Independent film to debut in Lewistown
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LEWISTOWN -- Rob Grabow admits he'd never heard of Lewistown three months ago. Then again, the Bozeman, Mont., filmmaker likely said the same about Tarentum, Pa., Heber City, Utah, or Hiawassee, Ga.
For the curious, Tarentum is located 22 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, while Heber City is near Salt Lake City and Hiawassee is close to Atlanta.
Those are communities, along with Lewistown, where the 41-year-old Grabow's independent film, "The Year of the Dog," premiers in limited release Friday at Miller Cinemas 6, 46 W. Market St., Lewistown. Industry experts believe the demographics of these areas will mean successful openings.
"The Year of the Dog" is a heart-warming story about an alcoholic man struggling to maintain sobriety and a rescue dog with an unusual athletic gift. While not autobiographical, "The Year of the Dog" draws storylines directly from the life of Grabow, who wrote, produced and co-directed the film.
His character, Matt, has buried the pain of his father's death at the bottom of a bottle of alcohol. Matt's going through the world alone, lashing out at those who get too close or try to make him feel emotion.
His mother refused to see him until he'd gone 30 days without drinking. Fifteen years have passed and, with his mother now in hospice, Matt's time is running out.
"I'll stay sober for 30 days, so that I can see my mom before she dies," Matt, fresh from jail, tells his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Fred.
The sponsor, played by Michael Spears, who was in "Reservation Dogs" and Dances with Wolves," offers Matt use of his cabin as a refuge from temptation.
Grabow is not an alcoholic, but that storyline is based on a time when his mother worked as a drug and alcohol counselor and he grew up around people who struggled with addiction.
In one scene, Fred tries to warn Matt away from keeping a husky mix he found on the property. Fred tells the story of a man who was triggered by simply being asked to help in the garden. He walked out of the garden, straight across a river where the water went up to his neck and took a bus for an hour simply to have a drink.
The scene is replayed in Grabow's head as he remembers looking out the window and watching a man do exactly that.
Despite Fred's warnings, the husky gets to stay. He is jokingly named "You Pick," which eventually becomes "Yup'ik," one of the tribes indigenous to the area around Holy Cross, Ak., where Grabow spent part of his youth.
In training for a dog-sledding event, building a relationship with Yup'ik helps Matt open up and exorcise some of his demons.
Grabow called the film "a heart-warming journey of forgiveness, finding purpose, being vulnerable, making connections and ultimately healing."
Grabow's life has been filled with other struggles. His childhood was spent mainly in rural Alaskan communities, including a mostly Indigenous village, where his single mother was a teacher. When he broke his femur sledding at age 6 and spent a month alone in the hospital, hundreds of miles from home. One day, when he watched something scary on TV and tried to call his mother collect, she couldn't afford to answer.
When Grabow speaks of his life, he talks about his mother's best friend, a petite Aleute woman named Martha Demientieff who always stood up for him. Or how the three boys who beat him up because he was white eventually became his best friends.
These people are peppered throughout "The Year of the Dog," told by attendees at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Some are reflections, others teach important life lessons. For Grabow, each is deserving of his respect.
"In making any kind of art of trying to tell stories that are about people that matter to you and our lives, you want to do them justice," he said.
Grabow landed his first movie role at age 15 in the Oscar-nominated film "Snow Falling on Cedars," starring Ethan Hawke. More recently, he's had speaking parts in the Syfy series "Z Nation" and the critically acclaimed film "Mickey and the Bear." He also wrote, directed, produced and starred in the award-winning short film "Method."
Grabow earned a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University and studied in the Master of Fine Arts Acting program at the Actor's Studio Drama School in New York.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to One Dog at a Time, 225 Meadows Woods Drive, Lewistown.