With a tagline of “Sometimes you gotta to bet the on farm,” Fathom Events’ GREEN AND GOLD, starring legendary and multiple EMMY and Golden Globes®-nominated actor Craig T. Nelson, premiers in theatres nationwide on Friday, January 31.

Starring alongside Nelson (Parenthood, Coach) are Brandon Sklenar (It Ends with Us), Annabel Armour (Contagion), Madison Lawlor (Juniper), and the late M. Emmet Walsh in his final performance. Directed by Anders Lindwall, GREEN AND GOLD was filmed primarily in Door County, Wisconsin, with many local residents as extras.

About GREEN AND GOLD

Foreclosure looms over fourth-generation Wisconsin dairy farmer Buck (Nelson). With mounting debt and the land his family has cultivated for four generations at risk, Buck refuses to give up his legacy without a fight. Buck’s granddaughter (Lawlor) works alongside him but dreams of a career in music. Her aspirations are fanned by an emerging friendship with a famous musician (Sklenar), but chasing her dreams might take her far from the farm. With time running out, Buck places a daring Super Bowl bet on his beloved Green Bay Packers, risking it all to save everything he holds dear, while his granddaughter’s musical ambitions could be their ticket to a new beginning.

The film opens with a panorama of Buck’s Wisconsin dairy farm. The beauty and peace of the bucolic countryside are disturbed when his granddaughter Jenny (Lawlor) runs across the pasture, calling to Buck. A cow is struggling to give birth.

From that point, the film’s overtone segues into stress. Buck eschews modern technology, preferring to run the dairy farm as his ancestors did. As many farmers like him, Buck has taken out large loans from the local bank; loans which he cannot pay. The banker Jerry (Tim Frank) doesn’t care that Buck—and the many other farmers—cannot pay their loans. Jerry is negotiating a deal with a big conglomerate that is interested in buying all the farmland and putting up big dairy factories. The argument between Buck and Jerry ends with Jerry throwing down the gauntlet; he will extend Buck’s loan if the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl.

Besides the potential of losing his farm, Buck faces another challenge. Jenny has lived on the farm since the death of her mother, but the teenager is not interested in staying there. She dabbles in writing music and dreams of getting a recording contract, especially after meeting Billy Reed (Sklenar) a recording artist vacationing in the area. When Buck hears of this, he accuses Jenny of betraying her family’s heritage. Jenny retaliates that he doesn’t care about her, only about the farm.

Standing between these two combatants is Margaret (Armour) Buck’s wife and Jenny’s grandmother. Margaret works alongside her husband, taking care of their house and farm, yet she also understands her granddaughter’s desire to perform her songs. At one point, Buck accuses Margaret of not supporting him in convincing Jenny to stay on the farm, commenting that it’s almost like losing their daughter again. Margaret reminds him that he wasn’t the only one who still grieves that loss.

 

GREEN AND GOLD has both pros and cons.

The cinematography is stellar. The landscape is beautiful, with the autumn hues of green and gold extending wherever you look.

The acting is solid. The tension between Buck and Jenny is palpable as is the bitterness between Buck and Jerry. The townspeople are good, ordinary folk who work hard, attend church, help each other, and watches the Green Bay Packers play each Sunday. This is the kind of community many people wish they had.

At times, the film is slow, sometimes making the runtime of 105 minutes feel checking-your-watch plodding. For audiences who like character studies, or are tired of larger-than-life super-hero films, this should not be too big a problem.

The script is the biggest challenge. Despite his love of land, tradition, and community, Buck is sad; there are only a few times when he actually smiles. There are a number of number of plot holes and “Oh, come on, that would never happen” moments in the film.

Despite these drawbacks, by the end of the film, this reviewer was wiping away tears.

With one needless moment of profanity, GREEN AND GOLD is a sweet reflection of what is important in life: family, friends, faith; the things our country was founded upon.

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