‘Blow The Man Down’: Brilliant use of mixed color palette and surreal settings make this an outstanding noir

‘Blow The Man Down’ opens to a close-up shot comprising a line of fishermen in Easter, Cove Maine, singing their anthem which shares the same title as the movie. Their voices asking for “more time to blow the man down” fade as the ship sets sail, giving us a glimpse of many intriguing and compelling elements that shape the movie into an offbeat noir.

Amazon Prime’s ‘Blow The Man Down’ follows two sisters, Priscilla (Sophie Lowe) and Mary Beth (Morgan Saylor) Connolly, who have a family business to take care of to pay off a mountain of debt following the demise of their mother.

However, the suspicious death of a young woman reveals that there’s more to the little town and ever-cheerful matriarch than meets the eye, as deeply buried dark secrets begin to surface.

The plotline is gripping and commendable, which strikes the right balance between drama and mystery. The cinematography of the movie takes the viewer to a whole different world using a mixed pallete of dull and bright colors, which set the right tone for each scene and, further enhanced by the location’s natural setting in the backdrop.

An extreme close up shot of a weapon with blood smeared all over it or a wide shot of the roads which are buried under a thick layer of snow — nearly every scene sparks a strange but soothing feeling throughout the film.

An extreme focus on the facial expressions of an already exceptionally good cast of characters ignites a range of emotions. Priscilla’s (Sophie Lowe) heavy eyes and Mary Beth’s (Morgan Saylor) throbbing eyebrows are enough to make one dislike Edith (Margo Martindale), for putting the girls through whatever that made them look so miserable.

Maine makes for a picturesque town despite its deserted roads and eerily calm lake, or such is the work of the cinematographers, who have created a nearly hallucinogenic town, whose icy nights and cold breeze are as spooky as its residents. 

Todd Banhazl has served as the cinematographer. He is also known for working in ‘The Strange Ones’.

‘Blow The Man Down’ is available to stream on Amazon Prime.