

An oddball family on a Kansas farm are trapped in their farmhouse by an impending storm. The patriarch of the clan is a retired soda pop tycoon. He is currently dating a children's TV evangelist. Also living at the farm is his layabout daughter and her precocious 8 year old daughter, his would-be artist son, the son's fiancée, and the black maid. Also thrown into the mix is the daughter's ex-husband, a ne-er-do-well who is seeking to get back in his ex-wife's good graces.
Acting
Harry Dean Stanton's weary patriarch, Crispin Glover unhinged
Direction
Almereyda's dreamlike framing of domestic chaos
Production
The actual tornado as metaphor AND set piece

Director
Michael Almereyda
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in twelve days for under $2 million. The tornado footage is repurposed from an actual 1977 documentary.
Based on Mary Robison's novel, this captures Reagan-era disillusionment with American success mythology—Cleveland's soda fortune means nothing when the sky turns violent.
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