I attended a pre-release screening of Take Me to the River at the Camera Cinema Club, followed by a Skype interview by Tim Sika with writer-director Matt Sobel. Here are some nuggets from that interview.
Like me, Sobel is a San Jose guy who has often visited family in rural Nebraska. Sobel actually likes Nebraska, and pointed out the cultural differences are more complicated than “we Californians are open minded and right”. That being said, he acknowledged that Take Me to the River is about that Midwestern resistance to talking about anything unpleasant, which can lead to “a conspiracy of silence”.
Sobel described Take Me to the River as a “movie about suspicion and fear” and pointed out the shame that adults put on kids for innocent behavior that can lead to later tragedy.
As a filmmaker, Sobel is comfortable with the Big Action happening outside the frame so the audience must figure it out most of it and live with some ambiguity.
SPOILER ALERT: Sobel says that, in Take Me to the River , Keith has taught his daughter the “chicken fighting” game that made his own mother think that he was a pervert.
SPOILER ALERT: Take Me to the River contains some sexual behavior by a child which is very uncomfortable for the audience. Sobel was careful to work with the child actress Ursula Parker to make her acting experience on the set be a non-sexual game. This scene is central to the story and, thanks to Sobel, non-exploitative. Ursula Parker plays the youngest daughter on Louie.
You can stream Take Me to the River on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play or rent the DVD from Netflix.