We would all be better off if more filmmakers were concerned with respecting their characters more than hitting well-trod plot points. Understated and honest, Tater Tot & Patton takes two people and lets them coexist, without shoehorning them into a cinematic emotional buddy dramedy. Rothe manages to trick us all into believing that Andie is not an archetype. She’s not broken, but she’s also not Wonder Woman in waiting. She’s not written as over-the-top addict or a heartbroken woman, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to see another actress turn Andie into one of these pillars of bad writing. Being a convincing curmudgeon, and not a curmudgeon with a heart of gold, is a tough sell and he makes it work. Wilder turns in a phenomenal performance as Erwin. Here, they just spend some time together while each of them adjusts to a new life. Their differences are prominent enough without needing to include them in their emotional journey. Instead, the movie approaches the two characters by looking at what makes them similar. In fact, the most emotionally explosive scene in Tater Tot & Patton comes when Andie forces Erwin to do something he really doesn’t want to do and he gets pissed. There are no over-the-top emotional blowouts, directly preceding a scene where these polar opposites embrace and realize just how much they’ve grown in their short time together. The film’s greatest strength is not necessarily what it includes, but rather what it doesn’t include. This is a formula we have seen before in plenty of other movies two flawed characters are thrown together and somehow they heal one another through embracing their differences. Adding a young woman with a rough history into this mix is bound to cause ripples in both of their lives. He eats the same thing every day and has the same basic routine. Andie’s mother was under the impression that she was sending Andie to her estranged sister’s home for the summer, when in fact only Erwin is there.Įrwin is not a bad guy he’s just set in his ways. He explains only after Andie arrives that his wife is sick and away at a hospital. After that, the truth between them begins to leak out into the open.Īndie’s Aunt, who’s Erwin’s wife, is not there. Erwin’s niece by marriage, Andie (Jessica Rothe), arrives in town one day for a little old-fashioned time on the farm to get away from her wild ways back home. He drinks a beer the moment he wakes up, tends to his herds, and not much beyond that. Erwin (Bates Wilder) lives a low-key life. Nearly the entire film takes place on a ranch. The complete lack of nostalgia and romanticism, along with the measured drama, make the emotional beats feel honest. “Tater Tot and Patton” runs March 12– one night only– in Mobridge.Tater Tot & Patton is a refreshing take on two mismatched people changing each other for the better. Kightlinger grew up in Pierre and attended college at Augustana University in Sioux Falls. Not only did Kightlinger decide to set this film in the heartland of South Dakota, but he also shot the film there as well. It starts showing March 15 in Aberdeen and Watertown and will also go for a week. Tater Tot and Patton is a 2017 independent film written and directed by South Dakota native Andrew Kightlinger. The film also begins it’s one-week showing last Friday in Sioux Falls, Mitchell, Spearfish, Huron and Brookings. Kightlinger brought in friends from film school to play the lead roles, but local residents and locations are also used. Kightlinger, who now lives in Los Angeles, knew he wanted to shoot the film in his home state. “Tater Tot & Patton” writer and director Andrew Kightlinger tells DRG news and farm he wrote the full-length feature film after his mother passed away. (DRG News) – A film produced by a Pierre native and shot mostly in the Pierre and Fort Pierre area premiered in Pierre last Friday night.
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