Sam's Movie Review: Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor

I've mentioned it here a few times that I love Trailer Park Boys. That show came to me at a time in my life where nothing made sense. Even though it was a comedy mockumentary, to see that I wasn't alone in life making absolutely no sense made it make sense. Does that make sense? Apart from Trailer Park Boys I knew there were a few other film projects the cast and crew worked on such as The Cart Boy, One Last Shot, and even Virginia's Run. More recently I watched Vandits, starring Robb Wells, and enjoyed it quite a bit. After that I decided to see what else Mr. Wells had been in, and a movie by the name Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor showed up, so I decided to give it a watch as well.

I have to preface this by saying, while I did enjoy this film, there were so many moments where I was like "This is totally connected to Trailer Park Boys.". Aside from starring Robb Wells, this movie was written, produced, and directed by the lovely Shelley Thompson, aka BARB FRIGGIN LAHEY! Whose scalloped potatoes, I am sure, are not fucked. There were a lot of moments where I could see Ricky coming out of Robb. I totally admit that's wholly on me, because I went into this movie with the mindset of finding the Rickyisms in Robb's other work. For that, I'm truly sorry. Again, I did enjoy this film!

The story focuses around Dawn (formerly Don), who transitioned from male to female, and trying to circumvent the tribulations that brings to one's life. Robb Wells portrays her father, who just lost his wife, and both Dawn and her sister, plus her sister's boyfriend, come back to be with their father to help him through this tough time. While back in town Dawn's family slowly but surely accept her for who she is now, but there are some typical troublemakers in the town whom needlessly cause quite a bit of trouble. While trying to reconnect with her father, Dawn takes an interest in her mother's old tractor. As a way of showing support for his daughter the father helps her restore the tractor. Said troublemakers complicate this by burning down the barn in which the tractor was stored, which only causes an outpouring of support from the community in restoring it one final time, so that it could be used in a communal event.

I'll say it again, I did enjoy this film. It felt like a low budget, tight-knit community film to me, which is in no way a bad thing. The actors who normally do plays at the Blandford Recreation Centre finally got their time to shine. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) I grew up in very rural America and I understand the small town mentality, so much of that felt very genuine to me. Transitioning isn't something I've personally experienced, but just like Trailer Park Boys helped me feel less alone in my life not making sense, hopefully this film will help those struggling in the same way as Dawn find their own solace.