Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s “October Country” is easily one of the most gorgeous, even lustrous downer documentaries I can think of. Its intimacy in portraying four generations of a troubled family living in upstate New York’s Mohawk Valley is to be both admired and feared. Mosher, a photographer, had chronicled the generations of his dysfunctional, working-class family, and collaborated on this film with Palmieri. “Family is everything,” one subject says, and boy, is it. Book-ended by Halloween imagery, “October Country” more than earns the comparisons that have been made to “Capturing the Friedmans” and “Grey Gardens,” with the substantial gift of a lyrical visual style. Harrowing family secrets emerge in a world of beauty. Each unhappy family member is unhappy in their own way, and is articulate about the causes if not the means to escape their condition. There is a radiant, 11-year-old glimmer of hope in the film (pictured); you fear for her, as well. “October Country” may be a masterpiece, I’m not certain, but I still squirm when I think about it, even though I’ve seen it several times in the past year. 80m. (Ray Pride)
“October Country” plays at Siskel June 5 at 3pm, 6:30pm; June 7 at 6pm and June 9 at 7:45pm. The trailer is embedded below.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Talking Screens, October 15-21, 2021: The Best of the Chicago International Film Fest The fifty-seventh Chicago International Film Festival runs through Sunday, October 24. And, Michael Caplan's "Algren" has its Chicago theatrical run beginning this week via Music Box virtual cinema. Several movies open Friday, including David Gordon Green's "Halloween Kills," Ridley Scott's "The Last Duel," Mia Hansen-Løve's "Bergman Island" and Todd Haynes' "Velvet Underground."
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