colin spoelman

Set in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, “Coming Down the Mountain” follows a day in the lives of Paul Skidmore and his son, Joe. The film opens as Joe arrives home in the morning, exhausted after a long night out. Paul berates him for not behaving like a member of the family and not respecting authority. Joe leaves to find his friends, Bulldog and Tyler, but their immaturity only frustrates him further and Joe realizes that he has outgrown his friends. Joe finds himself alone, without the comfort of family and friends, seeking escape beyond the mountains that seem to isolate and insulate his world. Paul also finds his own manner of escape: Paul has been out of work and depressed for some time and he has become addicted to the painkillers that he was once prescribed for a leg injury and seeks escape from his wife and son in the comfort of another woman’s quiet home. Ultimately, Paul and Joe must confront their own notions of escape as their separate paths converge on the porch of their home in this drama of contemporary Appalachian life.