Update: The film has been picked up for distribution, and its name has been changed from SEPTEMBER 12th to AMERICAN FOLK. Original article is below.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is in full swing, and one of the highlights for me so far is the folk-infused road trip movie SEPTEMBER 12TH.
Everyone in the US on September 11, 2001 and the days after remembers what happened in the aftermath. Planes were grounded. There was a palpable mix of fear and apprehension, but also of kindness and unity. The indie feature SEPTEMBER 12TH takes us back to those days with a tale of two strangers, Elliott and Joni, who decide to drive across the country together when they can’t get there by air. They have their differences, but they come together over a shared love of folk music. Real folk singers Joe Purdy and Amber Rubarth star as the leads, and sing throughout. Think ONCE on a road trip.
That’s the core of the story — the other major conceit is that the pair don’t have much money and are driving a constantly overheating van. This forces them to take back roads and rely on the kindness of strangers where they can.
I’ve been on several cross-country road trips, and I love the meditative quality of it, the sense of adventure, and especially meeting people of so many backgrounds. SEPTEMBER 12TH captures the essence of that with the added resonance of it being set right after September 11th. Our protagonists encounter store owners, hitchhikers, families, and fellow travelers just trying to make it to their destination. For the most part, everyone puts their differences aside, and just looks out for one another. It is a remarkable contrast toe the way that these attacks have so divided the country a decade and a half on.
A pet peeve of mine in most Hollywood films is writing people from other states inauthentically, and having Hollywood actors have a stab at doing an accent, rather than just casting the locals. SEPTEMBER 12TH doesn’t fall into these traps. The filmmakers went on several cross country trips, first writing and scouting, and then filming with the local people they encountered. Though there is a script, in some ways it feels like part documentary travelogue.
Perhaps the biggest draw of the film is the music. I’m no fan of musicals, and this isn’t one, at least not in a traditional sense. But songs are woven organically through the film, sang by the leads, and they have a way of expressing the feelings and soul of the characters without them having to articulate them in dialogue. It would be easy for such a film to cross the line into schmaltz, but SEPTEMBER 12TH almost never does, partly because nobody has to have an earnest declaration of feelings. Mostly that’s handled in glances, body language, and the occasional song.
It is a bold and decision to cast two musicians to carry a film, but it sure as hell worked in ONCE. SEPTEMBER 12TH never quite captures that level of lightning in a bottle, but partly that’s because it is going a different direction than a traditional love story. In some ways it is aiming even higher, and resists pushing the easy buttons. For their part the actors are outstanding in their roles, and absolutely bring the emotion though their performances, singing, and playing. The film never quite achieves transcendence, but maybe that’s too high a bar. It does force you to reflect on this event we all went through, and the unifying power of music. How did we get so far from there? And it has wonderful scenes of poignancy between strangers.
David Heinz wrote and directed the movie, and you’d be hard pressed to tell that this is his first feature. The way he weaves together real people (or seemingly so) into a compelling and authentic storyline reminds me of early David Gordon Green. For me that is high praise indeed.
