IOWA (2005) User Reviews

It's not as bad as all that. . . .

[navarre_2 · 4/10 · 28 May 2006]

Well, I don't think the picture is as bad as most of the reviews make it out to be. . . but there's no denying that it's got problems.

Mostly, the problems are in the script. There's a plot - but not much story, and certainly not one that anybody could call plausible; it trots out any number of self-consciously strange and/or stereotypical characters, lines, moments, what-have-you and, by the end, it just hasn't added up to much in this department.

Sorry, but I couldn't care less about whatever "social ill" Farnsworth might be trying to address; there will always be a sector of the population willing to do just about anything to shred their brains, even if it requires running around corn fields trying to steal ammonia, or whatever it is those morons do. So, as a film, you won't find me calling "Iowa" "important." But, at a stylistic level, the picture is more than interesting and some of Farnsworth's choices in depicting a meth-head's wigged-out state are beautiful, hilarious, disturbing and - yes, I'm going to say it - inspired.

The acting is uneven, but that just may be a casualty of the afore-praised stylistic reaching. Look, Rosanna Arquette is a fine actress - but she's not very good here, so a discriminating audience member does have to ask, "What happened?" It's weird that Diane Foster manages a simplicity and grace that so few of the other actors can come anywhere near. For example, I might seriously consider whatever explanation Farnsworth could provide for Michael T. Weiss's over-the-top turn as a probation officer, but I doubt I'd ever buy it; It Just Doesn't Work.

Then again, it's the most alive and in the moment that I've seen John Savage appear in years. So go figure.

This is the sort of work that tantalizes, but does not promise - and that's okay; neither Farnsworth nor anyone else is required to make movies. So, whether or not Farnsworth has another film in him remains to be seen, but if he does, it seems pretty likely that it won't be bland pap. In an age when people are planning their lives around the latest installment of "American Idol," perhaps we could allow, not scorn, Farnsworth's legitimate and undeniably flawed film.

What is more, perhaps we could welcome, not berate, his energetic and sometimes blessedly idiosyncratic imagination.

Don't get high off your own supply or anybody Else's

[yeodawg · 5/10 · 25 May 2011]

Michael T. WIESS has doggy style sex with Rosanna ARQUETTE. Michael WIESS of "PRETENDER" fame has back-door hate-sex with MILFy Rosanna ARQUETTE. And in like the first 30 seconds of the film. That should be more than enough to give this film a good watching. Anyhow a guy gets out of jail or something comes home and finds out his old place is now a burned out METH- LAB. He starts sampling some of the left over's telling his girl "You're hot and young, of course you should be doing meth." He goes to visit mom who's in cahoots with the local parole officer to have her son killed for the insurance money. Mind you his girl friend happens to be the daughter of the local sad-sack Sheriff. So the young couple goes from doing meth, getting addicted to meth, and then making their own meth. Then they get the bright idea to sell it, which adds fuel to the fire. Because now they have to associate with characters outside they're comfort zone. They also have to stay up three days partying until you run out; they're staying up for weeks on end cooking the never-ending supply, to meet demand. The never-ending demand.

It's time traveling Michael T. Weiss and film-making that's flawed on almost every level

[MBunge · 3/10 · 4 June 2010]

I'd really like to be able to tell you that this movie is worth seeing, that this little indy flick about small town Iowa life and the perils of methamphetamine is gripping and smart and honest. But this film isn't gripping. It isn't smart. It isn't honest. It is steaming pile of confused and confusing storytelling mixed together with a relentless kaleidoscope of visual stylizing. From inexplicable accents and morphing beards to nonsensical schemes and magical lacerations to ridiculously excessive editing and a character that looks and acts like he just stepped out of The Time Tunnel, Iowa is just one stupid and irritating thing after another.

