Plot
Matt Farnsworth wrote and stars in the independent drama Iowa, which also marks his feature directorial debut. Farnsworth and associate producer/co-star Diane Foster had previously worked on Poor Man's Dope, a documentary about tweaked-out Midwestern methamphetamine addicts and dealers, and that inspired them to make this feature. Farnsworth plays Esper, whose father, a meth addict, dies as the film opens. Esper stands to collect on an insurance policy, but as executor Irv (John Savage) tells him, only if drug tests on his father come back clean. Esper is involved in a serious relationship with Irv's daughter, Donna (Foster), and plans to marry her with or without the money. But Esper's scheming mother, Effie (Rosanna Arquette) has other plans. She's teamed up with corrupt parole officer, Larry (Michael T. Weiss from television's The Pretender), in a vicious plot to get Esper out of the way and collect the insurance money herself. Larry busts Esper and assaults Donna while he's in jail, but Donna finds a way to bail Esper out before Larry can have him killed. Together with their junkie friends, Nick (David Backus) and Dominique (Amanda Tepe), Esper and Donna start up their own meth lab. But Larry is still after Esper, and the methamphetamine business turns out to be more dangerous than any of them had imagined. Iowa had its world premiere in competition at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival.
Genre(s):
Crime and Mystery,Fantasy
Theatrical Release Date:
04/14/2006
DVD Release Date:
02/10/2009
Distributor(s):
Sky Island Films
Themes:
Drug Addiction,Police Corruption,Cons and Scams,Small-Town Life
Tone:
Bleak,Disturbing,Gritty,Lurid,Ominous,Visceral
Keywords:
drug-addiction,drug-testing,insurance
Country of Origin:
USA - Limited (03-31-2006)