Baystate Blues
An Intimate Epic
- Directed By: Mark Lewis
- Written By: Mark Lewis
- Country: USA
- Released: 2008
- Running Time: 89 Mins
- Links: Official Site
- Drama, Reviews
Baystate Blues is nothing if not ambitious. Describing itself as an intimate epic, the film follows a single day in the life of an extended blue-collar family in small town America.
The story centres on Mike (Scott Lewis) and Devon (Allyson Sereboff), a married couple who have passed their first flush of youth and are trying to cope with the aftermath of a car accident Devon was involved in. Also in the mix are Devon’s two sisters, the superficially controlled Virgina (Sharon Maguire) and the much flightier Alex (Steffi Kammer).
At first, Mike does not come across as a character you would want to spend a huge amount of time with. But as the film progresses it becomes apparent that his loud and occasionally obnoxious behaviour reflect the frustrations of a man who has resigned himself to the hand life has dealt him and is doing his best to make the most of what he has. As such, he becomes an increasingly sympathetic character and Scott Lewis does a great job of bringing some real humanity to the character.
Devon, on the other hand, is a much more self-centred character and her dissatisfaction becomes more and more apparent as the day wears on. She was injured in the car accident and is clearly still in a lot of pain, but she is also both unhappy with her lot and unwilling to [do anything]. As much as Mike’s wants to support her, she rejects his efforts, preferring to wallow in self pity and regret all of her lost opportunities.
Things start to come to a head when Devon meets an old friend and culminate, over drinks, at an evening get-together.
Baystate Blues does get off to a slow start and this isn’t helped by some overly mobile camera work in some of the early scenes. But once writer/director Mark Lewis gets into his stride the writing really does shine through.
This is a very well written film. Lewis clearly knows these characters, is interested in them and likes them and is willing to take the time to allow them to develop, grow and become increasingly well rounded as the film progresses. None of the characters are flawless and none of them are irredeemable. Ultimately, they are all just people, but people who are able to draw you into their lives until you genuinely care about what happens to them.
It helps, of course, that the acting is so solid throughout. This is very much an ensemble piece and all of the cast deliver superb performances, allowing their characters – and the relationships between them – to emerge both naturally and believably.
With Baystate Blues, Mark Lewis has certainly achieved his aim of telling a real story about real people. Well written and populated with a group of engagingly familiar characters, all of whom really do come to life, the film quickly becomes utterly engrossing.
And the combination of imagery and music in the final scene was nothing short of superb.
