'October Country': Sympathy, but no hope, for dysfunctional family

"Every family has ghosts. You just have to learn how to live with them."

So says Daneal Mosher, a single mom in a dysfunctional family haunted by ghosts of past, present and most likely future. Like the entire Mosher family, Daneal is struggling through the depressed economy of Mohawk Valley in upstate New York. Pregnant with her second child, she has matched her mother Donna's history of abusive relationships.

Daneal's precocious 11-year-old sister, Desi, has a seemingly healthier outlook, but like her great aunt Denise (a practicing Wiccan who frequents the local cemetery), Desi escapes into fantasy as a defense mechanism. Grandpa Don (who refuses to speak to his sister Denise) is a Vietnam vet and former beat cop now in emotional lockdown, and his wife, Dottie, seems resigned to her family's ongoing history of misery.

Spanning a full year from one Halloween to the next (hence the title), "October Country" was codirected by Donal Mosher (never identified as Don and Dottie's son) and his partner Michael Palmieri, who has directed music videos for Beck, the Strokes and others. Expanding on his previous essays and photographs that chronicled his family, Mosher gains intimate access and trusting candor from his family, while Palmieri's visuals add a self-consciously arty feel to Mohawk Valley's autumnal atmosphere.

What's missing here is a clear sense of purpose and intention. As outside observers, we clearly see how the Moshers are locked into a multigenerational stasis, and we feel sympathy but very little hope. Unlike similar yet superior films like "Capturing the Friedmans," "October Country" has no mysteries to probe or revelations to share.

Instead, the film never rises above morbid fascination for a family trapped on the road to nowhere.

Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net