[yasr_overall_rating]
Reed Morano, an experienced cinematographer, has picked an incredibly difficult subject for her first film as director. Meadowland, which was screened at the Savannah Film Festival and presented by Savannah College of Art and Design, is a dark and overbearingly gloomy drama about a couple one year after their child went missing.
Olivia Wilde stars as Sarah, a teacher, and Luke Wilson plays her husband, Phil, a New York City police officer. At the start of the film, we see a brief glimpse of happiness as Phil and Sarah take their son (played by Morano’s son) on a roadtrip. They stop at a gas station and let him go to the bathroom. But when they open the door, he is nowhere to be found.
The film then flashes ahead a year and explores how differently Sarah and Phil grapple with their son’s disappearance. Strangely, even though they live together, they don’t realize the similarities between their grieving processes. Sarah appears to be going visibly crazy, while Phil keeps it bottled up. But essentially, they are both unable to move on.
Sarah is able to connect with one child at her school, Adam (Ty Simpkins, Jurassic World), an autistic student who is a foster child. It’s not that Sarah sees a bit of her son in Adam, it’s that she sees similarities between herself and Adam that brings them together.
Written by Chris Rossi, the film has an incredible natural feel to it. Yes, it is overwhelmingly dark, but it doesn’t feel faked because the performances are so natural. There’s an incredible realistic relationship between Wilde and Wilson, who has always been underappreciated for his everyman looks. And Wilde is a revelation here, abandoning the humor that makes her other work stand out. She’s completely laid bare as Sarah and it’s a very moving performance.
The film also has a long list of surprising cameos. Elisabeth Moss and Juno Temple pop in for a scene and John Leguizamo and Giovanni Ribisi give strong supporting performances. Merritt Weaver, Kevin Corrigan and Mark Feuerstein also make appearances. They might take you out of the film for a moment, but each performer has something memorable to add.
Meadowland is a difficult movie, without a doubt. But it is an incredibly real, beautifully shot experience. It has a completely open-ended ending that gives the audience a chance to create their own ending. That takes some guts to do, but if you fully commit to realism, you can’t provide a happy ending all the time.
Below is footage from Olivia Wilde’s post-screening Q&A session with Reed Morano.
Meadowland saw a limited release and is available on VOD.