While it's ostensibly about a pair of young lovers named Esper Harte and Donna Huffman (Matt Farnsworth and Diane Foster) descending into a meth-fueled haze of violence and hallucinations, there are too many elements of this tale that don't make sense on the most rudimentary level for it to be about anything except how much it sucks. I mean, it's clear that writer/director Matt Farnsworth wants to say something about the meth problem in Iowa. It's also clear that he believes he can say it by ineptly aping the style of Requiem for a Dream. What's absolutely unmistakable, however, is that Farnsworth is incapable of telling any story more complicated than "see Spot run".

Let me just give you one example of the head-scratchingly incompetent writing at work here. Early on in the movie, Esper gets thrown in jail on a drug charge by corrupt corrections officer Larry (Michael T. Weiss) as part of a plan to kill him and get the money left to Esper by his dead father. All we see of Esper in jail is him slumped up against the wall in a prison cell with someone leering at him. Larry then asks Donna to come down to his office, whereupon he spends several hours raping her over and over. He lets Donna go. She gets some money and bails out her boyfriend…and that somehow foils Larry's attempt to kill Esper. There's never a hint of how or when Esper was supposed to get murdered. There's not a glimmer of an explanation for why Larry decided to spend an evening raping Donna or how he thought he could get away with it. Nothing in the entire sequence of events makes a lick of sense.

And it's not just big stuff like that which is screwed up in this movie. It's also little things like Esper's beard constantly changing shape and length. It randomly ranges from relatively trimmed to nearly Amish-like in dimension. Esper gets a cut on his forehead. Then the cut disappears. Then it reappears. And that's not because the story jumps around in some non-linear fashion. They simply forgot the cut makeup one day while they were shooting a scene. And then there are these weirdly southern accents that creep into the dialog at times. Unlike people from Minnesota or Wisconsin, Iowans are renowned for having a dialect without inflection. But this film seems to believe that all white trash are descended from the same tribe somewhere in Kentucky.

By far the strangest aspect of Iowa is the character of Larry. It's not that he's cartoonishly evil. It's that while the film is clearly set in the early to mid 2000s, Larry looks like he wakes up every morning in 1973. His clothes, his manner and his facial hair are all from a completely different era than every other person in the story. Michael T. Weiss appears to be having some fun playing this walking, talking anachronism, but that doesn't change how awesomely misplaced the character is in this movie.

As someone born and bred in the Hawkeye State, it pains me to say that Iowa is one of those films where all you can do is sit and marvel at how awful it is.

Low Rent Meth Madness

[noralee · 2/10 · 6 April 2006]

"Iowa" wants to be "Requiem for a Dream" for Midwest meth, but it comes across as a hard R rated "Reefer Madness".

Yes, drugs are bad, and meth is horribly pernicious, as an addiction and how it destroys people, families and communities. But these characters who are either dumb or ridiculous and the eye-rolling plot won't teach that lesson to anyone.

While writer/director/star Matt Farnsworth has some charisma on screen, his partner Diane Foster plays a wincibly silly wide-eyed innocent corrupted by drugsas was already satirized by Susan Sarandon in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". I really felt sorry for her for all the totally unnecessary nudity she was put through. It wasn't until the end of the film that I realized I was supposed to think these two were recent high-school graduates to explain some of their naiveté, as we are bombarded by their school photos, but if so, they even looked older than the folks on "The O.C.". While they have good chemistry on screen, they are a pale imitation of a "Badlands"-type couple.

The guest stars are badly used. Michael T. Weiss, who was so good in TV's "The Pretender", is completely ludicrous as a corrupt parole officer and his brutal violence is just plain crazy, as his character pretty much ruins any social significance for the film. Rosanna Arquette has to be even sleazier than she rolled around for David Cronenberg as a very low rent Livia Soprano. John Savage even has to mouth the old baby boomer excuses about I did pot but this is worse. A Goth chick shows up, with the odd explanation that she's a stripper from Des Moines. The obligatory Latino drug dealer appears - in Iowa?

With a limited budget, the interior view of meth use is portrayed quite vividly, with quite scary hallucinations. We certainly see them go crazy.

While the Iowa locations are used very well (including an amusing scene of a propane gas robbery), the accents and church references are confusingly Southern Baptist. Guns seem to be used by law abiding and law breaking citizens here more than in any inner-city drug-dealing movie.

