Synopsis
A musical journey from the Scottish Highlands to the southern US.
Dirt Road To Lafayette
Cast
Director
Producers
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Cinematography
Executive Producers
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Studios
Dirt Road Productions Believe Entertainment Do Not Bend Productions Head Gear Films Kreo Films DRTL Productions
Country
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Releases by Date
Premiere
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UK
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Releases by Country
UK
24 Jun 2018
- Premiere Edinburgh International Film Festival
Popular reviews
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Murdo, a Scottish teenager, goes on a trip with his gruff father to visit relatives in Alabama after the death of his mother (and previous death of his older sister). Father and son are struggling to connect as they attempt to deal with their grief and they struggle to fit in with the ex-pat Scots community who make every effort to welcome them.
Murdo is an accomplished accordion player but hasn't played since his mother died but his interest is re-awakened when he happens upon Queen Monzee-ay, an African American musician playing Zydeco Cajun music on the accordion to her family in her back yard, during an enforced stop in Allentown, Mississippi. He impresses her with his playing and she… -
Marketed as a distinctly Scottish story, I prefer to think of it as universal. Young Murdo, along with his dad Tom, travels to Alabama, visiting relatives after the death of his mum. His dad's stoicism is gruff, Peter Mullan-like, unable or unwilling to let out the pain of losing his wife. Murdo's an awkward adolescent, grieving but looking for an outlet.
He finds it in the music played by an African-American family he overhears on the way to the shops. He's an accordion player far from his home of the Scottish Highlands, but is drawn to a familiar lilt, finding solace not only in its sound but its shared heritage. What the instrument means in celtic culture complements the zydeco…
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From Kenneth Glenaan, the director of Yasmin and Summer comes Dirt Road to Lafayette, another thoughtful, slow, character-driven indie.
The film tells the story of a 17-year-old Scottish boy Murdo (Neil Sutcliffe) who accompanies his taciturn, gruff father (David O'Hara) to America to stay with relatives (David Hayman and Jill Jane Clements) who are at the centre of the immigrant Scottish community there. It soon becomes clear that this is not simply a holiday however. A car crash has recently robbed the family of its women, Murdo's mother and elder sibling, and both he and his father are struck numb with grief, desperate for an outlet. For Murdo, the outlet comes in the guise of music. An accomplished accordion player,…