October Country (2009) Online

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.

This film is a documentary portrait of the Mosher family from upstate New York, including their kids, relatives and a foster child. I watched it expecting something different, maybe dramatic, possibly something new.

I was disappointed, because this isn't particularly dramatic, different or new. That's not the fault of the film or the makers; they present an honest portrayal of a family that could be next door to you. The grandparents are the kind of people that everyone knows, hardworking and honest folks who are doing the best they can in troubled times.

The relatives and children are a bunch of screw ups from what I could see, just like you will find in any family. A welfare mother who can't take care of her child and won't do much about it. An Aunt who collects a disability check and thinks she's a witch. A foster child who steals everything in sight and refuses to take responsibility. Could be my family, could be yours. There is no particular conclusion reached, or point made, but they do cover the lives of the Mosher family in some depth.

So, you're not going to see anything you haven't seen before, but you will see an accurate and honest documentary about the kind of people who live near you. If that's what you're looking for, it's a watchable film with decent production values.

If you ever thought that dysfunctional family units were the basis of insipid television sitcoms & turgid Hollywood movies,guess again. 'October Country' is a harrowing tale of a very real, working class, blue collar American family living in upstate New York,in a place called Mohawk Valley,where most folk work either in the Remington Fire Arms plant,or (shudder,shudder)at the local Wal Mart. That family is the Moshers. Don Mosher is a retired police officer & Viet Nam war veteran who spends his days smoking & watching old war movies on television,virtually non stop. His wife,Donna (Don's second wife,as her first is currently serving a prison sentence for child molestation),is a classic example of damaged goods,who married & had children way too early in life,has all but shut down & is just satisfied with smoking & watching the same old war movies with Don,silently. Her Mother,Dottie seems to be the catalyst of this (somewhat)fragmented family unit,and offers little more than sad perspectives on life. The two daughters of the Mosher family:Danael,a welfare mother who followed in the same sad footsteps of her mother,Donna (her first husband was an abusive,alcoholic that's equally out of the picture),who is sullen,bitter & with a chip on her shoulder,way too early in life (I can only shudder what she will be like once she hits the age of 40). Danael,early on in the film has lost her baby to D.C.F. (Department of children & families),and doesn't seem to be the least bit shaken by it. Her little sister,Desi,who spends most of her time by herself playing video games ("I watch less TV",is her response)takes all of this in & processes it as only a child her age can (she sees more ugliness than any child should). Finally,there is Donal Mosher,who had the good fortune to escape & find art as a form of therapy from all of this. Donal is a photographer/writer that created a photo essay of his f***ed up family,which forms the basis of this very well photographed essay on small town Americana. Also figuring on the edges of all of this near madness,is Denise,Don's younger sister who is a practicing Wiccan who spends her days in the local cemetery,conversing with the dead.Don has absolutely nothing to do with Denise (he totally ignores her when she visits the Mosher household during a Haloween party,and you can feel her pain at being dissed by her closest kin). Will the Moshers ever find some kind of happiness in life? Will Daneal finally find a man that she could love,and be loved back? Will Desi rise above all of this (as her big brother has),or will she end up just another statistic,as the rest of the Mosher women have? Who is to say. Donal Mosher & Michael Palmieri (moving up from directing music videos) co write & direct this video diary that takes place within a year's time frame (respectibly from October to October of the following year). Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains pervasive strong language,smoking & drinking alcohol (in the presence of minors),and disturbing testimony of child sexual abuse. Leave the little ones home.

Pathetic families like the one this film is about just make me angry - they're chain-smoking, tattooed white trash living in subsidized housing on food stamps, welfare and disability while complaining nonstop and squeezing out even more babies that they don't want. It's great to know that my hard-earned tax dollars are going to pay for these losers' cigarettes and beer. Nobody in this family is making any effort to better their situation. This is about what you would expect if you followed home a group of people from a Jerry Springer episode, only more dull. I loved the group of camera shots showing the messy state of the house with a curdled baby formula bottle lying inside a discarded flip flop and other such garbage. I'm not a wealthy person, but I work hard for what I have and I keep it maintained. I firmly believe that just because you are poor doesn't mean to you have to be low class and ignorant.

What a waste of my time. The other 2 reviews here make it sound like this will be a deep and interesting character study but I found it to just be pathetic and dull.

I know there are poor, ignorant, trashy people in the world. I try to avoid them. This film makes that impossible. One can only hope they have not reproduced again. When Republicans talk about ending entitlement programs, it is this family they have in their mind's eye. No one has a job or even pretends to be looking for a job. They all live off the government. Their chief past time appears to be smoking. It certainly isn't cleaning. On the positive side, it's not often you see a film that includes so many dysfunctions in one family. Child molesting, wife beating, and promiscuity are the highlights. This family wallows in self-pity and makes no attempt to get out of their dire circumstances.