The songs of Iowa's best known bard Greg Brown are used throughout, but oddly are not listed in the credits. I hope they were used with permission.

I caught this at its commercial run in NYC because I missed it at the Tribeca Film Festival where it got considerable-- and inexplicable-- buzz.

This is like a bad student film.

[strain6 · 2/10 · 28 May 2006]

The week before I saw Iowa, I saw Art School Confidential, in which a pretentious student makes a film and can't decide whether he wants it to be art or violent exploitation. Iowa could be the film that he made. I can see elements of much better movies in Iowa - Spun and Natural Born Killers. However, in addition to artiness, both those movies had good character development and coherent story lines. Iowa. This movie stumbles to a preposterous end. I have to admit that it had consistency. This movie is bad from beginning to end and not particularly worse or better in any part. The actors all did what they could. Roseanna Arquette deserves better. She demonstrates that she is very talented, very funny, and very sexy. But why does she have to demonstrate it in this turd ball.

A harsh look at drugs in the heartland

[joel_the_ghoul · 7/10 · 9 January 2007]

I saw this movie on a trip to Iowa, and not knowing much about Matt Farnsworth, the director (or the subject of meth, for that matter), I had no preconceived expectations, but walked away impressed and educated by a first-time filmmaker's jarring exploration into addiction.

Though Farnsworth doesn't quite explore the psychology of drug addiction as much as he could, the frenetic, visual representation illustrates the world of meth from a user's perspective, providing a sharp contract to the small town setting of the film. Farnsworth is capable in the lead role, but its Michael T. Weiss's turn as a sadistic, power-tripping sheriff that steals the show.

A couple of complaints: Fransworth occasionally goes for shock value, mistaking it for a message of rude awakening. And the hand-held, store-bought-video-camera interludes of the Iowa landscape seem forced and shlocky. The landscape means very little to the film (presumably less than Farnsworth thinks it does, since the movie is named for the state it resides in), as this story could be easily translated to any city (big or small) in the states.

I've read Farnsworth has been leading an anti-meth crusade, and while that's honorable, I hope (for selfish reason) that he has not abandoned directing for this higher calling. I can't wait to see what he does with his second go-round.

Awful

[jjs408 · 1/10 · 2 July 2005]

I'm shocked that there were people who liked this movie..I saw it at Tribeca and most of the audience laughed through it at scenes that were not meant to be funny. I felt bad because the lead actress was in the audience, but honestly the plot to this movie needed MAJOR revision..it didn't even make sense, one second the characters question what exactly it is that they're snorting..the next scene they're hopelessly addicted and figure out how to make it?? Also the ending just took the cake..I'm not going to spoil the magnificent conclusion..but it pretty much blended right in with the rest of the horrible plot/script...see this movie for comedy if you must..

Just saw Iowa at Tribeca Film Festival

[joe-777 · 7/10 · 25 April 2005]

As a New York City based editor and onceuponatime native of SE Iowa (about 15 miles from where this film was shot) I knew I had to see this film. I had not heard of it but was very pleasantly surprised.

Farnsworth pulled off the trifecta here of writing, directing, and acting and he did a pretty good job at all three. He's obviously a competent filmmaker. The cast did a pretty good job - I was a little disappointed to hear a "southern" accent too often. The main female lead really grew on me. At first I thought she was a little too Hollywood and too good looking but I really bought into her character.

The editing was done well. At times it was a little too "showy" when simple cuts could have told the story better. But the story kept moving forward and there were never any of those slow moments when you wish you could hit fast forward.

I expected a little more juxtaposition showing idyllic rural Iowa life and the effect that the meth problem has had on a lot of small Midwestern towns. Meth is a big big problem and it affects a lot of people who have nothing to do with meth. This movie mainly focuses on a small group of characters who deal meth, take meth, or are related to meth users.

All in all, it was very well done. Kind of reminded me of Badlands. Maybe we could call this "Badlands One State Over" since Badlands was in Nebraska. It's definitely got some over-the-top violence but done well in the context of the film.

