Blow the Man Down

Glenn Kenny March 20, 2020

“If you ain’t into fishing, you’re in the wrong place.” So sings the
burly, bearded, sort-of Greek chorus of this coastal small town
shaggy dog tale of homicide and how not to cover it up. Priscilla
(Sophie Lowe) and Mary Beth (Morgan Saylor) are young adult
sisters whose mom, who ran what looks like a fairly decrepit kinda
sorta hardware/supplies store, have just lost said mom, and even
then can’t stop squabbling. Priscilla is intense, sensible; Mary
Beth is wide-eyed and impulsive. Impulsive enough that the
evening of her mother’s burial she lets a local dirtbag take her to
his place.
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Outside of which Mary Beth discovers evidence that suggests the
dude is a serial killer. He definitely wants a piece of her, and in the
worst way, and in the ensuing struggle she harpoons the guy.
Enlisting her sister to help dispose of the corpse, they use a
gutting knife to cut off the guy’s limbs so he’ll fit more easily into a
picnic cooler.

Directors and co-writers Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle

Krudy don’t get too grisly in their depictions but they put their
points across. The little town Mary Beth and Priscilla want to
leave is a hotbed of other extra-legal activities, including
prostitution (those fisherman need some recreation) and illicit
dealings that see a grocery bag filled with cash land in Mary Beth’s
lap. Just what she could use in this situation, really.

Saylor and Lowe are amusing in their depictions of befuddlement

and desperation. And it’s interesting and largely fun to see a
movie inflected with humor reminiscent of Woody Allen (well,
come on, the Greek chorus device was done by Allen in “Mighty
Aphrodite”) and the Coen brothers with female protagonists at its
center. But the older females in the cast nearly walk away with the
film. Margo Martindale is a quiet scream as Enid, the madam with
a real you-can’t-tell-me attitude. Marceline Hugot, Annette
O’Toole, and June Squibb are also delightful as the town’s three
moralistic biddies, at least one of whom turns out to be a trifle
more tolerant than she appeared. These formidable females pull
fast ones on each other, and on the town’s generally ineffectual
males, with funny deftness. “Blow the Man Down” isn’t an earth-
shaker, but it’s a small pleasure that makes you wish for more
from its filmmakers, and soon.