strange weather ( film )
“strange weather” opens in theaters, vod, and on digital platforms on friday, july 28 .
not even hunter, who eventually wears out her welcome, can keep strange weather from going off the cliff .
as the focus of strange weather, holly hunter is her typical fantastic self, using her committed performance to ground a narrative about a familial tragedy .
like thelma & louise, strange weather revolves around two southern women, the open road and a surreptitiously packed handgun. but the similarities end there .
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katherine dieckmann’s film is beholden to a studiously weird narrative that’s governed by formula screenwriting .
where the brilliance of strange weather lies - in great part through hunter' s stunningly human and subtly searing performance - is in its constant grappling with the nonlinear process of grief .
boutique distributor brainstorm media has taken north american theatrical rights to katherine dieckmann’s drama “ strange weather, ” starring holly hunter, with netflix taking worldwide subscription vod rights, excluding japan .
strange weather ★ ★ (2 / 4 stars) directed by: katherine dieckmann written by: katherine dieckmann starring: holly hunter, carrie coon and kim coates running time: 95 mins .
it’s almost impossible for the film to honor its predecessor without lapsing into contrived and preordained formula .
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check out an exclusive clip from the film below, showing off both hunter and coon hard at work .
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the film is produced by kalamalka prods. and ideal partners film fund. the deal was brokered by jessica lacy at icm partners, robert halmi jr. , great point’s chairman, and brainstorm’s president meyer shwarzstein .
katherine dieckmann’s strange weather is an odd, stifling, and occasionally quite moving mixture of self - help clichés and genre - film tropes, which are woven together in a thicket of unusually authentic american southern atmosphere. dieckmann has a knack for moody details, rendering the world of a small - town woman in succinct and telling brushstrokes .
reviewed at toronto film festival (gala), sept. 9, 2016. running time: 96 min .
even with its ordinary thread and style of filmmaking with an exclusion of a fitting soundtrack, holly hunter (darcy baylor) puts on a tremendous effort and there' s an exceptional character arc to be had in
strange weather
.
if only strange weather had given these people more room to breathe beyond the churning plot. for all its potential, the movie ultimately feels like a frustrating miscalculation; the ingredients are there — it' s the recipe that' s off .
michael showalter’s film is always at least gut - rumbling and keeps its humor in situations that are morose and awkward .
the film is at its best when dieckmann slows down the action and revelations for its real charm: two ladies, on the road, talking. more movies could stand to trust their stars to make an artful conversation as compelling as any action sequence or as exciting as a revenge flick. “strange weather” has the stars; it just needs to let them shine .
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too bad then that the pair find more demons along the way, big ones that threaten to overtake the film’s best assets .
dieckmann tries too hard to force a character sketch into a dramatic shape by giving darcy' s quest a preset endpoint: the louisiana office of walker' s old classmate, who stole his lucrative franchise restaurant idea. the harder
strange weather
drives toward a payoff, the more it sputters .
the film is at its best when dieckmann slows down the action and revelations for its real charm: two ladies, on the road, talking .
holly hunter gives one of the best performances of her career in writer - director katherine dieckmann' s indie drama
strange weather ,
playing a southerner reckoning with her son walker' s suicide. watching an actress of hunter' s caliber in a meaty leading role partly compensates for the creaky plot and overearnest tone .
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brainstorm will handle the north american theatrical release on the film, which premiered at the toronto film festival, prior to the netflix global rollout scheduled for fall 2017. great point media, which has backed such movies as “lady macbeth, ” “complete unknown” and “the party, ” is handling international sales in cannes .
richard lawson is a columnist for vanity fair' s hollywood, reviewing film and television and covering entertainment news and gossip. he lives in new york city .
academy award winner holly hunter gets behind the wheel in this engrossing story of a woman' s quest for rectitude in the wake of harrowing loss. steeped in a strong sense of place and peopled by convention - defying characters, katherine dieckmann' s strange weather draws you into its sultry southern milieu and takes you on a back - roads trek you won' t soon forget .
