Meskada (2010)

Small-town detective Noah Cordin is called to solve a juvenile homicide that occurred during a home burglary in his affluent town of Hilliard. The dead boy's mother, Allison Connor, is a ... See full summary »

Director:

Josh Sternfeld

Writer:

Josh Sternfeld

Stars:

Nick Stahl, Rachel Nichols, Kellan Lutz

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nick Stahl	...	Noah Cordin
Rachel Nichols	...	Leslie Spencer
Kellan Lutz	...	Eddie Arlinger
Jonathan Tucker	...	Shane Loakin
Grace Gummer	...	Nat Collins
Laura Benanti	...	Allison Connor
James McCaffrey	...	Billy Burns
Michael Cerveris	...	Terrence Lindy
Norman Reedus	...	Dennis Burrows
David Aaron Baker	...	DA Russ Winston
Michael Sirow	...	Daniel Hartfield
Kerry Bishé	...	Emily Cordin
Rebecca Henderson	...	Lyla Burrows
Kathy Searle	...	Jane Hartfield
Charlie Tahan	...	Keith Burrows

Storyline

Small-town detective Noah Cordin is called to solve a juvenile homicide that occurred during a home burglary in his affluent town of Hilliard. The dead boy's mother, Allison Connor, is a member of the Meskada County Board of Commissioners, and a powerful woman in Hilliard; and the entire township rallies together in solidarity - to support her and Detective Cordin's efforts to find the killers.

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Plot Keywords:

one word title

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Taglines:

Some crimes find their criminals

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some violence and a scene of sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 December 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

As Blood Runs Deep

Filming Locations:

Catskill, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aliquot Films, Deerjen Films, Four of a Kind Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

Meskada County is supposedly a fictitious county in a Midwestern U.S. state (probably bordering Ohio), yet an apology letter addressed to the fictitious city of Hilliard incorrectly cites a Canadian province abbreviation (MB for Manitoba) with the fictitious U.S. postal code 21243. Even if the movie were theoretically set in Manitoba, the postal code format is wrong for a Canadian province--U.S. ZIP codes are generally 5 digits (like the 21243 example), whereas Canadian postal codes are 6 alphanumeric characters (example: one of Winnipeg, MB's postal codes is R2C 1G6).

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Connections

References Let's Make a Deal (1963)

User Reviews

Nick Stahl runs into rural small town opposition as he investigates a felony-murder

This is a fine, well-written and well-done neo-noir story, much underrated by IMDb (at 5.2). Nick Stahl, whom I've just seen in "Bully", does another effective and understated performance as a small town policeman. The setting is somewhere in Appalachia. This is a rural neo-noir, sort of in the setting of "Winter's Bone", but this one focuses more on the small town dynamics and behavior of the people in it, as opposed to rural isolation. This shows a dark side to the people as well as their good and struggling side. This is not at all a romanticized Hollywood version.

The story opens with a burglary committed by two young men in an isolated house in Hilliard, where Stahl is the town cop. He's assisted in his investigation by a county cop, Rachel Nichols. Stahl is a family man. His relationship with Rachel is strictly professional. The trail leads to Stahl's home town of Caswell, but he hasn't been there in a while. The burglary turned into a robbery and then an accidental felony/murder when a young boy unexpectedly came up from the basement. His mom was away. A certain amount of police procedure is followed in order to find a trail back to Caswell and that comprises the first part of the film, shown in an understated effective way. But the tension builds throughout that portion.

The story shifts back and forth between the Stahl/Nichols team and the Caswell people, including the two thieves who have their differences but have known each other a long time. The characters and their conflicts follow naturally as Stahl appears in Caswell and begins interrogating workers from Caswell who have been doing odd jobs in the Hilliard area. We learn more about the conditions and needs of the thieves, and why they wanted the money. Matters almost appear to be at a dead end until some of the loot appears at a pawn shop.

Meanwhile the homicide angle gets enmeshed with two other dynamics. One is that the mother of the victim is putting pressure on Stahl and the other source of pressure is that the town's people are trying to land a company to take over an unused factory, and this will provide 400 jobs. The homicide is making the town look bad. Some of those close to the killer suspect who has done this, although they really do not know, and this gives rise to conflicts both with the suspected thieves and with Stahl.

How people behave under these pressures and conflicts is the heart of the story, and they do not behave like pure saints or pure sinners, but as flawed individuals with divided loyalties, subject to emotion, jumping to conclusions, and not quite knowing what to do in difficult circumstances.

Stahl in the end has to accept the limits of what he can accomplish in the face of the events that transpire beyond his control and, in the case of the mother of the victim, he even has to make a compromise with his integrity. These failures of the protagonist, despite his best efforts, are what also help elevate the story. They too make it a solid neo-noir, without any of the clichés or other themes that can be found in many other neo-noirs.