Cinebuffs Recommends
Based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman, Downtown Owl is a sparkle dark Reagan Era comedy set in the fictional town of Owl, North Dakota in the leading days up to the region's worst blizzard in Minnesota's century.
This is one of those titles that sits on my desk, unassuming and in no big hurry to be paid attention to. Going largely under my radar, there was always something more demanding to look at, but like most of these, they are much better than anticipated, if only for the reason that if it was likely to be better than expected, I would have watched it already.
Lily Rabe plays an absolute blinder as the temporary teacher for a semester at Owl High School. Maybe better known for her horror background, this character study of the unravelling of a woman desperate for attention is delightful by turns, but equally fraught and desperately fragile. Ed Harris also features but in a much more minor role but compliments the small town aesthetic which feels genuine.
There are good people and bad people everywhere you go, of course, and the most difficult, interesting and valuable ones tend to fall on either side of categorisation. Owl may only have eight hundred people, three bars and one school, but it is filled with the most interesting characters, roundly filled out with an admirable script that doesn't rush, despite the short runtime, not least Finn Wittrock as Coach Laidlaw and Vanessa Hudgens' sassy Naomi.
In all, I had a much, much better time with this than expected. Like all good things, you would like it to be longer, but on reflection, this may just be the exact right amount of Owl I needed.
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