October Country

October Country is a stark look into the life of one New York family as it deals with truckloads of problems. From custody hearings to sexual abuse, the Mosher family is clearly dealing with tremendous issues in their lives, which sounds interesting, but the film doesn’t draw the viewer in the way it should. 

The biggest problem with this documentary is not with the subjects of the story, but with the presentation. The audience is just thrust into the Mosher’s lives with no understanding of what makes these people special. They have to deal with a terrific amount of pain but that by itself isn’t special. There are tons of people who go through similar situations, but they don’t get their own films. 

Only about an hour into the film do you start to feel real empathy towards these people. Still, that’s only because you’ve spent an hour watching their story. Prior to that point, you just wonder why you’re watching.

Plenty of picturesque imagery and fascinating stories save this from being a waste, but when you get down to it, there just isn’t enough emotional connection to draw audiences in.

1:45 p.m. Nov. 14 at Starz FilmCenter

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out