An Evening Song

Hitting with the force of a hundred exploding libraries is the fantastic experimental literary drama An Evening Song, written and directed by the intriguing filmmaker Graham Swon. Set in 1939, it centers on three characters out in the middle of nowhere in the American heartland. Martha (Deragh Campbell) is a young woman with scars all over her skin who works as a housekeeper. She was brought up strictly on the Bible and has little frame of reference for the importance of the literary accomplishments of the couple she works for.

Barbara (Hannah Gross), published a highly acclaimed short story collection when she was still very young and was heralded as a major emerging talent. Her husband, Richard (Peter Vack), has the much less glamorous job of writing horror and science fiction stories for pulp magazines. While Richard struggles with cranking out what Barbara refers to as dreck, Barbara wanders the forest next to their house, not being seen for hours on end. Both Richard and Barbara seem drawn to Martha, overwhelming her sense of decorum and reality. And all this time, there is word that the legend of the hairy man-beast in the woods stalking prey is actually real.

“Both Richard and Barbara seem drawn to Martha, overwhelming her sense of decorum and reality.”

Yes, An Evening Song is one clever m**********r. This cleverness runs rapidly throughout the picture, from the outstanding premise to the execution. Yes, I am one of the old paperback slingers who has been waiting for a film with this subject matter. Swon draws on everything interesting in the 30s high-end literary world to create the character of Barbara. Swon then doubles down with the other end of the pool with the pulp boys to craft Richard.

The romantic pairing of a lost generation grown-up child progeny with one of the weird fiction scrappers for dimes is clever to the power of infinity, which Swon then triangulates the relationship as the masterstroke. The power dynamics the couple holds over Martha are omnipresent, with her being domineered not only economically but also by her lack of cultural currency outside of scripture. Then you drop the lit match of attraction on all that desperate kindling and get a bonfire that scorches the heavens.

What immediately establishes An Evening Song as experimental isn’t the Sound-and-the-Fury-like triple perspective so much as the magnificent throwback visuals that use silent-film techniques. There is a lot of irising as well as centralized portraiture that looks odd now, but would have seemed very familiar in the time period this is set in. Campbell is outstanding as Martha, projecting the perfect pitch mix of resignation and frustration.