kyrenaika Review of The Dirty South

The Dirty South (2023)

gritty, swampy, backwoods trailer wreck of a horse tale

[8/10 · 29 January 2024]

The soundtrack halfway saves this what coulda been great, but fell a bit short little indie film, if you like gritty, swampy, backwoods tunes with a bit of polish. The two leads are good and credible, except in spots. DM fails completely and a less experienced actor could easily have done better. I've seen him act before, but here? Meh. It's as if the script needed a few punch ups and the cast would have done well to have spent some time in a small town for a couple months to learn a few things. It would also have behooved them to spend a little more time in rehearsals. Money issues, perhaps? Desperate people do desperate and ill-advised things. That happens. Things turn out as you would expect. The story is credible until the hollywood quickie ending, but gloomy ends rarely sell tickets. All said, worth a watch. Back to the music. Atmospheric and appropriate for the setting, particularly Sittin' Still by Spencer Brunson (the guy in the bar playing guitar), Gun in My Hand by Dorothy and the vamped up version of Shchedryk near the end (Carol of the Bayou) by Tyler Forrest, who wrote most of the rest of the music. Worth it for that alone.