Farnsworth should be proud of himself. He did a great job here managing all 3 duties. The writing was tight, he plays the role real well, and he had some very interesting directing choices. I definitely recommend Iowa.

Iowa Needs Better Character Research.

[mmemonel · 9 August 2011]

I watched the trailer, and the characters have a southern twang that so many filmmakers have used erroneously over the years when representing Iowans. Iowans have an accent, but it certainly is not to be heard in this film. I see that Matt Farnsworth was born in St. Charles, Illinois. I don't know how long he lived in the Midwest, but if he'd been there for at least his childhood, he should know better. Illinois is only a couple hours car drive from Iowa. He should have taken the short trip to get to know his neighbors. While I haven't watched the film, I find the poor representation annoying enough that I have no interest in watching.

Horrible

[rollin-perry · 1/10 · 30 May 2006]

Tasteless. I can't even write intelligently about the movie. I laughed the entire movie. It wasn't supposed to be funny. Matt Farnsworth has no clue what he is doing. His story is written, it seems, without any knowledge of Iowa culture and the meth problem. I know Farnsworth is from Iowa, which makes his movie even more puzzling to me. Why do the two main characters have accents? It doesn't make any sense. The acting was mediocre at best and at times hard to watch. Gratituous violence and sex filled the movie. I am guessing that the violence and sex were supposed to make the movie edgy, but it came across as unbelievable and offensive. The ending of the movie is so brilliantly bad that all I could do was laugh and look at the rolling credits with disbelief. As I walked out of the theatre everyone else who was leaving was laughing along with me. The ending of the movie was meant to evoke tears, but it did the exact opposite. Do not waste your time on this horrible movie, unless you want to see ignorant, sappy, overacted, clichéd drivel.

A sobering perspective of meth use

[nmllover2003 · 8/10 · 9 June 2006]

Although I wouldn't say this is the best movie I've seen, I thought that it did drive home the addicting and devastating effects of meth production, sale and use. The acting, for the most part, was captivating. I've lived in Iowa for almost a year now, and some folks have been worried about the perspective this gives of the state. I think that the movie really could have been placed in any rural community and still drive home the point. Quite honestly, I think that without the sex scenes, if this movie was shown to junior high school and high school students, it would quell any curiosity to try meth (particularly, I think, the tweaking scene and its aftermath). I still think "Requiem for a Dream" is a better movie that talks about the effects of dreams and the use of drugs to attain those dreams, but I have recommended this movie to many friends as a must-see movie.

Tribeca Film Screening

[jsmact · 7/10 · 25 April 2005]

I just saw this film at the Tribeca film festival and it had some great moments. It is reminiscent of Pulp Fiction, Blow, and Natural Born Killers, except it only takes place in a small town. Farnsworth did a brilliant job, especially considering it is his directorial debut and how young he is. There are some very gory scenes and it is definitely suspenseful. The camera work is very good. The beginning is a little slow, but most of the film is powerful. I have no complaints except that maybe there was a lot of stuff that was done for shock value. I am sure this film will get him some attention and more work. I recommend this to people who like films with drug and violent themes. There are some messages in it, but this is not a highly intellectual film. I don't normally write reviews, so I hope this is helpful.

-J

would rate lower if i could...

[jamescaseyjackson · 1/10 · 25 April 2005]

the IMDb guidelines state that you have to declare if your comments contain 'spoilers'.

well, this whole film is something of a spoiler... a cautionary tale that glorifies what it cautions against, a tale of lost youth that doesn't know where it itself is going.

i just saw this at the tribeca film festival. this film wasn't just bad, it was really bad.

the acting is inconsistent, the characters are the mostly cliché offerings with little depth, and farnsworth's acting was very bad in particular.

from the patronizing accents to the pointless plot line to the out of place 'graphic' elements to the repetitious dialog and scenarios... it sucked the big one.

i think he was looking for sort of a more edgy, updated 'drugstore cowboy' with a touch of 'natural born killers' but it is no where as sensitive to the characters as the former and no where as shocking (outside of some frat-level gore) as the ladder.

more than anything, someone needed to really A) edit the screenplay

(there are some things in there to build on and clearly

deals with a worthy subject... if ham-handed in it's attempt.) B) edit the film. if it was cut down to a core, it might be passable.

i would go lower than 1 if i could... like maybe zero kelvin.