a case of excellent actors’ straining to elevate a contrived screenplay, “strange weather, ” directed by katherine dieckmann (the atmospheric “diggers”), casts holly hunter as darcy, an academic administrator, at a university in georgia. darcy is at a crossroads: applying for a belated bachelor’s degree, she may soon lose her job to budget cuts. her son, walker, committed suicide seven years earlier .
with supporting parts (including crumbley’s stock yuppie - scum) even more patly conceived, there’s not much beyond pretty scenery and forced “grittiness” to distract from the hollow histrionics at the heart of “ strange weather, ” whose clumsy signifiers include being set during a long, hot drought. there’s no free - at - last rain dance for darcy, but just about every other lyrical cliche appears on cue .
the comparison may be unfair, but it' s such a rare pleasure to see two top - notch actresses have the screen to themselves, playing smart, strong women, that we feel robbed when the movie doesn' t do them justice. where strange weather errs (and where thelma & louise did not) is in detracting from that pleasure by half - burying the main characters under unwieldy chunks of plot .
shwarzstein stated, “we loved the film as soon as we saw it in toronto — it has mystery, humor, raw emotion and features one of holly hunter ’s most outstanding performances to date. ”
the forecast for “strange weather, ” a rather dour road - trip movie through the backroads of dixie taken by two gal pals that is weighed down by a heavy downpour of grief and retribution? there is 100 percent chance that at some point you might wish you were watching the rollicking “thelma & louise” instead, especially when oh - so - mournful lady - sung laments to the strains of acoustic guitars pour forth from the soundtrack .
the first thing we learn about katherine dieckmann ’s “ strange weather ” is it’s set on the 88th consecutive day without rain in a tiny georgia town. plants are wilting; so are people. everyone is hysterical and exhausted, and no one more so than darcy baylor (holly hunter). crackling with the actress’ firecracker energy, early introductions to darcy’s life make it clear that there are still plenty of secrets left to be told .
while darcy’s rage is pure and understandable (and boy does hunter sell the hell out of it), “strange weather” struggles to move past the sense that everything is happening too fast and too close. coincidences fly at every turn, slingshotting both darcy and byrd into a situation neither is prepared for, forcing both actresses to shoulder some heavy scenes (including a revealing argument that belongs in both ladies’ highlight reel, it’s that potent). hunter particularly excels in a confrontation that forces her to run through a gamut of emotions in the minimum of time, but by now that’s old hat for her .
holly hunter is one of those erstwhile hollywood leading women — like jill clayburgh or debra winger — whose name provokes a certain wistfulness, because there’s no good reason why she stayed at the top such a short while. that is, none beyond the industry’s infamously short attention span toward most female stars, who generally get shunted to the b list at an age where almost any other career would just be getting established. those who miss the spunky, rueful, heart - of - gold hunter from her early signature films will find something of a return to that form in “ strange weather, ” though in a vehicle that doesn’t always serve her to best effect .
unsurprisingly, i' ve fallen in love with this film about a grown woman rediscovering herself whilst journeying to take down the man who stole her dead son' s hot dog company idea. i' ve nothing further to say besides carrie coon matches holly hunter' s intensity perfectly, and i love women. cheers !
amidst all the la la land swooning and moonlight cheering, there were, of course, other films at the toronto film festival this year, ones that maybe got lost in the din of louder movies. to give them a little attention, here’s a brief rundown of five movies i saw at tiff that were smaller, but still of note .
another is glenne headly' s brief turn as darcy' s childhood friend mary lou, who hosts darcy and byrd when they stop for a night in meridian, georgia. mary lou' s straight - shooting advice, and the giddy reminiscences she and darcy share, are an example of what strange weather does best: showing women simply talking. too bad there' s so much else crowding it. though she wrings a bit of mild suspense from the haziness surrounding the death of darcy' s son, dieckmann overestimates our interest in the how and why of the tragedy. what we truly want to know more about is who these women are — darcy and byrd, but also mary lou and geri — and what they mean to one another .
