Cottage Grove’s Craig living his dream
I’ve loved movies my entire life. I can’t remember when I didn’t. I’ve always wanted to make them and hopefully I will someday. For now, though, I’ll live vicariously through my friends who are living their dreams.
Ryan Craig is one of those friends.
“Small Town Saturday Night” is written and directed by Ryan and stars Chris Pine and John Hawkes. It’s the story of Rhett Ryan, two days away from moving to Nashville with his girlfriend and her young daughter. Rhett is a singer/songwriter who desperately wants to leave his small town and its population of 1,382. When his girl begins having second thoughts about separating her child from her town sheriff father, Rhett is left with the choice of his dream or the woman he loves.Â
I met Ryan at Lane Community College in Eugene. I had enrolled in a film literature class and randomly sat next to Ryan Craig. Before class, we talked about movies and the films we were going to watch over the course of the term, and Ryan said he had a movie he wanted to make. He showed me his script, called “Paydirt,” and said he wanted to make it in his hometown, Cottage Grove. He asked if I wanted to help, and assuming he wouldn’t actually do it, I said yes. Best case scenario, he’d actually get it off the ground and I would get to work on a movie. Worst case, I had a new friend who loved film as much if not more than I did.Â
Long story short, he did it. In the summer of 1996, Ryan had a script, a crew, many locations and a bunch of friends who wanted to help. And 14 years later, that summer is still one of the best times of my life. I got to be there and see a pal doing something he had dreamed of for a long time. From that point on, I’ve never doubted or discounted the resolve of someone with passion. If you love something, pursue it. Give it everything you have and you can make your dreams a reality. Ryan embodies that. Hopefully soon, I will have a more in-depth story on Ryan, when he has time for an interview.
OK, now that I’ve made it perfectly clear that I know a movie director, let’s talk a bit about “Small Town Saturday Night.” Judging by the DVD case, this is being sold as a Chris Pine vehicle. Pine’s is the principle character, but this is very much an ensemble piece. Many characters get ample screen time and quite a bit of development, particularly John Hawkes. He plays Donnie Carson, who has just gotten out of prison. Carson is estranged from his child and seems to have no prospects. The first thing he does upon returning to town is assault his ex-wife’s current boyfriend in front of his son. He gets pushed to his wits’ end and makes some terrible decisions.Â
This film does a very nice job of capturing the small-town life and how easy it is to get trapped by your surroundings when that is all you know. So many people never leave the comfort and familiarity of their hometown to follow their dreams.Â
I want to sing the praises of Chris Pine for a minute. I saw “Star Trek” four times in the theater. Pine was the biggest wild card in that film. Captain James T. Kirk has become a legendary character in American pop culture, and William Shatner is larger than life. To take that part is a huge risk, and Pine turned out to be the pitch-perfect choice for the part. For my money, he gave the best performance in the piece and really captured the essence of what Kirk is, while still making the part his own. He is a fine actor and gets to prove it in Small Town. Couple that with the fact he also sings (acquitting himself very nicely, I might add), and he is well on his way to a diverse and promising career.
In the spirit of objectivity and due to the fact that this is technically a review column, I wouldn’t be doing my job without mentioning what I didn’t like about the movie. Being critical of your friends can be tough, but here goes. There are a couple of performances that don’t ring quite true. One because of the performance and one because of the actor’s persona. The role of the sheriff is well-written and developed but the actor, Shawn Christian, didn’t do it for me. The scenes with his daughter are good, but I didn’t connect with him. The other actor, Lin Shaye, is very recognizable. She has been in two of the funniest movies I have ever seen, “Dumb and Dumber” and “Kingpin,” and was absolutely brilliant in both. I had a hard time not calling back to those roles while watching this. None of this detracts from the craft of the movie. It’s well-made and well-acted.
I personally love independent films. If it weren’t for movies like “Sling Blade,” “Swingers,” “Pulp Fiction” and “The Usual Suspects,” filmmakers like Ryan might not feel empowered to get their own projects made.
Here’s hoping someone will see “Small Town Saturday Night” and feel as if they can follow Ryan’s lead.
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