Southern Iowans to have a twang.

[Progger1953 · 7/10 · 16 September 2022]

I lived in Mystic and Centerville Iowa. They're the two towns in this movie. Believe it or not there's a lot of people that have a twang because they call us laplanders. It's because Missouri laps over into Iowa. And trust me I know this for a fact. Those towns used to be coal mining towns with a lot of money generating back in the 20s through the 50s. But Southern Iowa is very poor like Northern Missouri.

P. S. And Mystic is not on the border that they present. It's 20 miles north of the border.

Plus there's two interviews in this package that will show a family still doing Meth and one who got off of it in the two informative videos. The boys family is from Centerville and it was a cheap place to film the movie.

The extra video is very sickening.

Last night at Tribeca...

[pointerb · 10/10 · 26 April 2005]

Day four of the festival, Iowa premiere. I didn't know what to expect from freshman Farnsworth. This film had me jumping out of my seat. Iowa plays like a Public Service Announce meets horror film meets rock video. It makes Requiem for a Dream look like a knock knock joke. I'm from the Midwest, and this didn't make me the least bit nostalgic. Yet, it was the best film I've seen at the festival so far. Amazing performances by all, especially the guy who played the tweaker named Nick. With John Savage and Roseanna Arquette, you knew it would be a solid film. But the younger less known characters made this something special. Great work, Matt. Keep it coming...

One of my top films this year.

[osfeliz55555 · 10/10 · 5 June 2006]

I saw this film in L.A. at the Sunset 5. I had no idea what to expect but that is what I like about independent film. Independent being the key word here. I usually do not comment on IMDb but I felt compelled to after reading a few of the verbal assaults on this film. I am a successful person in the entertainment world and I have seen this happen before. A great film gets slammed by a lot of jealous people who wished they had made the film or film students who think they would have made a better one. Well you didn't and like 99.99 percent of the world you never will. I can see that the comments range from very negative to very positive minus anything average. People either love this movie or hate it. That is because there is a lot of passion behind it. I vividly remember parts of this film and considering the budget it was probably made for, "IOWA" is an amazing accomplishment. It is my understanding that this is also a major problem in the Midwest. Farnsworth should be regarded as pioneer. Not a copycat. People are calling this just another drug film with similarities to Spun, Natural Born Killers, and many other films made by seasoned industry vets who's first films would probably not stack up against Farnsworth's. The film does have faults but the sheer fact that names Like David Lynch are mentioned in the New York Post review of "IOWA" should tell us we have found a new voice and we should pay attention because whether or not you love the film it's choice of topic is a Noble one. There has never been a film made about meth in the Midwest to my knowledge. That means this is not just another drug film. I feel this film will gain momentum even with some of the negative reviews and people will open up to the new director. Honestly when I first saw the poster I thought is was Scarlet Johansson and Brad Pitt in a film I had not heard about. That alone is enough to make some of the not so pretty people out there write with unneeded negativity and pound away at the keyboard. Not everybody has the ability to do all the things Farnsworth did on "IOWA'. As strong as it was I am really interested to see him do a film with only one or two jobs.

It is time that the Country be aware of this epidemic problem!

