Statesmen

STATESMEN is an intimate portrait of three American men and their relationship with the world around them. Donny, a 60-year old paper boy, is the ultimate professional. He delivers 500 newspapers a day from his driver's window to the residents of Madison, Indiana, and hasn't missed a working day in the last ten years. He navigates his route in an archaic stick-shift car and prides himself on his ability to always finish his route, even after he's just suffered a minor stroke. Mike makes his living fishing for crabs on the Chesapeake Bay. A no-nonsense character, he knows that the key to a good haul is to see off the local competition. 'You have to get up early to steal the spot'', he explains, and it's also pretty useful to have 'a policeman in your back pocket'. But behind his cantankerous veneer there is a sensitive soul, a waterman who cares passionately about nature and the future of his trade. Meanwhile, Don Mike wiles away his time drinking beer and shooting at squirrels from the comfort of his trailer. He reflects on a life which has seen good times and bad, and a whole lot of women - none of whom which would put up with him. His brother, Wallace, affectionately berates him for drinking and smoking too much. But Don Mike won't change his lifestyle for anyone. Three different backgrounds, three different states, each narrative reveals embers of the old American dream still glowing in the modern American man.