Hell's Half Mile Music and Film Festival

TakeFiveOnFilm - 9-26-14 Hell's Half Mile - Tindeck MP3 Download

As an industry, Hollywood filmmaking is contracting. Fewer movies are being made each year, and the movies that are being produced have higher and higher budgets. All the thoughtful, mid-budget domestic dramas that might have been made twenty years ago are not getting the green light, so that Captain Avengers: Rise of the Winter Mockingjay Part 2 can have an additional 20 million dollars added to its catering budget. 

With 150 to 200 million dollars on the line, movie producers want as much of a slam-dunk guarantee as they can get that they will earn their money back. And so, these few tent-pole movies are crafted, polished, correlated, and focus-grouped within an inch of their lives. They are intended to give audiences maximum easy enjoyment and a minimum of intellectual, emotional challenge. Now, I’m all for escapism. It’s a big part of why I love movies, but if that’s all we have to choose from, we are losing out on a big part of what film can do for us.

This weekend marks the ninth annual Hell’s Half Mile Film and Music Festival in Bay City. Almost a decade ago, a small group of film buffs, programmers, and event planners got together and decided the Great Lakes Bay Region needed a yearly dose of music and movies that aren’t easily corralled, that are a little untamed, maybe even edgy. 

They named the festival after a stretch of road in Bay City that, back in its rough and wild logging town days, was a long strip of bars, brothels, and gambling houses. That part of town is a lot more family friendly now, of course, but the movies the film festival brings still have that spirit of wildness and unpredictability.

One film that reflects the refreshing, unexpected spirit of the festival is Irish filmmaker Terry McMahon’s movie Patrick’s Day. The film has all the gloss of a Hollywood production – well-lit, thoughtful cinematography, convincing professional performances from the actors, a rousing pop soundtrack. Even the story, on its surface, seems like a pretty standard boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl narrative. Despite all that, Patrick’s Day is not your average multiplex movie. It tells the story of Patrick, a 26 year old Dubliner who suffers from schizophrenia. He lives in a long-term care facility, holds down a job, and gets regular visits from his protective but damaged mother.  Born on Saint Patrick’s Day, the young man and his mom have a regular birthday outing tradition – they go to the parade, eat at the same restaurant, wear silly wigs and glasses. But this time, Patrick gets separated from his mother, and while waiting for her to show up, he meets Karen, an attractive flight attendant who is out for the evening clearly looking for trouble. The two of them hook up and all sorts of complications ensue. 

It has elements of meet-cute romance, a coming of age story, an overcoming-physical affliction narrative, and dark psychological drama – but it doesn’t comfortably fit into any one of these categories.

Because it is an independent film, it doesn’t have to fall into one safe genre designed to appeal to one particular demographic. The film unfolds with a different rhythm than a typical Hollywood film. It ends differently than you expect. The conclusion is redemptive in a way, but it’s certainly not the comfortable, unambiguous happy ending we’ve come to associate with movies as much as popcorn and previews.

The film is about the collision of love and damage, how those two things often come together whether it’s in family relationships or romance, and how they often try to cancel one another out. Patrick’s Day isn’t comfortable, escapist entertainment, but that’s a good thing. It forces us out of our summer-movie Teenage Mutant Ninja X-Men -induced state of escapism and asks us to try something new. It’s something a little different, a little untamed. And who couldn’t use a little unpredictability in their weekend?

Patricks’ Day screens today at 4 p.m. and again on Sunday at 4:30. The Hell’s Half Mile Film and Music Festival runs through this weekend and tickets are still available. 
 

This review was originally broadcast on Q90.1, Delta College Public Radio. Learn more about the station at www.deltabroadcasting.org.