2023 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW!
In smalltown Owl, North Dakota Julia (Lily Rabe) arrives to take on a job to help support her husband, the academic. As she becomes engulfed in Downtown Owl, a culture unlike anything you’ve seen before, she finds herself falling in love with that culture and its people. Life as she knew it may no longer be all that it’s chalked up to be, and a change may be coming soon. As she navigates this new world she discovers new parts of herself.
Julia seems out of place, like she’s trapped in the 1980’s but has the knowledge and the vigor of someone living decades in the future. Aesthetically, this bothers me so much. She stands out like a sore thumb, like a stain on your favorite shirt–and trying to wrap my head around this was nearly impossible. That’s until I realized the purpose of her appearing out of place and time–as she’s an everyman. Julia is the glue that holds a motley crew of characters together–and she’s the primary reason why viewers will be able to appreciate Downtown Owl. She’s ever changing, always becoming something new to resonate with viewers–but she never veers from herself, she never stops being her own person (even when she’s dealing with internal crises).
Strewn throughout the course of Downtown Owl is a series of shots that I can’t seem to fully understand. I’m not sure how it works–all I can tell you is that these shots make the background look massive and the subjects look so small. Downtown Owl is, in many ways, a social commentary and a satire regarding the state of man. We all feel like we are the most important person in the room, sometimes even the most important person in the world–but Downtown Owl aims to remind us that we are all the same, small. We are insignificant in the grand scheme of life, and this film aims (and I believe is successful) to ground us, remind us of these things.
Rabe is stunning, just incredible in her performance. She is the catalyst for just about everything that happens throughout Downtown Owl, she is ultimately the reason that emotion is able to make its way to the surface and that the film as a whole is able to resonate with viewers. I’m not sure that she ever misses, being powerful in every single moment of the film. However, there is a moment, maybe the most important scene of the entire film, in which Rabe shines so brightly that this singular moment in the film could exist on its own. It’s enough to be its own story, enough to evoke emotion all on its own without any context–and it’s honestly one of the best pieces of cinema that I’ve seen in a long time. For those of you that have already seen Downtown Owl, you know which scene I’m talking about–and for those who will find the film and have a chance to watch in the future, I promise that you’re in for a treat.
There are moments of Downtown Owl that are a tad kitschy, one’s that don’t quite resonate with viewers–but the majority of the film does something that many films try to achieve, but aren’t often able to: it puts viewers in their place. It puts our lives in perspective and allows viewers to understand that they are no more important than anyone else, that we are all equals–and emotions run hot and heavy as a result of this. Downtown Owl is powerful, full of emotion and passion–and Rabe is the primary reason why all of these things come to life with great vigor. She often looks out of place, and she plays that role very well–never relenting from the film’s opening seconds and driving emotion forward until the film comes to a close.
Directed by Henry Linklater & Lily Rabe.
Written by Chuck Klosterman & Henry Linklater.
Starring Lily Rabe, Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, August Blanco Rosenstein, Jack Dylan Grazer, Arianna Jaffier with Finn Wittrock, Henry Golding, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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