Take Me To The River (2016 Drama - Logan Miller)

[MikeScott]

Sobel evokes more terror from a shot of a field of sunflowers, or a weathered barn, than can be found in the last dozen found-footage films combined.
- Peter Keough, Boston Globe

The movie pivots from what I expected it to be: a family drama about an outsider, as the opening conversation suggests. Instead, it becomes an eerie mood piece about secrets buried deep in a family's fabric.
- Molly Eichel, Philadelphia Inquirer

Wonderfully confident and strange, "Take Me to the River" marks an auspicious directing debut for Matt Sobel. There's not a stale moment in it.
- John Hartl, Seattle Times

At a time when many films can be viewed and summarily forgotten, "River" unsettles and lingers long afterwards -- just like the ghosts that haunt this family.
- Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

For every "but why ..." the story engenders, there's an equally persuasive accumulation of arrestingly unsettling detail that builds its own assertive hum.
- Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

It's a slowly tightening vise, all about suspicion and hostility and resentments and what people aren't talking about when they talk to each other.
- Alonso Duralde, TheWrap

The film exemplifies a very distinctive vision that marks it as one of the year's most promising debuts.
- Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com

A Nebraskan family reunion couldn't seem more backwards to a gay Californian teenager. If Ryder had his way, he'd choose a moment just like this to come out, the bigger the scene the better. For his mother's sake however, Ryder agrees to keep quiet, save parading around the picnic in his most audacious pair of short-shorts. Ryder's antics raise dubious eyebrows from his hardened cowboy relatives, but 9-year-old Molly can't get enough. She follows her cool California cousin everywhere. After lunch, they walk to the barn to look for a bird's nest in the rafters. Their strange encounter, and whatever happened while the two escaped their family's watchful eyes, makes Ryder the sudden target of suspicion, and places him at the center of a long buried family secret. Anchored by a breakthrough performance by Logan Miller as Ryder and rich, dramatic turns by Robin Weigert and Josh Hamilton, TAKE ME TO THE RIVER constantly forces one to question any given character's culpability until the film's finale. The film, woven together by an omnipresent sense of dread, is the masterful debut from writer/director Matt Sobel.

I'd heard about this movie and seen the trailer a long time ago but kind of forgot about it until I saw it mentioned in the Before I Fall thread. I looked it up and saw it was on Netflix so I watched it tonight. I went from hating Logan Miller in films like Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse and A Dog's Purpose to liking him in Before I Fall. Now after watching Take Me To The River I'm definitely a fan. He gives a fantastic performance in an incredible little gem of a film.

This film is almost unbearably intense at times. It manages to wring suspense out of the most mundane situations. I found it to be a more tense viewing experience than most thrillers.

"Take Me To The River" is a riveting drama and an assured debut for filmmaker Matt Sobel. It also has some gorgeous rural scenery. If you don't mind a movie that leaves it up to the viewer to interpret things then definitely check this one out. In a way I was reminded of the film "Mean Creek." This is one of the best films of 2016 and I'm actually eager to watch it again and see if I pick up on more things.

9/10 (A)

Take Me to the River Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Robin Weigert, Richard Schiff Drama HD - YouTube