options. Formerly an industrial district, the area is now ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida. Monterey Media release the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in July 2011.

Festivals

''Small Town Murder Songs'' was selected at the following film festivals: * Santa Catalina Film Festival - Winner Best Feature *

Phoenix Film Festival Phoenix Film Festival is a festival that celebrates feature films and their creators. Started in 2000, the annual celebration takes place in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The festival is a showcase for feature and short films from all over the wo ...

- World Cinema Director *

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

- WINNER Best Actress *

Torino Film Festival The Torino Film Festival (also called the Turin Film Festival, TFF) is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival. It was f ...

- WINNER Fipresci Critic’s Prize Best Film * International Film Festival Rotterdam *

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...

Cucalorus Film Festival The Cucalorus Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is one of the largest film festivals in the U.S. South and recognized as a destination film festival for indie filmmakers. MovieMaker magazine recogni ...

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

* Santa Barbara International Film Festival *

Cinequest Film Festival The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is ...

* Miami International Film Festival *

Cleveland International Film Festival The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest film festival in Ohio. It was first held in 1977, showing eight films over a period of eight weeks at the Cedar Lee Theatre. ...

Vail Film Festival The Vail Film Festival is an independent film festival that has taken place annually in Vail, Colorado since 2004. The 19th annual Vail Film Festival will take place virtually from December 1 to 4, 2022. The festival was founded by Sean Cross and ...

Dallas International Film Festival The Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), presented by Dallas Film, is an annual film festival that takes place in Dallas, Texas. About Dallas Film Dallas Film, established as Dallas Film Society, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization ...

* Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival * Reel Dakota Film Society/Film Festival *

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

* Indianapolis International Film Festival

Reception

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 ...

, the film has an approval rating of 79%, based on reviews from 19 critics, with an average score of 6.07/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Cole from ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' wrote a positive review, saying, "STMS succeeds as an Ontario Gothic mood piece". Michael Rechtshafen of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' wrote that ''Small Town Murder Songs'' is "An effective ensemble backed by a bracingly haunting soundtrack" after its screening at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival; he also saw similarities with ''Winter's Bone'' and found "much to admire about this carefully drawn but concise character sketch, especially the strong performances and a unique, affectingly ominous score by folk-rock-gospel outfit

Bruce Peninsula The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada, that divides Georgian Bay of Lake Huron from the lake's main basin. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southwestern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, ...

... The already dense ambience gets progressively heavier as the investigation continues, with Gass-Donnelly keeping a tight grip on the artful compositions. But as strong as those visuals are, what really ends up lingering long after the lights come up, is that

Greek chorus A Greek chorus, or simply chorus ( grc-gre, χορός, chorós), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collect ...

of a soundtrack, its fire-and-brimstone, gothic-tinged take on traditional and original

spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the ex ...

packing an unsettling, pious punch." Dustin Hucks with

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book pro ...

also saw the film at The Santa Barbara International Film Festival and said, "''Small Town Murder Songs'' is definitely a winner in the stable of films showing at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year". Holden of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that the film "is not really a whodunit but a character study of a man squeezed in a psychological, spiritual and professional vise... ''Small Town Murder Songs'' is compellingly acted from top to bottom. As the raw passions of its hard-bitten characters seep into you, the songs hammer them even more deeply into your consciousness. The film's only flaw — a big one — is its brevity. When it ends after 76 minutes, you are left wishing it had included Walter's back story and had offered a more detailed picture of the town." Shannon from Movie Moxie had wonderful things to say about the film: "The powerful score sets an impressive and all-encompassing atmosphere to the film". Robert Bell from Exclaim! had pleasant things to say about the film, stating that there were "some impressive cinematography and an understanding of tone through stillness and minor stylization make for a pleasant experience aesthetically". Howard Feinstein from '' Screen Daily'' praised writer/director Gass-Donnelly: "Ed Gass-Donnelly makes appropriate, unpretentiously artful, stylistic choices in this tale of redemption". Alison Willmore of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', gave the film a grade B, with particular praise for the songs: "Who's responsible for the killing is never much of a mystery in ''Small Town Murder Songs''; there are no dark conspiracies, only dark natures. The tension instead focuses on whether Stormare will be able to rein himself in when the investigation inexorably pulls him toward his old life. Everyone is so restrained, their turmoil buried so deep, that the depth of what they're feeling has to be excavated from what's left unsaid."

Awards

It won Best Feature at the 2011 Santa Catalina Film Festival and won Fipresci Critic’s Prize Best Film at the 2010 Torino International Film Festival.

won Best Actress at the 2010 Whistler International Film Festival for her performance in this film.

won World Cinema Director at the 2011

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Small Town Murder Songs English-language Canadian films Canadian independent films 2010 films 2010 crime drama films 2010 crime thriller films Canadian crime drama films Canadian crime thriller films Mennonitism in Canada Mennonitism in popular culture Films directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly 2010s Canadian films