Believe it or not, there's a real-life 'Adams Family' and they live in upstate New York. October Country was originally developed from a series of photographs taken by Donal Mosher in the small town of Ilion, New York. Collaborating with Michael Palmieri, Donal shot video footage of his own family over a year's time which included four separate visits, from one Halloween to the next. We never actually see Donal but it can be easily surmised that he was the 'normal one' who 'escaped'.
All of the Mosher family members have names that begin with "D" and each have skeletons in their closet. The patriarch is Don, a Vietnam vet who worked for years in the local police department. Don is perhaps the most introspective of all the family members and is extremely reluctant to talk about his experiences in Vietnam but when he does, his words are both shattering and moving. Like his wife Dottie says, he never was the same after he came back from Vietnam. Don has one major shortcoming: he won't forgive his sister, Denise, a Wiccan who hangs out in the local cemetery trying to conjure up spirits and also trying to cope with her crippling arthritis. It seems Denise cursed Don out the day he left for Vietman, when she was very young, wishing that he would be killed there.
Don's wife Dottie has a heart of gold but can't put her foot down. She takes in Chris, a troubled young adolescent, as her foster son, who ends up stealing property from the Moshers on more than one occasion. Don and Dottie's daughter is Donna who has two daughters, Danael (who loses custody of her infant daughter, Ruby, when we first meet her) and Desiree (nicknamed Desi), a spunky teenager who seems to be the only one who appears on camera who is reasonably well-adjusted.
Of all the family members, I can't remember much about Donna—only that she looked older than someone in her late 30s. We do learn that Donna's former paramour (Danael's father) is now in prison, after molesting Danael when she was young (Danael relates that she prevented her father from trying to molest her younger sister by getting in between them in bed). Danael makes the same lousy choices in men as her mother did. After breaking up with the father of her child, she's seen with a new boyfriend whose authoritarian outlook and controlling attitude towards women, is obvious.
The Moshers never seem to notice that they're being filmed. Despite all the dysfunctional behavior, they are all self-reflective and critical of themselves. The problem is that despite recognizing and understanding what their problems are, they're still unable to change themselves.
October Country has a haunting soundtrack and cinematography that focuses on conveying the environment where the family lives. It's an environment that includes beautiful shots of nature coupled with the more mundane (and sometimes ugly) images of small-town America (Wal-Mart is a significant social gathering spot; Remington Arms, the local gun plant, is where most people are employed).
October Country sometimes drags in spots—as in real life, not everything that happens is dramatic. Still, for those who are interested in the offbeat, October Country is for you. It's a documentary that's both a little sad but funny at the same time. When all is said and done, the Mosher family might seem a little strange, but they are not that much different than you and me.
All of the Mosher family members have names that begin with "D" and each have skeletons in their closet. The patriarch is Don, a Vietnam vet who worked for years in the local police department. Don is perhaps the most introspective of all the family members and is extremely reluctant to talk about his experiences in Vietnam but when he does, his words are both shattering and moving. Like his wife Dottie says, he never was the same after he came back from Vietnam. Don has one major shortcoming: he won't forgive his sister, Denise, a Wiccan who hangs out in the local cemetery trying to conjure up spirits and also trying to cope with her crippling arthritis. It seems Denise cursed Don out the day he left for Vietman, when she was very young, wishing that he would be killed there.
Don's wife Dottie has a heart of gold but can't put her foot down. She takes in Chris, a troubled young adolescent, as her foster son, who ends up stealing property from the Moshers on more than one occasion. Don and Dottie's daughter is Donna who has two daughters, Danael (who loses custody of her infant daughter, Ruby, when we first meet her) and Desiree (nicknamed Desi), a spunky teenager who seems to be the only one who appears on camera who is reasonably well-adjusted.
Of all the family members, I can't remember much about Donna—only that she looked older than someone in her late 30s. We do learn that Donna's former paramour (Danael's father) is now in prison, after molesting Danael when she was young (Danael relates that she prevented her father from trying to molest her younger sister by getting in between them in bed). Danael makes the same lousy choices in men as her mother did. After breaking up with the father of her child, she's seen with a new boyfriend whose authoritarian outlook and controlling attitude towards women, is obvious.
The Moshers never seem to notice that they're being filmed. Despite all the dysfunctional behavior, they are all self-reflective and critical of themselves. The problem is that despite recognizing and understanding what their problems are, they're still unable to change themselves.
October Country has a haunting soundtrack and cinematography that focuses on conveying the environment where the family lives. It's an environment that includes beautiful shots of nature coupled with the more mundane (and sometimes ugly) images of small-town America (Wal-Mart is a significant social gathering spot; Remington Arms, the local gun plant, is where most people are employed).
October Country sometimes drags in spots—as in real life, not everything that happens is dramatic. Still, for those who are interested in the offbeat, October Country is for you. It's a documentary that's both a little sad but funny at the same time. When all is said and done, the Mosher family might seem a little strange, but they are not that much different than you and me.