American Fable (2016) Reviews

• The Lion and the Mouse

  gavin69422017-07-05

  When 11-year-old Gitty (Peyton Kennedy) discovers that her beloved father is hiding a wealthy man (Richard Schiff) in her family's silo in order to save their struggling farm, she is forced to choose between saving the man's life or protecting her family from the consequences of their actions. The "fable" of the title is the film's explicit parallel between Gitty and the story of the lion and the mouse. When the mouse sees that the lion is in trouble (perhaps from a thorn in his foot), the mouse does the seemingly right thing and aids the lion. But what is the outcome? Is the lion grateful or does he turn around and devour the tasty morsel? This is the problem facing Gitty: she wants to do the right thing, but is it worth the unknown outcome? With its blend of fantasy and the pastoral, "American Fable" might call to mind other films such as "Pan's Labyrinth" or even "The Reflecting Skin". The latter would be unfair, but the former is a good touchstone. While the fantasy in "Fable" is relatively mild -- more dream than altered reality -- it does feature a strong-willed young girl in a perilous world. And, for the record, Peyton Kennedy excels in this role, really carrying the weight of the entire film on her shoulders successfully. Speaking of the pastoral setting, credit must be given to the filmmakers for their location choices. Certainly you could replicate a Wisconsin farm in California or elsewhere, but actually filming in Wisconsin and Illinois captured the authentic nature of the Midwest. And the inclusion of the House on the Rock was brilliantly conceived. Anyone from the Midwest should instantly recognize the Infinity Room and the World's Largest Carousel, both of which double effectively as a dream sequence. Veteran actor Richard Schiff balances with Kennedy quite well and plays an excellent "lion". Viewers will be kept guessing if he really intends to keep his promises or if he will say anything just to survive. Kip Pardue's acting is the weak point of the film. Whether it is him or the script, he often seems out of place. Which leaves Gavin MacIntosh. His character, Martin, is impossible to love, coming across very much like a budding sociopath. MacIntosh's portrayal is therefore excellent -- he creates an uneasiness in the viewer that shows a real mastery of the character. As the debut feature film for writer-director-producer Anne Hamilton, "American Fable" is a winner, pure and simple. Moviegoers ought to keep their eyes open for Hamilton's name on future projects; whether she ends up staying in the independent film world or moves on to bigger studio projects, she exhibits world-class skill and imagination that we should hope to see more of. The home video release from IFC Midnight has a few small perks. There are deleted scenes that may add a little something for audience members who cannot quite get enough of this family. Sadly, there is no audio commentary or in-depth interview with Hamilton. Perhaps keeping some aspects shrouded in mystery is for the best, but it would have been nice to hear some thoughts on the writing, casting, funding and other topics from the auteur.

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• American Fable doesn't live up to its title

  shilex-109-1322342017-04-18

  This is a movie that could have benefited from putting more "fable" into the story and less realism. While beautifully shot with a couple of good performances, overall the story could have used more polish. The protagonist is a little girl (11 years old) named Gitty, whom we follow and experience life on a farm in the 80's, as seen through her eyes. The general overarching theme of the film is about the struggles of the American farmer who can no longer get by because of federal cut-backs and big business coming in and acquiring the smaller farms. ****SPOILERS**** The main plot involves a kidnapped land developer (Richard Schiff's character) who is buying up farm land, and an unknown woman who has something to gain off his disappearance. Gitty's family participates in helping keep the secret, in exchange for financial gain aka: Money to save their farm. Gitty secretly befriends the kidnapped gentleman while he is secured in an abandoned silo and hi-jinks ensue (just kidding). They bond and she learns chess and literature from the man, while the family (specifically Gitty's older brother, Martin) keep an eye on him. And by "keep and eye on him", I mean beat him and cut off his finger. And for this, they get a bag full of money. Just for following the plan set in play by the mysterious woman. We get all-too brief flashes of some mystical elements here (coming from the imagination of the protagonist, Gitty), but they are few and far between. The film mainly just consists of miserable characters talking about miserable things happening to them. For a film centered around only a few characters, it's amazing how underdeveloped they are. Gitty is the most fully fleshed out, and the girl who plays her - does a good job at expressing her emotions - but there just seems to be something missing. She plays off Richard Schiff's character well, but they don't develop his character enough to really care. There are hints at who he is, but we're never really shown or told. He's just a kind, old man. But is he really? We never find out. Now I'm guessing the title "American Fable" is sort of a play on "The American Dream" and how the dream isn't all that it's cracked up to be, but come on - if you're going to have "Fable" in your title and follow a little girl through a beautifully shot landscape - don't just hint at a supernatural element. Show us something. Anything. And I don't just mean a woman on a horse in Maleficent garb showing up every so often randomly to as if exclaim "See, this IS a fairy tale. Kinda!". Gitty explores a well early in the movie, with a violin and scribblings from a past unknown figure laying at the bottom of it. I remember thinking, "I wonder what kind of fantastical element this will turn into?". And the answer? Nothing. It's never explained, and it doesn't lead to anything - except one brief scene where Gitty brings the violin to the man in the silo. But he doesn't play it. No one does. It's just a prop. A useless prop. See how frustrating that is? It's like an hour and a half of build-up to an interesting idea, and then nothing. Even the psychotic brother Martin is left hanging. He's an evil for purely evil's-sake character, just so the film has some kind of tension and climax. And at the end, he falls down the well. And then? And then we have no idea. No idea if he's alive or dead, or what the consequences of his actions were - or if he had any kind of revelation. This is the brother of the main character, and not just some random person - so why aren't we provided with any kind of closure? This film had potential to be something with depth - but whether it was budget constraints or just bad storytelling - it's really quite disappointing because I honestly wanted to like the movie, based on the main character and the visuals alone. American Fable was just too vanilla, with nothing really to say or show, to recommend to anyone. A real shame since there appears to be talent involved.

