Thursday, December 7, 2017

Family Night at the Movies

by Pa Rock
Proud Patriarch

Last night was one of those welcome, yet rare, times when a significant portion of my family managed to collect in one spot.   The gathering was for the West Plains premier of Tim's second movie, Tatterdemalion, which was filmed in and around West Plains in the summer of 2015.  The event was a big success with the local cine-plex, The Glass Sword Theatre, opening four screens for simultaneous viewing.  Last night's premier was by invitation only, but the movie will run for general admission for the coming week - and possibly two weeks.

A "red carpet" reception was held at the threatre preceding the showing which featured snacks provided by El Charro, a local Mexican eatery.  Ramaa Mosley, the film's director introduced the movie, and a question-and-answer session hosted by Mosley, screenwriter Tim Macy, and several cast members took place after the show.

Unfortunately the show's two central characters were unable to be in attendance.  Leven Rambin, who played Fern Sreaves, an army veteran who returned home to the Ozarks for the funeral of her father and to locate her troubled brother, was in Paris promoting her new series for NBC called "Gone."  Landon Edwards, who played Cecil, the tatterdemalion living alone in the woods, was at home in Arkansas taking his middle school finals and could not attend last night's showing - but his little sister was on hand.  Tatterdemalion was Landon's first film, but he has since had the lead in another movie entitled Snow.

The director, Ramaa Mosely, stressed how much she and the film crew had enjoyed working in West Plains and getting to know the community.  She shared many anecdotes about things that she had experienced while filming in the Ozarks.  Mosley was on the ground in Missouri for just a few hours yesterday.  She flew in from her home in Los Angeles, and late in the evening she had to fly out to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she is filming a commercial today.  She and screenwriter Tim Macy have one previous film together, The Brass teapot (2012), and she indicated last night that the duo my have a third production in the planning stages.

Mosley said that Tatterdemalion is being sold to a distributor who will give it a limited run in a dozen or so movie houses, and that the film will eventually be available through streaming venues such as Netflix.

After the big evening at the theatre concluded, the Macy clan headed over to the after-party at Roper's Saloon on the square in West Plains.  Our group included Tim and his wife, Erin, and their two children, Olive and Sully, Erin's sister, Bree and her husband, Ricardo and their son, Niko (all from the Kansas City area), Miss Patti from Noel, and Tim's proud father.  Tim's older brother Nick, had been at the movie premier but skipped the after-party.  (The "saloon" is actually a nice family restaurant that happens to serve alcohol.)  This morning the group reassembled at Pa Rock's farm where the kids chased geese and peacocks and the parents bundled in coats and blankets, trudged after them.  Olive and Niko both left with peacock feathers - and Niko planned to take his to show-and-tell at his school.


And all of this has been Pa Rock's show-and-tell.  He had a wonderful time visiting with family and reveling in his son's accomplishment.  It just doesn't get much better than this!

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