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Meadowland is an American drama film written by Chris Rossi and directed by Reed Morano in her feature debut. The film stars Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Juno Temple, Elisabeth Moss, Giovanni Ribisi, John Leguizamo, and Ty Simpkins.

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2015.^[1] The film was released in a limited release on October 16, 2015, prior to being released on video on demand on October 23, 2015, by Cinedigm.^[2]

Plot[edit]

Sarah and Phil are on a roadtrip with their son, Jessie. They stop at a gas station to buy snacks and so their son can go to the bathroom; however, in the time it takes for them to make their purchases they find that their son is missing.

Sarah, who is a teacher, deals with her grief by obsessing over one of her students, Adam, who has Asperger's. He is ostracized by the other kids and treated poorly by his foster mother, Shannon. Phil meanwhile begins to attend a support group for parents who have lost their children.

Despite claiming that she knows their son is still alive, in the hazy aftermath of this loss, Sarah begins a downwards spiral. Phil, a New York City cop, starts to lose sight of his morals as Sarah puts herself in increasingly dangerous situations.

Cast[edit]

• Olivia Wilde as Sarah
• Luke Wilson as Phil
• Juno Temple as Mackenzie
• Merritt Wever as Kelly
• Giovanni Ribisi as Tim
• Ty Simpkins as Adam
• Elisabeth Moss as Shannon
• Scott Mescudi as Jason
• Mark Feuerstein as Rob
• Kevin Corrigan as Joe
• John Leguizamo as Pete
• Eden Duncan-Smith as Alma

Production[edit]

On February 11, 2014, it was announced that Olivia Wilde would star in and executive-produce the dramatic film Meadowland, which Reed Morano would direct and shoot from a script by Chris Rossi.^[3] On July 30, Luke Wilson, Natasha Lyonne, Elisabeth Moss and Eden Duncan-Smith joined the cast.^[4] On August 18, Giovanni Ribisi, Ty Simpkins, Juno Temple, Scott Mescudi, Mark Feuerstein, and Kevin Corrigan were added to the cast.^[5]

Filming[edit]

Principal photography began on August 18, 2014, in New York City.^[6][7]

Release[edit]

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2015.^[1] On June 24, 2015 it was announced that Cinedigm had acquired distribution rights to the film and planned an October 2015 theatrical release.^[8] The film had a limited release on October 16, 2015, prior to being released through video on demand on October 23, 2015.^[2]

Reception[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 96%, based on reviews from 24 critics, with an average rating of 7/10.^[9] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating 'generally favorable reviews'.^[10]

Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian gave the film four stars out of five, and said, 'What Meadowland refuses to do, to its great credit, is conform to expectations.'^[11]Chicago Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper gave the film three out of four stars, and wrote that 'The filmmaking is sure-handed, the performances authentic.'^{[12][permanent dead link]} Chuck Bowen from Slant Magazine gave the film three out of four stars, and also praised the performances: 'Both Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson understand the greatest pain of loss to be rooted in its searing inexpressibility.'^[13]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'Meadowland Tribeca Film Festival'. Tribeca Film. 2015. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
2. ^ ^ab'Meadowland'. Apple Trailers. 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
3. ^Fleming Jr, Mike (February 11, 2014). 'Olivia Wilde Sets Thriller Pic 'Meadowland''. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
4. ^D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 30, 2014). 'Olivia Wilde, Elisabeth Moss, Luke Wilson, Natasha Lyonne Head To 'Meadowland''. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
5. ^McNary, Dave (August 18, 2014). 'Giovanni Ribisi, Ty Simpkins, Kid Cudi Heading to 'Meadowland''. Variety. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
6. ^'ON THE SET FOR 8/18/14: OLIVIA WILDE STARTS MEADOWLAND, JOHN KRASINSKI WRAPS THE HOLLARS'. studiosystemnews.com. August 18, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
7. ^Kay, Jeremy (August 19, 2014). 'Bron's Meadowland begins New York shoot'. screendaily.com. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
8. ^Hipes, Patrick (June 24, 2015). ''Meadowland' with Olivia Wilde & Luke Wilson Lands at Cinedigm'. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
9. ^'Meadowland (2015)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
10. ^'Meadowland Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
11. ^Hoffman, Jordan (April 24, 2015). 'Meadowland review – every parent's nightmare'. The Guardian. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
12. ^Richard Roeper. 'Meadowland Parents Spiral Wake Tragedy'.
13. ^Bowen, Chuck. 'Review: Meadowland'. Slant. Retrieved 22 February 2020.

External links[edit]

• Meadowland on IMDb
• Meadowland at AllMovie

In 1037, a senior civil servant of the Byzantine empire faces a tedious journey to Greece, escorting the Army payroll. His only companions are a detachment of the Empire's elite Guard, recruited from Viking Scandinavia. When the wagon sheds a wheel, he passes the time talking with two veterans, who have a remarkable story to tellthe Viking discovery of America. In 1037, a senior civil servant of the Byzantine empire faces a tedious journey to Greece, escorting the Army payroll. His only companions are a detachment of the Empire's elite Guard, recruited from Viking Scandinavia. When the wagon sheds a wheel, he passes the time talking with two veterans, who have a remarkable story to tell—the Viking discovery of America. This book had so much going for it.

