This is not your ordinary everyday Made-in-Maine movie, if there is such a thing. Blow the Man Down was shot in late winter, not midsummer. Yes, it was shot on the coast, but…the Chambers of Commerce there might not really use it to sell the area—or maybe they will, because this is one terrific movie, even if the skies are often gray in it. Co-directors and screenwriters Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy will storm you like a nor’easter with their film’s amazing combination of dark humor, suspense, saltiness (in all the meanings of the word) and just plain originality. It all starts with a chorus of sea shanty singers and moves on to Priscilla and Mary Beth Connolly, whom we join on the day of their mother’s funeral after a long illness. They need a break—but they won’t get one. A dead body, three seriously busybody friends of their mom’s (played by great actresses Annette O’Toole, June Squibb, and Marceline Hugot), and a friendly but inquisitive young local cop (Will Brittain) combine with towering local inn-keeper—okay, it’s actually a brothel—Enid (the unforgettable Margo Martindale) to make the Connolly sisters’ lives complicated.

Sponsored by Joan and Peter Beckerman