we first see darcy, a hippie - ish fifty - something georgia university administrative assistant, watering her garden in the middle of the night while smoking a cigarette. (it' s something she' ll do several times over the course of the film, one of those movie - ishly quirky touches that often pass for character nuance .) byrd (coon), her closest confidante, lives next door with her african - american girlfriend geri (andrene ward - hammond) and works at the same university, in the fundraising department .
it really is time for more female driven, female directed road movies. after decades worth of a genre dominated by men, by the male perspective (with few bright exceptions like thelma & louise), it' s still sadly refreshing to see the exception of a feminine view. there are still, of course, the same old tropes of a dead child, of a woman in her late 50s / early 60s harbouring regrets and unfulfilled dreams - but the movie exists in a long line of film history, which leaves it with little matieral for comparison .
not really that impressive. i did not get much from it. so holly hunter plays a woman that lost her son, a few years back and then discovers that someone stole hurt son' s idea and she' s wants to do something about it. it a very personal piece about a mother' s grief and wondering what part she had to play in her son' s death and how big the part was. you get the point but i still did not get much from watching this story unfold. i like the way the film looks and that' s pretty much it .
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a poignant, lyrical drama about a mother (hunter), who, in an effort to deal with the grief over the death of her son, travels the back roads of the deep south to settle a score. a story of... see full summary »
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a poignant, lyrical drama about a mother (hunter), who, in an effort to deal with the grief over the death of her son, travels the back roads of the deep south to settle a score. a story of grief and forgiveness, of looking inward to find a way to move forward .
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it may be time to retire the type of road movie in which the protagonist, ostensibly on an urgent journey, insists on taking back roads — partly because she doesn’t like trucks, she says, but really because a quick drive on the interstate wouldn’t sustain a feature .
darcy soon learns that mark (shane jacobsen), a friend of walker’s, has grown wealthy after founding a chain of hot dog restaurants — walker’s idea. conspiring to confront mark in new orleans, she brings along her friend byrd (carrie coon) and the gun walker used to kill himself, probably more for symbolism than for proving chekhov’s axiom .
the journey is a pretext for healing, as darcy visits an old friend (glenne headly, who died in june) and walker’s father (ted ferguson), who abused her but is now ailing and mute. this gives darcy a chance to unburden her thoughts to him while allowing ms. dieckmann, who wrote the screenplay, to avoid the complications of constructing a conversation .
that’s the movie in a nutshell: a catharsis more meaningful for the character than for her audience .
rated r for sex and grief. running time: 1 hour 32 minutes .
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like so many women who unwisely spend too much time in gyms ruining their looks under the delusion of self - improvement, [ hunter' s ] muscles upstage her femininity. but the girl can still act .
hunter, her darcy often wearing a cowboy hat along with a tank top and skinny jeans more often seen on teens, gives a lived - in, down - but - not - out performance throughout .
in a quivering, bone - deep performance, hunter takes darcy from a mother encased in guilt to a woman who can acknowledge her shattering loss while still recognizing her right to be alive .
carrie coon proves once again that she' s a phenomenal talent who is currently being severely under - utilized in the hollywood ecosystem .
... a heartfelt and modestly poignant examination of maternal grief, yet it' s consistently undermined by plot mechanics and clichés .
this slight drama doesn' t have very much to it, but any movie about a middle - aged woman is a welcome rarity, and in it, hunter proves she can still bring life and spirit to any kind of material .
it' s hard to imagine another actor in the world who could elicit those particular responses to those moments, or who could make the wild narrative swing of the climactic encounter not only play, but play credibly .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him. riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you. …
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but after crossing into the water - ravaged environs of louisiana, a falling - out over a long - hidden revelation causes byrd to fly away back home via bus. torpor settles upon the proceedings as darcy, with no buffer around to keep her grounded, eventually gets to engage in the showdown she has been hankering for and the facts she needs .
