Getting 'Stuck' in Minneapolis

Comments

'Stuck Between Stations' gives Minneapolis a rare place on the silver screen

“Stuck Between Stations,” tells the story of a soldier on leave and a grad student who come together for one evening in Minneapolis.

Image credit: Stuck Between Stations

Recommended by the Editor

No Restraint for Minneapolis Filmmaker

A Reel Revolution

By: Molly Burke

It is a fantastic feeling seeing your city or state romanticized on the silver screen.

New Yorkers must have felt that way with Woody Allen’s “Manhattan,” Parisians with “Amélie.” As Minnesotans, though, we don’t often get the opportunity to see our familiar streets immortalized on film.

Which is why the new indie, Tribeca-darling “Stuck Between Stations,” is such a treat to behold.

Directed by Brady Kiernan, “Stuck Between Stations” is a condensed love story of Casper, a solider on bereavement leave, and Rebecca, a grad-student with a complicated life (played by Whitney's Zoe Lister-Jones). Brought together by a chance encounter, the pair roam the city together and slowly fall for each other.

And while the duo are the driving force behind the film, Minneapolis shines as a protagonist, too. Its gritty, night cityscape seems to almost coerce the characters into love (true to form, there is also a liberal-minded biker, played by Josh Hartnett).

“This is the place that all of us fell in love, so it made a lot of sense happening [in Minneapolis],” says Sam Rosen, who plays Casper and co-wrote the film with Nat Bennett.

Filmed mainly in Uptown, Downtown and Loring Park, the movie exhibits a striking facet of the city that proves why the City of Lakes truly is a hidden gem.

“This is the Minneapolis I try to describe to people,” says Rosen. “Brady really raised the bar on our locations. I thought it would be [filmed in] parking lots and backyards, but Brady said, ‘The Walker and First Ave. I think we can do that.’”

Rosen approached Kiernan, who previously directed short films and made his feature film debut with “Stuck Between Stations,” while the screenplay was still in the works. He was on board immediately.

“From knowing each other before hand we had already established a rapport…we made sure Sam, Nat and I were speaking with one voice,” said Kiernan. “This is by the far the best experience working on a film I’ve ever had.”

In the end, “Stuck Between Stations” will have Minnesotans praising its fresh, modern portrayal of the city they know and may even have out-of-staters wishing they could call it their home.

“I’d like people to connect to this movie. I hope somebody out there really digs it and remembers it a year later,” says Rosen.