Genre: Drama
Director: Stephen Dunn
Writer: James Morgan
Cast: David Harbour, Ron Perlman, Allison Tolman, Ann Dowd, Forest Whitaker, William Fichtner, William H. Macy, Mickey Rourke, Alfie Allen, Haley Joel Osment, Dale Dickey, Ellen Burstyn
Plot : Tensions are running high in the only bar in Teslin, Yukon, Canada, the Yukoner. The owner and the bartender, Margo (Ann Dowd), is trying to keep everyone calm. Dave (David Harbour) ends up throwing a glass across the room and it breaks a mirror. Margo ends up throwing everyone out to avoid another incident, even if the people disagree. She’s authoritarian and she can hold her end.
Right after she emptied her bar, an odd-looking man enters and he asks for a room upstairs. The Yukoner also serves as a hotel, but she can’t remember the last time she had a guest. She says he isn’t from around here and he says he isn’t. As opposed to the Teslin population, the man is well spoken and speaks a perfect English, a clear contrast of the mistake-filled English the townspeople speak. He says he’s Thomas John Webster (Forest Whitaker) and before she asks, she’ll know what he’s doing here, in the middle of nowhere, soon enough. She gives him a mean look and shows him his room. She tells him to not bother criticizing the room, she knows it’s small. He can come downstairs if he needs anything. He follows her downstairs and he asks her to tell him a little about Teslin, Yukon. She says the population is just above a hundred. Everyone around here works for the paper mill and none of them are educated. The motto is, if you’re settle in Teslin, you stay in Teslin, you can’t leave. But more importantly, they’ve never been around a black man and she’s pretty sure he won’t be welcomed here. He thanks her for her time and disposes, leaving her to clean the mess Dave made.
The next day, things are going well at the mill, where factory workers Dave and Raymond (Ron Perlman) go over the fight that prompted Dave to shatter the mirror. They both conclude that they both had too much to drink yesterday. Two woodcutters, Jason (Haley Joel Osman) and Sam (Alfie Allen) continue their wager on who can chop up the most in a week, but Jason struggles to keep up with Sam as he doesn’t handle his booze well. The maintenance guy, Frank (William H. Macy) and Rick (Mickey Rourke) curse after a worker for throwing up on the floor. He should learn how to drink. They both offer to teach him, as they are both hard drinkers are famous around town for never being hangover despite drinking themselves to sleep every night. The only office worker, Penny (Alison Tolman) looks on desperate. She’s one of the people who settled in Teslin and now stays here, whether she likes it or not. She can brag about being the only college graduate in town, but every time she reminds someone, they bring her down for being cocky and for acting fancy just because she went to college. That’s just how things are in Teslin, Yukon.
Thomas J. Webster walks inside the factory and gets up the stairs in Penny’s office, all the while he’s stared at by the workers like he’s some sort of monster, especially Rick from maintenance. He introduces himself to Penny and he asks to see Mr. Rogers, the director and owner of the mill, but unfortunately, he’s away right now. Webster argues, stating that he was asked by Mr. Rogers to meet here. Chris Rogers (William Fitchner) arrives in a hurry, the tie badly knotted and with white socks in black loafers, a fashion faux-pas that Webster quickly mentions. They shake hands and enter the office.
Frank and Rick come into Penny’s office and they try to peek at what’s happening in the office. They create their own mess to justify their presence in the office by spitting on the ground and by knocking over vases to the annoyance of Penny. Webster comes out of the office and he asks if the gentlemen have a problem and Rick mocks his perfect English and says he hasn’t. Webster asks Penny is everyone is like this in Teslin and Webster contents himself with a sigh for an answer.
At lunchtime, Dave, Raymond, Jason, Sam, Frank and Rick all eat together, cursing and burping. They share their theory about the black man’s presence in Teslin and the most popular creates tension within the group; they believe they are going to be replaced with black workers, because you know, cheap labor. They all agree that they’re going to throw them out, because they aren’t going to just leave like that. Dave decides to take the rest of the day off and he will investigate on the matter. The others laugh it off and say that he can’t think by himself, let alone investigate, we’re talking about a guy who didn’t finish is elementary school here.
As soon as Jason leaves the mill, Mr. Rogers comes down to the lunch room with Mr. Webster alongside him. Chris Rogers gets up on a dining table and he asks for everyone’s attention. Rogers asks for silence. He cuts through the chase and he says that the mill didn’t manage to make it through the tough times the paper industry is currently facing and they have been forced to declare bankruptcy. An official assemble will take place tonight at the Yukoner. Everybody is welcomed.
Dave arrives at Yukoner and he can’t find Margo anywhere. He calls for her and she answers back, her voice coming from the second floor. Dave finds her in Webster’s room, going though his things. Dave says it’s good because he came here to talk about him. Margo takes out a bottle from Webster’s suitcase and asks Dave what it is. It is shoe polish, but none of them what it is. Dave and Margo share a common theory that he have come here to poison them, but in the end, they both agree that it is ridiculous. Dave notices the complicity he shares with Margo and since there aren’t many women in Tuslin, he decides to make a move on her. She slaps him hard and she says that nobody here can sleep with her and certainly not him, the perennial alcoholic. She throws him out of the bar, telling him that he doesn’t have a good memory and that he broke the mirror because of that last night.