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in katherine dieckmann' s latest feature, hunter and carrie coon make a major argument for bechdel test - passing features .
despite the closeness of their bond — we first meet darcy and byrd while they’re both sneaking outside at night, eager for a little relief from the stifling heat — it’s soon apparent that the women are hiding something from each other. byrd can’t understand why darcy is so cruel to her adoring ex - boyfriend clay (kim coates), while darcy can’t conceal her questions about byrd’s relationship with live - in girlfriend geri (
andrene ward - hammond). those seemingly minor misunderstandings take on an entirely new dimension when the obsessive darcy embarks on a quixotic quest for answers that even byrd isn’t eager to find .
hunter and coon have a natural, believable chemistry; it would be enough to watch them quibble through their lives and their own friendship. unfortunately, dieckmann’s screenplay soon becomes concerned with a macguffin of a mystery that threatens to overtake even its talented actresses .
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hunter stars as darcy baylor, who works as an administrative assistant at a small university. with her job in danger and her personal relationships stagnating, darcy hits the road with her best friend byrd (played by the excellent carrie coon) .
but dieckmann (who previously directed the slice - of - life indies
diggers
and
motherhood
) excels at capturing the textures and diversity of her location, showing the south as a varied region where agriculture, academia, poverty and progressivism sit side by side .
plus, the filmmaker is savvy enough just to let hunter work. this performance is built from dozens of tiny, human gestures — from the way darcy looks defiant and stung whenever she' s criticized, to the way she pets her dog with her bare feet. darcy' s story may feel contrived, but her character is vividly real .
hunter plays grief - stricken darcy, who is struggling to come to terms with the death of her son. convinced there is something behind his suicide, darcy travels back to the deep south to uncover the truth with the help of childhood friend byrd (carrie coon). bolstered by her on - again off - again lover clayton, played by kim coates (“sons of anarchy”), darcy begins “an emotional road trip of self - discovery, ” according to a statement .
halmi added, “working with brainstorm and netflix is a great partnership for the domestic release and perfectly suited to this emotionally gripping drama. ”
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dieckmann has an eye for the american south that refutes the condescending sentimentality of most films, capturing the ravages of flooding and famine with a haunting matter - of - factness that interrogates darcy’s self - pity, especially when she’s grilling one of walker’s acquaintances as he collects his family from the fallout of a disaster. and there’s a breathtaking confrontation between darcy and her ex - husband, wes (johnny mcphail), which climaxes with a close - up of the man’s frozen, woeful, ultimately unknowable face .
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holly hunter and carrie coon star in katherine dieckmann' s drama about a southern woman who enlists her friend to help find answers about her son' s suicide .
through the fundraising database, byrd learns that mark wright (shane jacobsen), a former close friend of darcy' s son, is now the filthy - rich owner of a chain of customize - your - own - hot - dog eateries near new orleans. when byrd tells her about it, darcy is struck by how familiar the concept sounds, and soon remembers that before he killed himself her son had pitched the exact same idea as part of a business school assignment. she grabs byrd and the two set off to track down mark and get some answers .
hunter, sporting a stetson and arms so wiry and muscular they look ready to snap, is vivid as ever. an actress who excels at suggesting the always - spinning wheels of a sharp mind, she' s totally persuasive as a woman coming to the painful realization that the image she had of herself as a mother may not have matched the reality. though coon doesn' t have as much to do as the sassy, supportive byrd, she' s the kind of skilled performer who can effortlessly flesh out a character beyond what' s on the page. and in a key supporting role, kim coates (sons of anarchy) hits some sweet notes as darcy' s steadfast on - and - off lover .
a mississippi mother seeks answers after her son' s suicide in katherine diekmann' s drama .