[julie_blue25 · 10/10 · 27 May 2006]

The wonderful efforts of Matt Farnsworth are to be applauded. It is crucial that people become aware of this epidemic problem, which is exactly what Meth use is- It is a horrible world to get into, and Matt Farnsworth recognized this, as upon returning to his hometown, he was shocked by the addiction, destruction, and devastation he saw around him. Yes, it is Rural Iowa, USA- Yes, it is a huge problem in the 'ol Hawkeye State. I am a former user- a "Soccer Mom", and it is indescribable to tell those what this dark world is about. Mr. Farnsworth's film could only show his rendition in this movie the best he could- He researched intensely to make this film, and this movie was shown in an intelligent way, as best it could be. The addiction is very difficult to represent by actors, but, this young, bright man valiantly did all he could to show an account of a real family. I've been there- done that. Been clean for over 4 years, and am counseling gals who have hit rock bottom- Their stories are ugly- shocking- devastating. Everybody has a story- and hats off to Mr. Farnsworth for his attempts to allow the Movie Audience to see what this world is all about. It is a huge task to take the viewer into a world they've never known- Perhaps it is "an individual you know", or a family member, a parent, a child. Methamphetamine use is rampant in this country- The title of this movie- "Iowa" - is offensive to those from the Hawkeye State- but, folks, it is time to wake up- this problem is in epidemic ratios- It is getting worse. This movie is just a "taste" of what the "druggie" world is about. There are so many stories- so many lives shattered- this "drug of the devil" takes much (sometimes all) away from those who find themselves lost in this world. Iowa is a wonderful beautiful State, but, it is also a drug haven of Meth Users. Thanks to Matt Farnsworth for the eye opener. I have taken this drug out of my life- a former user- from the Hawkeye State. I pray this Movie will assist someone out there in breaking the chains, and get out of this horrible lifestyle. At best, I do pray that somebody who has a loved one who is using can benefit from this Film by becoming educated on this wonderful piece of work about such a bad topic. This is far from a comedy, folks. It is a story of tragedy, hopelessness, and the measures addicts take to obtain methamphetamine- cooking meth is one common way for addicts to "gain their gold". Take heed, this is a film that the viewer must pay attention to, as, this is not as "out there" as some critics think! GOD BLESS YOU MATT FARNSWORTH- KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Review of Iowa (the movie)

[writing_daily · 10/10 · 17 March 2007]

"Iowa", the movie, premiered in New York City at the TriBeCa Film Festival on Monday night. The movie addresses the scourge of the methamphetamine (aka crystal meth, crank, speed) plague that is ravaging Iowa and many rural states; however, in no way does the movie glamorize crystal meth or its users, abusers, addicts, or manufacturers. Iowa graphically shows the horrors of the dead-end street named crystal meth. Iowa should be mandatory viewing for all high school seniors, who would certainly be "scared straight". At the same time, Iowa makes a powerful statement against the so-called War on Drugs, where Draconian punishments have only fostered the growth of a fungal industry of private prisons, drug-testing companies, and other parasites.

Iowa was filmed on location in Centerville, Iowa, and environs. In his youth, Farnsworth visited Centerville to see his grandparents, the late Beryl and Thelma Farnsworth, and was stunned witnessing the hellish degradation crystal meth had wrought on the bucolic community. The movie features many scenes from the Centerville Square ("the world's largest square"), the streets and alleys of Centerville, the reservoir, Lake Rathbun, Mystic, and the countryside, as well as the appearance of many local denizens as extras.

The TriBeCa Film Festival was created by Robert Di Nero and associates in 2002, primarily to bring life back to lower Manhattan after 9/11. "TriBeCa" refers to the triangle below Canal Street, and lies near the southern tip of Manhattan. The movie theatre sits catty-corner from the old World Trade Center site. Walking west on Vesey Street, one passes a huge hole, several square blocks in area, the remains of the WTC towers and the place where 3,000 innocents were slaughtered on September 11, 2001. The sky was spitting some frozen pellets of precipitation on April 25, as a cold wind blew off the water. A few gin martinis followed by a steak dinner helped to ward off the chill.

Yet no bracer in the world could prepare a viewer for the full-bore assault that is Iowa, the movie. Quentin Tarantino, move over; there's a new sheriff in town. Matt Farnsworth, the writer, director, and star of Iowa, makes Quentin Tarantino look like a little girl dressed in pink ribbons and bows with frilly ruffles on her underpants. The comparison most often heard after the movie was to Tarantino, director of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and the Kill Bill flicks, but there is far more depth to Farnsworth's work, and this makes it soar high above Tarantino's.

