A Long Winter review
Telluride film festivalIn a remote Colorado farmstead, a family with a mother gone missing finds a strange buoyancy and freedom as they wait for the snows to melt
TL;DR
- The film is set in a remote Colorado farmstead during the Korean War era, adapted from a 2006 story by Colm Tóibín.
- The mother, Louise, an alcoholic struggling with her circumstances, disappears during winter, leaving her husband Lester and sons Tommy and Mikey.
- Following her disappearance, the household experiences a bizarre sense of freedom and bachelorhood, with the men exploring an alternative existence without family responsibilities.
- Mikey, the shy son, harbors secret gay longings and is attracted to Jimmy, a biracial boy hired to help with household chores.
- The film explores the unacknowledged, almost hallucinatory sense of freedom that can arise from loss and grief, alongside male fragility and resilience.