It’s been a bit of a long time coming for the indie film “Bluebird,” but it’s almost here. The film debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and we raved about it. The directorial debut of Lance Edmands (an editor who worked with Lena Dunham on “Tiny Furniture”), “Bluebird” boasts a terrific cast of character actors — including “Mad Men” star John Slattery and Adam Driver from “Girls” — but it’s the women of the movie (Amy Morton, Tony-winner for “August: Osage County,” also George Clooney’s sister in “Up In The Air”; Louisa Krause, the bitchy, scene-stealing hotel clerk in "Young Adult"; and Emily Meade from "The Leftovers") who are the heart and soul of the story. All of them made our Artists To Watch list from the festival that year. And oh yeah, Margo Martindale co-stars and she’s great too.
The picture is terrific, a moody, well-observed meditation on family and fate that announces the arrival of a great new voice in cinema in Edmands. A simple but affecting drama, the movie is about a school bus driver in a decaying logging-town in Maine and a tragedy that sets off a chain of events that haunts two seemingly unconnected families.
In our Tribeca review we wrote: “ ‘Bluebird’ is an affecting and moving examination of family, mothers, connectedness and the ripple effect of tragic consequences.” Here’s the official synopsis:
BLUEBIRD explores the interconnectedness of a small town in the northern reaches of Maine. When Lesley, the local school bus driver, becomes distracted during her end-of-day inspection, she fails to notice a sleeping boy in the back of the bus. What happens next shatters the tranquility of her small logging town, proving that even the slightest actions have enormous consequences. Stricken by an overwhelming sense of guilt, Lesley’s fragility is further tested by her husband—a local logger preoccupied by the imminent closing of the town paper mill—and the boy’s mother, a disaffected young woman looking to take advantage of a delicate situation. Shot on location in the stark, frozen mountains of Maine, BLUEBIRD fosters a profound sense of place—chillingly capturing the setting’s lonely yet beautiful tone—thanks to the masterwork of cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes.
Factory 25 will release “Bluebird” on February 27th. Here’s the new poster for the film, and watch the trailer below if you haven’t already. This picture is one to watch.
