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The Driftless Area

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = The Driftless Area

| image = The Driftless Area --- Teaser Poster.jpg

| caption = Teaser poster

| director = Zachary Sluser

| producer =

| screenplay =

| based_on =

| starring =

| music =

| cinematography = Daniel Voldheim

| editing = Tom Cross

| studio =

| distributor =

| released =

| country = {{Plainlist|

* Canada

* United States

}}

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

'The Driftless Area' is a 2015 Canadian-American neo-noir dramedy film directed by Zachary Sluser and starring Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel, and John Hawkes. Alia Shawkat, Aubrey Plaza, Frank Langella, and Ciarn Hinds also appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the 2006 novel of the same title by Tom Drury, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sluser.

Plot



An offbeat metaphysical story told in a non-linear fashion that is in equal parts about fate, love, dreams, unfulfilled potential, coming-of-age and life in a small town. A young man named Pierre Hunter (Anton Yelchin) falls in love with a mysterious woman named Stella (Zooey Deschanel) and finds himself in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a violent criminal named Shane (John Hawkes).

A college graduate turned bartender, Pierre, comes home after his parents' death. Shane picks up Pierre, hitching whilst carrying a rose-bush, after his MG car breaks down, then charges Pierre $20 for the privilege and kicks him out of his vehicle further down the road, stealing his rose-bush. A chucked rock, taken out of his pocket and hurled by an outraged Pierre, sets Shane to crash out cold on the next curve as he drives off. As Pierre inspects the scene, he finds a $77,000 bag of money in Shane's truck. Shane wakes up from the crash and steals the car from the lady who stopped to help him. Pierre is going to give his new found money to a woman (who once gave him her lucky rock!) who needs plastic surgery for a badly scarred face. He feels the money is destined for her, since she told him as she gifted him said rock that she could only ever get the needed surgery "if she ever found a pile of money."

Meanwhile, walking through a field, Pierre falls into a well and is rescued by Stella. Pierre feels indebted to her for saving his life, then goes on to fall in love with her. Stella is a ghost, inadvertently killed whilst housesitting, in an arson fire set sometime before by Shane on his brother's orders, believing the house empty. Tim Geer is helping Stella deal with her situation and get retribution for a life stolen. (They also seem aware of Pierre's imminent fate, one which Stella hopes to spare him.) Shane, his brother Ned, and Lyle come to Driftless to get back their money. Eventually they catch up to Pierre, who leads the trio into a trap. Over a disagreement at their predicament, short-tempered Shane shoots Lyle through the heart. In a shootout Shane and Pierre kill each other. As Shane lies dying Stella appears to him and questions her killing, then comforts Pierre through his last breath. Pierre seemingly knew he was going to die as he wrote a will giving his car to his friend, Carrie, his grey felt hat to Keith and his binoculars to Stella.

Pierre wakes up on a beach and is greeted by Stella. She explains they are going to have a lot of time together, just as he had wished for before.

Cast



* Anton Yelchin as Pierre Hunter

* Zooey Deschanel as Stella

* John Hawkes as Shane

* Alia Shawkat as Carrie

* Aubrey Plaza as Jean

* Ciarn Hinds as Ned

* Frank Langella as Tim Geer

* Benjamin Rogers as Keith

* Erika Portnoy as Tragic Woman

Filming



Production on the film began on May 14, 2014, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Music

The film's original score was composed by Saunder Jurriaans and Daniel Bensi.

Release



The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2015. The film screened as the Opening Night film for the Aruba International Film Festival on October 7, 2015. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions had acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on April 26, 2016, on video on demand and home media formats.

References




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