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• black and white before the gray

  ferguson-62017-02-15

  Greetings again from the darkness. The feature film debut of writer/director Anne Hamilton may cause Aesop to turn over in the grave, but it also supports the adage that desperate times call for desperate measures. Just how desperate is really the point here, and the moral line in the sand is drawn by an 11 year old girl named Gitty (short for Gertrude). Gitty (an outstanding Peyton Kennedy) lives on a farm with her pregnant mother Sarah (Marci Miller), bullying brother Martin (Gavin MacIntosh), and beloved father Abe (Kip Pardue). Gitty is the kind of kid who loves stories with happy endings, has a pet chicken named Happy, and loves exploring the surrounding countryside with her friends … a dried water well, abandoned house, and lighting bugs are all part of their daily adventures. Only a remote silo is considered off-limits per her father. It's the 1980's and times are tough for family farms. Making ends meet is incredibly challenging and the sagging economy has resulted in many sell-offs of generational farms and the subsequent suicides of farmers who simply can't face the failure. Gitty blindly trusts her dad when he promises they won't lose their farm. Doubt only enters her mind when she discovers a battered man (Richard Schiff) in business attire locked in that off-limits silo. The captive man tells her not to tell her dad, and instead asks her to bring food and books. Even an 11 year old cloaked in innocence begins to suspect something isn't right. We see the story unfold through the eyes of Gitty, and her fantasies, dreams and visions remind us just how the world looks to a kid. Her openness, curiosity and imagination all act as a kind of sixth sense that lead to the judgment of a child … what is right and what is wrong. Knowing Gitty is the source of our insight helps explain the near cartoonish evil perpetrated by Martin – an overanxious kid who sees himself as some type of "warrior" (an image bestowed by the mysterious Vera). Zuleikha Robinson plays Vera in the mold of a fairy tale witch influencing others … in this case, Gitty's dad … to do her dirty work. The film is beautifully shot by cinematographer Wyatt Garfield, and at various times recalls Pan's Labyrinth, The Fall, and the camera work of Terrence Malick. Gitty's character is easily compared to Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, but her "Honest" Abe dad is no Atticus Finch. Richard Schiff is excellent as the captive man, while Peyton Kennedy reminds of a young Elle Fanning (very high praise indeed). Kids have an amazing ability to see the black and white of right and wrong despite all the extraneous noise going on in their young uncorrupted heads. It's a shame it all turns to gray as we grow older. It's a nice first film from Ms. Hamilton.

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• Farm Aid

  Prismark102017-04-26

  American Fable is set in the mid west of Reagan's 1980s America where some farmers were financially hard hit, heading for bankruptcy with their land being bought up by investors. Gitty (Peyton Kennedy) is an eleven year old girl living with her dad Abe (Kip Pardue) who is struggling farmer, mother Sarah (Marci Miller) who is pregnant and older brother Martin (Gavin MacIntosh) who is hostile, bully and a borderline psycho, just see the way he nearly chopped her hand off. Gitty lives a care free rural life, she may not have many friends but she has a pet chicken and her own fantasy world. One day in an out of bounds silo in the far reaches of their family farm, Gitty finds a businessman Jonathan (Richard Schiff) being held captive. Gitty feeds him, brings him books to read. He tells her stories and even teaches her to play chess. Obviously Richard is befriending her so she can help him escape but he appears to be genuine enough. It seems her dad, mum and brother are in league with a mysterious woman called Vera, who wants the farmers to fight back against these rich developers. Gitty is in a dilemma whether to free Jonathan and put her family at risk of arrest. The film wants to be a fable, you have various tales being told, a fantasy sequence but it is not wholly coherent. The film reaches an urgency at the climax but you really are left thinking as to how this crazy brother has not yet been institutionalised. The film benefits from wonderful photography even the night scenes are well utilised but the film is under-cooked.

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• Great film - shame about the (lack of) ending

  percival_kim2017-06-10

  Thought this was a wonderful film, visually and atmospherically. The characters were excellent, both the likable and the not-so-likable (like the brother and the 'villain'), and the storyline was gripping and evocative. The only problem for me was the ending, or lack of it - too much was left unexplained which I'm afraid ruined it for me overall.

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