Once Upon a River begins in rural Murrayville, Michigan, in 1977, where 15-year-old Margo Crane (Kenadi DelaCerna) lives on the shore of Stark River with her father, Bernard (Tatanka Means). Her mother, Luanne (Lindsay Pulsipher), left them a year before and hasn’t contacted her daughter since.
In Luanne’s absence, Bernard teaches Margo how to shoot, fish, and live off the land, skills passed down to him by indigenous forebears. With Annie Oakley as her hero, Margo is an exemplary upon-a-river-2020-kenadi-dela-cerna.jpg”>
Once Upon a River (2020) – Kenadi DelaCerna[/caption]
While Bernard works more to make ends meet, Margo begins to spend more time with Cal, setting off a series of events that leaves one person dead, another injured, and Margo on the run. With her rifle in hand, Margo sets off on the river to try and find her mother. Along the way, she meets a number of men, and the film falls into a pattern of depicting Margo’s reliance on men without interrogating what that dependence means for the character.
A friend of her father’s who had told Margo she was his “dream girl” and “I just can’t get enough of a girl who don’t talk” helps hide her from police. Later on, a graduate student, Will (Ajuawak Kapashesit), shares a meal with Margo, gives her a ride, and causes her to think more about her indigenous heritage by sharing details of his own ancestry: “I’m Cherokee from Oklahoma.
People who came to this country and took over, they never intended for us to survive.” And in the longest chunk of “Once Upon a River,” Margo saves the life of Smoke (John Ashton), an older man with emphysema who is irritated by his daughters’ insistence that he move into an assisted-living facility. “Why does anybody help anybody?,” Smoke replies when Margo wonders about his motivations, and the bald empathy of that statement suggests the movie “Once Upon a River” wants to be.
Based on the best-selling novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell, Once Upon A River is the story of Native American teenager Margo Crane in 1970s rural Michigan. After enduring a series of traumas and tragedies, Margo (newcomer Kenadi DelaCerna) sets out on an odyssey on the Stark River in search of her estranged mother. On the water, Margo encounters friends, foes, wonders, and dangers; navigating life on her own, she comes to understand her potential, all while healing the wounds of her past. Written and directed by Haroula Rose, this midwestern gothic Americana story is, in the words of Jane Smiley for The New York Times, “an excellent American parable about the consequences of our favorite ideal, freedom.”
Once Upon a river is an American drama film directed by Haroula Rose and starring Kenadi DelaCerna, John Ashton, Tatanka Means, Ajuawak Kapashesit, Kenn E. Head, Lindsay Pulsipher, Dominic Bogart, Evan Linder, Sam Straley, Arie Thompson and Josephine Decker. The screenplay, written by Haroula Rose. The film was released on Oocteber 2, 2020 in the United Stats by film Movement.
Once Upon a River (2020)
Directed by: Haroula Rose
Starring: Kenadi DelaCerna, John Ashton, Tatanka Means, Ajuawak Kapashesit, Kenn E. Head, Lindsay Pulsipher, Dominic Bogart, Evan Linder, Sam Straley, Arie Thompson, Josephine Decker
Screenplay by: Haroula Rose
Production Design by: Amy Frazzini
Cinematography by: Charlotte Hornsby
Film Editing by: Steven Lambiase, Sofi Marshall
Costume Design by: Mary Mooney
Set Decoration by: Robin Lee
Art Direction by: Amy Frazzini
Music by: Zac Rae
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Film Movement
Release Date: October 2, 2020
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