A rapid-paced retro-noir set against Buffalo’s evocative architecture and the power of Niagara Falls, “The American Side” boasts a wildly eclectic cast and an intricately twisted plot involving the enigmatic genius, Nikola Tesla. Known by many as “the man who invented the 20th century,” Tesla’s papers were seized by the FBI within hours of his death in 1943.
Nearly seventy-five years later, low-rent detective Charlie Paczynski’s (Stuhr) raven-haired partner is caught in the crossfire of a blackmail scheme gone bad. He trails the prime suspect (Harris Yulin) to the brink of Niagara, only to receive a cryptic warning. Thrust into a world populated by a whiskey-swilling raconteur (Robert Forster), strangely bonded siblings (Matthew Broderick, Camilla Belle), an eccentric eavesdropper (Robert Vaughn), and a dubious government agent (Janeane Garofalo), Paczynski unwittingly joins the quest for the story’s coveted ‘MacGuffin’: a page torn from Tesla’s fabled missing notebook.
Packed with nods to Hitchcock and classic noir, and reminiscent of the conspiracy thrillers of the ‘70s, complete with a score by David Shire (“The Conversation,” “All the President’s Men”), “The American Side” is a jigsaw puzzle mystery, climaxing under the roar of the Falls as the final piece snaps into place.
“The American Side” opens at the IFC Center in New York April 29th
The American Side Trailer from One Horse Shy Productions on Vimeo.
