Cinematic States Contest Winner

Whose name did I draw from the hat?

Last week, I invited readers of Looking Closer to tell us which movie best captures the character of their home territory. This was inspired by Cinematic States, Gareth Higgins' thought-provoking tour of the U.S.A., exploring each state's history and character by considering the films that, in his view as an inquisitive North Irishman, show us that state's heart.

People wrote in and... well... I confess that I'm not actually using a hat. I'm wearing a hat, but it's tricky in a coffee shop to come up with equal-sized ballots, fill a hat with them, and draw one, without making a scene.

So, here I am working on a laptop. How can I have a fair "drawing"?

Here's what I'll do. I'll number the entries in the contest. Then I'll find an album in my iTunes that has the right number of tracks. I'll set iTunes to shuffle the tracks from that album, and hit "Play." The track number that pops up first will be the number of the contest entry that wins.

Sound fair? Let's give it a whirl...

First, let me tell you about the latest film to capture something of the world that I call home. I came across it on Netflix, and some high praise from accomplished film reviewers persuaded me to watch it while folding some laundry on a Saturday afternoon. It was such a pleasant surprise, I kept forgetting to fold the laundry.

Lucky Them, by Megan Griffiths, captures not only the melancholy gray of Seattle life, but also the tension of an arts scene in transition.

What was once a wonderland of grunge rock and alternative-music 'zines is now a city of art journalists scrambling to find any kind of paying work and struggling to assert the importance of independent art in an increasingly corporate world. The film is also a character sketch of a journalist — Ellie Klug (Tni Collette) — whose life was transformed by a musician, then smashed by that musician's death (or disappearance?), and then paralyzed by unanswered questions.

As Ellie zigzags in and out of ill-advised romances and relationships, the film becomes increasingly intriguing in its evasions of conventions and clichés.The last act has a big surprise for moviegoers who haven't read reviews ahead of time. And the lead actors — Toni Collette and Thomas Haden Church — give such endearing, nuanced performances that even the film's less-inspired tangents become interesting and worthwhile.

Okay, now let's review the entries that you sent in...

(I gathered what came in on Facebook, in email, and in comments here. If I missed yours, I offer my sincerest apologies. It's been an overwhelming week on social media — difficult to keep up with everything.)

1.

Caleb:

"Silver CityRoger Ebert's review

2.

Jessie:

ChinatownNightcrawlerChinatownNightcrawler

3.

Cynda:

Get Low (2009) starring Robert Duvall and Lucas Black surprised me with the way it captured life in the South. I don't remember it being set in Georgia although some scenes were filmed there, but it did depict life in the 1930s as my father, a Georgia native, described it. There were several characters that I "recognized" as family members and friends.

Marvin's Room. Central Florida — the mix of young and old (and very, very old). There's so much here beyond the theme parks (thank God).

5.

Peter:

Elizabethtown. There's a stretch of KY highway with a very familiar tunnel I've traveled many a time to visit relatives in Jeffersontown.

6.

Dan:

You Can Count On Me

The characters and setting are reminiscent of Richard Russo’s best upstate novels, where decent working  people — complex, idiosyncratic, frustrating — move through a tough and changing world, often a little carelessly but not without heart. They try, and fail (and sometimes fail better), to take care of themselves and their families and friends while straddling the blue- and white-collar worlds, the past and the present. As a native upstate New Yorker, it is always heartening to see good artistic explorations of what it means to hail from those other parts of a very large state which is known primarily in film only through its largest (downstate) city.

7.

Brad:

While I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area now, I'm originally from Southeast Texas, and there are two films that remind me of that area.

8.

Glen:

A movie that resonated with me personally in a deep way was Terrance Malick's The Tree of Life. I grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts, which is pretty far from Waco, Texas, but the childhood scenes seemed to recreate my upbringing, even down to the running in the smoke of the bug exterminating truck. I loved this movie from start to finish. Thanks for the book review, will check it out. Love your commentary on film through the years.

9.

Stephen:

My dad sits in front of his barn and looks at Mt Currahee every day.  It's basically in his back yard.  Currahee and Toccoa got "put on the map" when the Band of Brothers miniseries came out.  The paratroopers who came in on early morning D-Day trained here.  We have a nice museum downtown and each fall Toccoa celebrates what the military did back then.  I go to the top of Curahee about 3-4 times a year (not running, like they did, but on my motorcycle) and think about those brave men and whether I could do anything close to what they did.

One even mentioned a film that hasn't been released yet:

10.

Ryun:

The Overnighters

Time to choose a winner...

Okay... I've chosen Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band's album Landmarks, which has ten tracks. Ten tracks for ten contest entries.

I'm opening the album in iTunes and choosing "Shuffle Songs."

The songs are loading.

And the first track is...

#4 - "Ark.La.Tex."

Thus, the winner is...

The fourth contest entry in this post is one from Peggy Richelieu Harris!

Congratulations, Peggy! Send me your mailing address (via Facebook or email) and I'll send you an autographed copy of Gareth Higgins' Cinematic States!