A MARINE STORY
DIRECTOR NED FARR FOR RED ROAD STUDIO STARRING DREYA WEBER & PARIS PICKARD
A decorated Marine officer unexpectedly returns home from the war and is quickly recruited to help a troubled teen prepare for boot camp, but when the true reasons for her return become known it threatens the future for both of them.
A Marine Story highlights the absurdity of the military ban on gays through the personal story of one courageous woman.
“Weber anchors the movie with a gritty, honest performance that has the same to-the-bone quality as Melissa Leo’s in “Frozen River.” There’s not a false note or inflection… the film is as trusty and upstanding as its protagonist.”
Stephen Holden, New York Times
“Dreya Weber is compelling and utterly convincing in writer-director Ned Farr’s “A Marine Story. The film is powerful…A worthy endeavor.”
Kevin Thomas, Los Angles Times
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” is all over Frameline this year, and “Marine Story” is one of the winners, regardless of what happens with the official U.S. policy toward gays in the military. Dreya Weber plays Alex, a Marine major who’s been discharged for receiving suspect e-mails and returns to her hometown, where she struggles with coming out while being asked to help a rebellious teen named Saffron (Paris Pickard) to keep the girl out of jail. This film does not go where you might think it will go because it’s so credibly written, acted and directed. “Don’t ask, don’t tell”? How about “don’t miss this film.”
San Francisco Chronicle
A strong, character-driven riposte to “Don’t ask, don’t tell” that never descends into polemicism, shipshape indie drama “A Marine Story” finds a longtime servicewoman returned to home-front life against her will. There she finds several souls battling their own demons, which don’t make hers any easier to deal with — at first. This is an impartial look at U.S. military service that movingly commands respect for the personnel while requiring neither support nor assigning blame for the politics behind unpopular war efforts. Fall self-distribution is planned.
Variety
For their first film since winning the 2006 Outfest Audience Award for The Gymnast, writer-director Ned Farr and his wife, actress Dreya Weber, have made a huge artistic leap forward. Weber plays Alexandra, a Marine major who leaves the military and returns to her Mojave Desert hometown. She’s soon involved in the lives of the locals, none of whom know the real reason Alexandra left the Marines. While her secret doesn’t surprise, what is revelatory is the mature intelligence of Farr’s screenplay, and the fascinating, subtle beauty of Weber’s portrayal of a woman who’s been holding herself within for so long that she can barely breathe.
LA Weekly
