Small Town Murder Songs

Ed Gass-Donnelly

In brief:
I have to admit that I slept through part of this film and had to watch it from the front row -- not ideal conditions; however, what I saw were earnest characterizations by well-meaning actors with a tepid story. I would like to see it again in a more comfortable screening position. Jackie Burroughs is wonderful in one of her last film performances. Music by Bruce Peninsula.

Q & A with director, Ed Gass-Donnelly.

The way it was filmed.
The use of scripture.
Where did the idea come from?
The Mennonite setting.
The radio playing in the soundtrack.
The casting.

Addendum afer second (complete) screening:

As I said, it's much better sitting a bit farther back and you have to be awake for the whole movie to get the plot. We had it at our OS Reel Festival in January and it was well worth seeing, though not your traditional story-telling movie. Use of locale was evident -- it was meant to be set in Canada and didn't pretend to be elsewhere.