The author is a really good writer. He exhibits a few flaws when writing an historical fiction of this style, but at the heart he is really good at the art of writing none the less.Naturally, when you start talking about flaws and faults, you have to attach an aside to that to make it clear that by flaw or fault I mean only in my personal opinion.

I would never presume that something I think is a flaw would be a flaw to anybody else. My issues with the book This book had so much going for it. The author is a really good writer. He exhibits a few flaws when writing an historical fiction of this style, but at the heart he is really good at the art of writing none the less.Naturally, when you start talking about flaws and faults, you have to attach an aside to that to make it clear that by flaw or fault I mean only in my personal opinion.

I would never presume that something I think is a flaw would be a flaw to anybody else. My issues with the book are mine alone and may not be shared by others.So, having kicked off with a negative, something I am generally loathe to do, let me speak now of these flaws and faults.Meadowland had a fantastic start, as so many books do. Only it was not the actual writing that massacred that terrific start, it was the style of story it became.It begins with a young Greek scholar.

Stethatus who.well.let him tell you himself, straight from the pages of Meadowland;My name is John Stethatus. I was born in the year of Our lord 990. I live in the great city of Constantinople and serve his Imperial Majesty Constantine X, Emperor of the Romans, in the capacity of clerk to the exchequer; which means, in practice, that my world consists of a few streets, a small office, a chair and a table.I was born in the City, have been outside it only four times, and never wish to leave it again.And there we have him, John Stethatus. Clerk to the Exchequer, who in the year 1036 is given the burdensome task of carrying the payroll to the troops in Sicily under the protection of a handful of men from the Varangian Guard (sword for hire warriors of Scandinavian descent).Sounds like the kind of story you like? Thinking that doesn't sound so bad? And so it doesn't. I thought so to.

That part of the story was a real blast. The author writes it with humour and cleverness and I thought I'd stumbled upon an under rated treasure.With the combination of two of my favourite things, Scandinavian warriors and adventure journey, and liberally anointed with some smart humour, I found myself wondering.Where had you been all my life, Meadowland?Then, just when I thought it was safe to go back into the water, it turned me on my head and dumped me into a completely different tale. The journey story of John Stethatus and his Varangian offsiders changed into a storyteller tale, where the Northern men sat about a fire and told John Stethatus the story of how - together with Leif Erikson - they discovered America.It was not the tale of these men discovering America that I found flawed - after all, the subtitle of the book is A Novel of the Viking discovery of America - it was the fact that stories within stories is one of my least favourite book styles, especially when done in this way. If someone is going to do it, then they should do it in the first person narration style of, for example, Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series, Christian Cameron's Ill-Made Knight. A narration that has the main character retelling the story of their life from the beginning.Meadowland was not like that.

You spend the first chapters getting to know the Greek clerk and his Scandinavian guards. You enjoy their humour, their camaraderie. You find yourself excited for their journey and wonder (at least I did) on how they will get so off track from their mission to Sicily, that they will end up pushing ashore in the wilds of America.But they don't get off track.

What they do is get off their cart and sit by a fire and then tell the story in a broken up, disjointed manner instead.I was bitterly disappointed. BITTERLY!As a novel, it was not bad.

It lost my interest when it changed styles and I struggled to read it after a while, but over all it was not bad.The writing does get modern from time to time and I was uncomfortable with that, as I always am when it comes to historical fiction. Felt the author was sometimes deliberately just writing in his own language because he did not always desire to write in a neutral way.

But the humour kept me in there. Sometimes so subtle that if you aren't concentrating you will miss it, it was this author's greatest asset.For example. Page 83:“No, that's fine,” Eyvind said.

“I could do with a breath of air.” he sighed, then turned back to me. “One thing,” he said. “You may've noticed, we Northerners like to give each other nicknames. Mostly it's because we're an unimaginative bunch when it comes to our regular names.

We haven't got many to choose from, and most of the ones we've got begin with Thor. When four of your neighbours are called Thorstein and the fifth is Thorgils and the sixth is Thorbjorn, it's a damn sight easier to say Red or Fats or Flatnose. Well, that was the occasion on which I got my nickname, and I've been Bare-arsed Eyvind ever since. I just thought I'd mention it,” he added, “in case one of the others uses it, and you're wondering who they're talking about.”Then he ducked his head under the low doorway and went out.It is hard to inject genuine and subtle humour into one's writing and Thomas Holt does it with great success.

I see he writes dark comedy novels under the name Tom Holt. I can see him doing that and I expect they would be funny stories if this book is anything to go on.I would try this author again.

No shadow of a doubt. While his storytelling style was no favourite of mine, his writing did quite charm me.