Chillicothe

Picked this movie up as one of those movies at the video store they only order one copy of. Took me 3 weeks to actually catch in stock and I found out why. I believe this is one of the best movies put out on it's subject matter. Anyone who enjoys a good laugh and the company of friends will like this movie. This movie could be used as the conclusive documentary on the life of 20-somethings in America. Everyone will see themselves and their friends in this movie. If you don't like it, you might want to look around because you don't have any friends.

I'm from Ohio, and I've been to Chillicothe. The whole reason I picked up this movie at the rental place was because of the name. Wow. I was completely blown away by this movie. There's something so real and true about this movie. Moments of it are so incredibly funny, and then five minutes later you're hit with a moment of such sadness that you want to cry for these characters.

I wrote and directed "Chillicothe" in 1997, and the 3 years that have followed have been a real education. An audience favorite at Sundance '99, this film has been screened for dozens of festival audiences across the country with tremendous response.

Thank-you to everyone who has rallied behind it. I am still very proud of "Chillicothe" and what it represents to me and my producing partners, but as Willie Nelson says, "I can't wait to get on the road again." So keep an eye out for us; this is only the beginning! I promise the next one will be easier to pronounce. -Todd Edwards ...

So I was talking with my brother (he's in Orlando, I'm in L.A., we're both from Enon, Ohio) on instant messenger the other day about a screenplay I want to write. It's about a guy that can't choose between growing up and staying a teenager forever. He asks if I've seen "Chillicothe," made by a fellow Ohioan (he saw it at a festival last year). "Nope," I reply, and I look for it on imdb and find all these great reviews. I doubted I ever WOULD see it, my pessimism being rooted in working with independent films since I moved out here. Luck has it, a couple of days later I'm rummaging through video tapes in the office and sure enough there is a copy of "Chillicothe". And that's only the first happy accident. The film itself is the big payoff.

Introspection without egotism. Adventurous without overstretching. Emphasizing the strengths of unknown actors. Very little useless dialogue. Nice segues into thoughtful non-sequitors (the video-store guy). And, it has similar characters and situations to those I want to use in MY screenplay, but with an entirely different story. Thanks to all that, I absolutely loved it. A very nice job, Todd. I wish you all the luck in the world. And don't worry about whether people can pronounce the title or not. If they like it (and they will) they will learn.

P.S. - I sold many great CDs to partially fund my move to L.A. from Columbus, using the philosophy of "I will eventually miss it and have to buy it again" (lost almost all of my Hendrix that way). I had to double-check before I wrote this, but I did keep the "The Joshua Tree." Go figure.

Chillicothe comes across as the product of a young filmmaker with too many good ideas who wants to spend them all at once-- the result is an interesting but uneven new chapter in the slacker canon, a kind of bildungsroman that has its own voice while borrowing heavily from those who have come before (Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater, et al).

I must admit, however, Chillicothe is charming, buoyed by a likeable cast, excellent production values (for an independent film), and a clever script from writer/director Todd Edwards, who also plays one of the film's central characters. "Write what you know," many English teachers have admonished me, and Edwards has taken this advice to heart, crafting a coming-of-age story for the post-university set that's as sharp and real as it could be. Edwards shows himself to have a keen eye for comic pacing and dramatic irony, but unfortunately he seems to need a little help with organization and pacing, because the film suffers from editing that could only be called schizophrenic. One moment, it looks like a typical Gen X comedy, the next it might be more like a music video or documentary. It seems almost like Edwards is using the film as a demo reel to sell his ability to a major studio, which is fine I suppose but his vision suffers because of it.

Poor organization aside, I can heartily recommend this movie to friends and stangers alike who can't get enough slackin', and anybody else looking for a sharp, mildly edgy laugh. Good job, Todd.