Two years after filming in St. Paul, ‘Downtown Owl’ will be released online on Tuesday

Ross Raihala, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read
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Two years after filming in St. Paul and the surrounding area, “Downtown Owl” will be released digitally on Tuesday.

Actors and real-life couple Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater make their directorial debut in the film, which they shot in April 2022. In addition to filming scenes at the Spot Bar and Highland Park High School in St. Paul, the crew shot elsewhere in the area, including Minneapolis, Elko New Market and Independence.

Based on the 2008 novel by essayist and North Dakota native Chuck Klosterman, “Downtown Owl” is set in 1983 in the fictional North Dakota town of Owl. It follows Julia Rabia (Rabe), a Milwaukee teacher who moves to the small town for a one-semester teaching job in order to give her husband the space to finish his doctoral thesis. Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wittrock and Henry Golding are also in the cast.

“Downtown Owl” had its world premiere in June 2023 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. It went on to play at other festivals, including the Twin Cities Film Festival in October. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and Stage 6 Films are distributing the film.

In a positive review that called it “a thoughtful, broad-canvas ensemble piece” and highlighted T Bone Burnett’s “eclectic alt-country score and soundtrack, infused with the music and spirit of Elvis Costello,” Deadline suggested it could be turned into a television show. “It’s a testament to the integrity of this likable, modest indie that it leaves us wanting to spend just a little bit more time with these people and find out what happens next,” wrote Damon Wise.

The Hollywood Reporter’s headline proclaimed “Rabe is the radiant hot-mess center of an affecting small-town tragicomedy.” Sheri Linden’s review goes on to praise the directors (“That Rabe and Linklater, accomplished veterans of stage and screen, have drawn such nuanced work from their cast is no surprise”), production designer Francesca Palombo’s “judiciously deployed meta touches that strike the intended chords and a fluent visual language for this invented small-town world (played by the Minneapolis-St. Paul area)” and cinematographer Barton Cortright’s “use of wide-screen framing in ways that refute rural cliches and embrace the barest touches of the surreal.”

In a statement released to People magazine, the filmmaking couple said: “Making ‘Owl’ was so rewarding, and we hope audiences have as exhilarating an experience watching it as we had working on it together.”

As of Tuesday, “Downtown Owl” will be available to purchase online through sites like Amazon and Fandango. While Sony has yet to announce plans, it will likely show up on a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu later this year.

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