Opening the tenth year of Primetime, Sterlin Harjo’s The Lowdown is a modern noir set in Tulsa, with Ethan Hawke playing Lee Raybon, a latter-day Philip Marlowe.
Lee Raybon, played by executive producer and star Ethan Hawke (also at the Festival in Blue Moon), lives, owns, and works in a rare bookstore in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His compulsion to learn the truth about Tulsa’s unofficial aristocracy, along with his disinterest in letting so-called rules of conduct get in his way, keep him in steady trouble.
When Lee’s latest exposé about a powerful and potentially corrupt Tulsa family, the Washbergs, results in a tragedy involving the household’s black sheep (Tim Blake Nelson), he quickly realizes he has uncovered something. This new development pulls Lee deeper into the city’s underbelly, and away from his day-to-day responsibilities, which include taking care of his 14-year-old daughter Francis (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), who has inherited her father’s curiosity.
She joins him as he follows potential suspects like the “grieving” widow Betty Jo (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and the deceased’s brother-in-law Donald (Kyle MacLachlan). Lee’s ex Samantha (Kaniehtiio Horn, Seeds, TIFF ’24) is tired of his truth-seeking escapades. But like their daughter, she sees the good in his intentions.
Created, executive produced, written, and directed by Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs), The Lowdown is an ode to great noir films of years past, reminiscent of Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, its energy and eclectic characters similar to the Coen brothers’ gumshoe classic The Big Lebowski. Harjo’s depiction of Tulsa unfolds as a fascinating study from one of today’s most exciting storytellers, bringing us into the orbit of the city he grew up watching.
GEOFF MACNAUGHTON
Screenings
TIFF Lightbox 2
Scotiabank 14
Scotiabank 11