with: holly hunter, carrie coon, kim coates, glenne headly, andrene ward - hammond, turner crumbley, walker babington, shane jacobsen, craig boe .
with arm - twisting co - worker byrd riding shotgun, darcy fires up her old ford truck, and sets off for kevin’s corporate hq in new orleans. this is the kind of movie where despite the psychological urgency of our heroine’s quest, she insists on taking back roads so that we can savor every last drop of down - home southern culture. pit stops include a visit with glenne headly as an over - the - top old pal; and, of course, a shocking revelation or two must be shared between darcy and byrd before they reach the big easy .
much of the goings on feel plain hokey, and the rather theatrical dialogue mixed with a couple of certified big speeches don’t help matters. through it all, darcy is sassy, wounded, and indomitable— a tailor - made role so tightly fitted to hunter that it begins to feel like a straitjacket, one in which the actress (who now sports the almost alarmingly sinewy physique of the latter - day madonna) thrashes about as if every emotion might be her last .
production: a great point media presentation in association with kalamalka prods. and quincy pics of an ideal partners production. (international sales: icm partners, los angeles .) producers: jana edelbaum, rachel cohen. executive producers: jim reeve, robert halmi jr. , caroline kaplan, allene quincy .
crew: director, writter: katherine dieckmann. camera (color, hd): david morrison. editor: madeleine gavin .
with: holly hunter, carrie coon, kim coates, glenne headly, andrene ward - hammond, turner crumbley, walker babington, shane jacobsen, craig boe .
holly hunter is one of those erstwhile hollywood leading women — like jill clayburgh or debra winger — whose name provokes a certain wistfulness, because there’s no good reason why she stayed at the top such a short while. that is, none beyond the industry’s infamously short attention span toward most female stars, who generally get shunted to [ … ]
years after her son' s suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea .
kind of a standard road - trip - of - adult - discovery movie, except that holly hunter and carrie coon are amazing in it, and the big confrontation at the end is worth the price of admission on its own. hunter plays a ragged mother who learns that an old associate of her son' s stole his business plan and became a millionaire with it after the son committed suicide, so she grabs the suicide weapon and crosses the country to confront the boy. plenty of incident and character development along the way, but it' s the connection she makes with the old associate at the end that will stick with me strongest .
it' s meh at best, the cast is probably the only reason why i even gave this a go in the first place. the story plays out pretty well until you realize you have seen how it' s going to end in other movies, i mean it' s definitely not horrendous as there is some stuff to like. the cast is pretty nice as i said before, the filming was pretty decent and there' s a few moments that i actually liked. but other than that it' s nothing really special at all, just below average. .
katherine dieckmann really created something incredible with this movie; darcey baylor is a stellar character and the way the story unfolds is beautiful. i love women and female friendships and cowboy hats
holly hunter is and always will be a great actress but even she can’t save this emotional yet misguided story. not particularly bad but not particularly good either .
look, this ain' t all that much but, come on: road trip movie with holly hunter and carrie coon soundtracked by sharon van etten. need i say more ?
the beginning is weird and very random. but eventually, it does get better. holly hunter, still grieving her son, feels her sons friend stole his business idea & she’s sets out to find him. along the way, she finds a little peace. a little slow moving, but some great acting .
i wish there was a little more to this movie. it' s not bad, but it kind of circles around an interesting character - driven story of grief and healing, but never really commits to the deep dive into something that would be memorable. holly hunter is great as always and carrie coon continues to be one of the most under - appreciated and under - used actresses in hollywood .
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strange weather is a 2016 drama film directed by katherine dieckmann . it was screened in the gala presentations section at the 2016 toronto international film festival . 
strange weather is a 2016 drama film directed by katherine dieckmann. it was screened in the gala presentations section at the 2016 toronto international film festival.
strange weather is a 2016 drama film directed by katherine dieckmann. it was screened in the gala presentations section at the 2016 toronto international film festival.