Shelter in Solitude

I enjoyed this tender tragicomedy which showcases veteran actress/comedienne Siobhan Fallon Hogan's many talents. Her hard luck character Val Fagan is a lonesome tavern keeper and former Ole Opry vedette looking for love in all the wrong places whose life is spiraling out of control as the pandemic hits. She is maligned and robbed, but finds purpose and redemption at the height of Covid when she finds herself working as a death row prison guard. Her relationship with her brother, the warden, portrayed by Robert Patrick, is rocky but touching, as they manage to join forces to provide a semblance of compassion, if not justice, to the prisoner, portrayed by Peter Macon on death row.

Shelter in Solitude is a captivating story of death row inmate with just days to live and the impact he felt from a wannabe country western singer and a small community of people during COVID times.

Directed by Vibeke Muasya the movie stars the wonderful actors Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Robert Patrick, Peter Macon, Dan Castellaneta and Peter Hogan. I had the honor of seeing it at Kevin Smith's first film festival-- SModCastle Film Festival--in Atlantic Highlands New Jersey.

This fantastic, small-town love story about a tragic inmate in despair who finds an unusual friend with faith and a warm heart, is touching and enjoyable for all. Funny, compassionate, relatable, surprising and with a great cast, excellent music and perfect backdrop make this a Must-See Film!

I saw this film at a film festival and enjoyed it from start to finish. Fantastic film filled with great performances all around. Siobhan Fallon Hogan especially kills it, with great charm and charisma in ever scene she's in. She goes through a range of emotions and a solid character arc and it is consistently entertaining throughout. The supporting cast as well kills it. It's also a very timely film, set during the COVID-19 pandemic and as such is both very relatable and also will serve as a great time capsule for the future to show future moviegoers what life was like during this period of time. Overall, I highly recommend.

Loved this movie. A peek at life in a deep south small town at the start of the pandemic. The main character, down on her luck, finds a way of making lemonaid out of lemons after taking a job as a death row prison guard. She's open hearted and open minded from the get-go towards the death row inmate she is guarding. She develops a strong connection and a sense of responsibility to alleviate her prison's pain, to try and fix the unfixable for him. At times funny, hopeful, sad, emotional, conflicted, honest. You'll feel it all while getting to know this cast of characters in their hometown. Expect to spend a very enjoyable few hours!

Siobhan Fallon Hogan has created a wonderful cast of believable characters and woven their stories together into a wrenching plot. None of them are entirely heroic yet, perhaps save for Kevin who is too immature to have character, they are each finally redeemable, though not in any facile way. From Peter Hogan's Chris to Siobhan's Valerie, for all their flaws, each offers a shining moment of simple and beautiful humanity, reminding us that even in the shadows of a darkening world and a desperately cruel situation, women and men are capable of connection and relationship across the most unlikely divides. In addition to Siobhan's own performance, Robert Patrick's Dwayne and Peter Macon's Jackson deserve special mention for revealing a deep and memorable humanity in the midst of very complex lives.