True/False Events

Reel Gone Round-Up

Feat. Knee Deep (with director Michael Chandler)

Hop on board the musical buses at 9am Sunday outside Kevin's World and make our annual pilgrimage to the Bull Pen livestock barn. After a locally produced brunch, a short hoedown with the Pine Hill Haints and the Can Kickers, and an auction, we play Knee Deep, the story of Josh Osborne, who has spent much of his life in the seat of a tractor. Pulled from school at age 10, Josh's parents sacrificed his childhood for the 80-hour weeks of a farmer's life. So it was no surprise that Josh, now a grown man, was enraged when his mother told him she was going to sell the farm — which he figured he'd be running for the rest of his life — to a real-estate developer. But did he go too far when he tried to murder her? His neighbors didn't think so; most just wish he had better aim. Michael Chandler's film has the breadth of a Truman Capote novel, a tale of intrigue and deep emotional currents that broadens our understanding of American identity. Add a cast of colorful characters and a culture-wide crisis — the dying of the American small farm — and Knee Deep makes for compelling viewing. (JS)