Debts owned aren't always as easy as Debts paid especially Downeast

 DOWNEAST

(DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER)

WRITTEN BY GREG FINLEY & JOE RAFFA , DIRECTED BY JOE RAFFA
STARRING GREG FINLEY & DYLAN SILVER

SYNOPSIS: A story of love, loss, and redemption - Downeast dives into the often ignored seedy underbelly of Maine. The film combines crime, revenge, and the hope for a new life.

WHAT THIS FILM DOES WELL: Everything a good Indie Film should be and more. It sets you up, gives you gritty, unique, and strong characters, and it pays you off in spades in the end. It is one of those old school crime films that doesn't always mean being the good guy doesn't come with some bad. First and foremost this film has star making performances by both Greg Finley and Dylan Silver. Their chemistry goes a long way in selling this film for sure but its the depth each actor applies, in their own unique ways, that they were able to really make both characters feel incredibly rich and real that you can't help but want more of them as the viewer. Great character work by all involved really from Judson Mills, Kirk Fox, Gareth Williams, Dennis Cockrum, Pamela Roylance, and especially Joss Glennie Smith (who plays the creepiest psychopath of the year so far for me). They all play their roles to perfection and in doing so you get that  flavor and atmosphere that really sets the table for all that is to come.  Finley who also wrote the original story of this really has a feel for dialect, using emotion as a storytelling device that often gets sorely overlooked in films these days. Almost a keep it simple approach that it becomes not what they say but how they say it. Joe Raffa really does incredible set ups to help say a lot more than the dialogue does. Really impressive uses of close ups and 2 shots, and still frames that almost beg you to take your eyes away but you can't. The choices Raffa makes of when to slow it down, ramp it up, and pace out even what you might suspect is coming, really plays well in a movie where we are easily connecting to characters.   

WHY YOU NEED TO CHAMPION THIS FILM: There was a movie I felt was groundbreaking a few decades ago in State of Grace that put 3 incredible actors on the map, it was their Indie darling so to speak in Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, and Robin Wright, anchored by an incredible Ed Harris performance. This reminded me a lot of that one and it may be the moment we look back at a few of these incredible actors, Finley as a writer, and Raffa as a director and go this is the indie darling that made them, the cool little movie nobody knows about or maybe that the "cool" kids know about. It's dark at times but unlike State of Grace, it also has this unique bridge of strength, hope, and reality that strike it just that much different then movies like this and before it. This really is a unique treasure that I think will be talked about down the road and so why not get on board now. It's hard to think this movie doesn't make my Top 10 Indie films of 2021, it shows you want you can do without "stars" and without being confined in and to spaces that scream, "Hey look at me I'm an Indie film". This film defies all that because it knows what it is. how to get you into it, and pay you off for staying. 

 
YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS FILM IF YOU LIKED: The Town, Ray Donavan, State of Grace

YOU CAN SEE THIS FILM ON DEMAND HERE