While comparisons were also made to David Lynch, especially in his symbolism and his ability to frame pictures of idyllic small-town life interspersed with scenes of dystopian debauchery and depravity, Farnsworth's closest similarities lie with a New Yorker. Farnsworth is something of a Plains Woody Allen, both in his multifaceted roles (multitasking, in the current lingo) and in his abilities to capture the zeitgeist of a certain place and time and to delineate characters of the moment—but only if Allen had testosterone oozing from every pore, snorted a quarter-ounce of crank up his nose, and sported the handsome visage of wholesome milk ad model.

Farnsworth stars in the movie as Esper Harte, a young Iowa man struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over his head. Esper, whose father has died recently, is the beneficiary of a $200,000 life insurance policy that he will receive if his father was not on drugs at the time of his death. Esper is dating Donna (Diane Foster), whose father is the insurance agent responsible for investigating Esper's father's death. Esper hopes to take the money, marry Donna, and, together, leave Iowa to find greener pastures. Esper and Donna's labors to protect their love form the core of the plot of the movie.

Farnsworth, who may be known to some viewers from his TV work on 7th Heaven, gives a performance that is tour de force; he clearly is the "next big thing" to come from Hollywood. Foster shows a luminous presence that captures a viewer's full attention whenever she's on the screen, yet she is not just a pretty face, and displays the full gamut of emotions through her facial expressions. Michael T. Weiss is outstandingly evil as Larry Clarkson, a corrupt and sadistic parole officer. Amanda Tepe is a bewitching drug-and-sex fiend. Other notable performances include those of Rosanna Arquette as Esper's mother and John Savage as Donna's father. Andrew Parke, the director of photography, deserves special mention for his loving pictures of southern Iowa.

The audience in New York City, a "tough" audience if any ever were, audibly gasped at the movie's shocking denouement, and then applauded enthusiastically at the movie's conclusion. As the lights went up, we saw that Farnsworth and Foster were in the audience, and they were soon swarmed with well-wishers and glad-handers.

Iowa is a movie that will haunt your daydreams and nightmares for years to come. Every scene, every word, every note, rings true. Iowa is a movie you must see.

Ignore the bad reviews!

[mowen-26903 · 10/10 · 26 January 2024]

Ignore all the bad reviews. These were made by people who are oblivious. The types the only watch mainstream hacky films and truly hate art & real cinema and just don't realize it. This movie nails the desperation of a large portion of America and can apply to most states. It has to be uncomfortable and graphic at times or it would not portray these types of characters accurately. Anyone that loves indie films and not just watered down cringe action trash and wants to dive deep into the white trash mind-state while shot in an artistic view will enjoy this film. There is also plenty of ironic and comical dialogue that makes this horrifying lifestyle your viewing bearable.. why? Because people like this truly are often hilarious without even realizing it. It may be hard for some to not be able to imagine people like this existing. But trust me I've lived all over and grew up in TN and these people are everywhere. If you have class or intelligence around these people they will hate you.. even the ones that aren't drug addicts. The south is no full of caring sweet people unless your one of them and even then they're out to get they're own. Drama obsessed and insufferable people. There polite as they plot on ya and it's all smoke and mirrors. They just think they're more intelligent than the rest of America and that's the icing on the cake. So any horrible actions they do to others in their mind is justified.. dumb & narcissistic makes for dangerous combination anywhere. Very entertaining film. If you showed this at schools to scare kids. It would fail miserably and have the opposite affect just like The movie Kids. Why? Because most people are dumb and glorify being a pos degenerate. Even your little preppy kids and often those are the worse of them all. They just know how to manipulate society when it front of parents and authority figures especially since they're dressed in basic clothes and neat. It's hilarious how nothings really changed since the 80s.. No one's learned anything they've only gotten worse. Sorry for the rant. This movie is fun, sad and funny. But only on screen. If you had to live around these areas and are decent your life would be a living hell. They're is no minding your own business. That just makes you a target.