It is tense in the Yukoner and Margo is overwhelmed with orders of beers, beers and beers. Chris Rogers is already drunk, one can suspect that he wants to forget what’s about to happen. Webster comes down and takes center. Margo orders silence and she gets it. Webster opens his speech by reciting legal terms no one in Teslin, except him, understands. He senses that no one understands him, so he keeps things simple. He says that the mill is going bankrupt, it is closing and there’s nothing they can do about it. Silence follows, until Raymond asks him if they’re going to get the pension fund, at least. Webster didn’t expect this question and he stumbles on his words a bit. After the liquidation of the mill, there won’t be anything left for them. It causes the indignation of the crowd and chaos ensues. Webster goes back upstairs and Margo throws everyone out, for the second night in a row.
The next day, the workers have decided to stop working and organize a protest outside. Webster is pacing in Penny’s office, waiting for Rogers to show up. Webster asks her how did Rogers manage to run this paper mill in the first place and she says that he was placarded here, because nobody wants to come to Teslin, it’s a punishment if you will. She asks him if he thinks coming here is a punishment and he says that Teslin is… boring. She responds that he doesn’t need to tone it down, she knows this place is a shithole and people are assholes.
Dave and Raymond are doing their best to organize the protest outside the mill, but the raucous crowd doesn’t comply. Most of them are drunk bottles in hand. Jason and Sam circle in the crowd in hope of seeing Frank, who’s nowhere to be seen. Chris Rogers is sleeping in the back of his SUV in the parking, but nobody sees him. A bottle of whiskey spilled all over his car seat and on his pants. Rick and Raymond find him and knock on the windows. A disgruntled Chris wakes up and he opens the door. They force him out of the car and grab his suitcase. Webster follows the action from the inside and he starts to panic. Penny asks him if they found Chris, because he often falls asleep in the back of his SUV. Webster sighs and focuses on the action. Raymond opens Rogers’ briefcase and he finds a check for a large sum of money, Rogers’ severance pay. He shows it to everyone and they are closing in on Rogers when they are interrupted by a woman screaming.
Joleen (Dale Dickey) screams like a harpy and asks everyone what they did to her husband. Dave runs to her and he asks what happened to Frank. She breaks down in his arms and she says he hung himself, she found him this morning. She wants to know what they did to her husband as she hits Dave’s chest. He throws her in Rick’s arms and he asks everyone to stay calm, he’s going to see what happened. Webster decides to go down and talk to them. Penny says it’s a bad idea, but he doesn’t listen to her.
The crowd starts to scream again when they see Webster. He asks them what happened and Joleen breaks free from Jason’s hold and runs at Webster. Sam runs at her and he’s able to restrain her before she gets to him. She spits on him and she says that ever since he came to Teslin, nothing but bad things happen. She had a vision of a black stranger coming to town when she was high on bath salts and she saw bad things. She suggests that they force him to leave so the town can go back the way it was before he left. Out of nowhere, Margo arrives and she says that it’s not going to happen. She doesn’t know if they heard the man talking the other night, but him leaving won’t change a thing. She says the mill has been run by a fool ever since Rogers came and it ran straight to the ground. It is the end of Teslin as they know it and they need to accept it. Rick walks towards Margo and he says that they shouldn’t listen to a black lover like her. Ever since he arrived, she’s protecting him, emptying the bar every night and refusing their advances for years. Only God knows what happens at night at the Yukoner and he’s not going to place foot in the Yukoner again, as long as a black man lover is in charge. A few men agree with him. Margo says that they should all go to hell and that this town will fall even lower if the Yukoner closes. It is the heart and soul of Teslin. What they are doing now isn’t helping them. They should unite together, not divide themselves. She says they are all a bunch of fools and leaves. After she’s gone, Sam suggests that all go to talk to Penny, she’s educated, she’ll know what to do.
Dave arrives at Frank’s house and the door is still open. He sees Frank’s old mother Henrietta (Ellen Burstyn). She stopped her tricot and just stares at nothing. Dave asks her where she can find him and Henrietta utters something Dave doesn’t understand. He goes upstairs and the camera follows Dave. He looks in Frank’s room, and he turns around, gagging. He checks again and we can see Frank who hung himself in the middle of his room. He runs outside and he takes deep breaths. Henrietta comes from behind and pats him on the back. She thinks Dave is Frank and she asks him where he was all day, she couldn’t find him. Dave looks at her, holding back his tears.
Raymond, Jason, Sam and Rick are all in Penny’s office, begging her to help them on the matter. She says she would be of no use, but they remind her that she’s the most educated woman in town, by far. She says the mill closing is her ticket out of here and can finally be the kick in the butt she needed to finally pull the trigger and move out. They all start to insult her until Dave interrupts them, who was listening to them from the door. He looks deep in her eyes and he begs her to help them, this town needs it. She knows he means it and coming from Dave, that’s saying something. She agrees to help them, but she needs time.
The town holds a funeral for Frank, but people have their head elsewhere. They have learned over the past few days that Chris Rogers is getting about a million dollars of severance and Penny is getting about fifty thousand and her pension fund. Chris has been forced to live in the Yukoner alongside Webster, as it’s the only safe place in town. Rogers’ house was burglarized and the windows were shattered. Margo is holding the fort and she holds guard every night, threatening everyone who comes close to the Yukoner with her sawed-off shotgun. Tonight is the night the two parties meet and discuss, at the Yukoner. Everyone is invited, but the doors will close when Margo thinks there’s enough people. The townspeople are waiting. Penny up ahead with Dave, Raymond, Jason, Sam and Joleen. Margo opens the doors, it’s showtime. The crowd fills the Yukoner and Margo holds off people at the entrance. Dave looks around frantically, he can’t see Rick anywhere.
Rick is seen sitting in the dark of the night in the cemetery, his back on his friend Frank’s grave. He throws his empty vodka bottle and it shatters a couple of feet away. He searches in his paper bag and takes out another. He opens it with his mouth, and he drinks from the bottle. He talks to his friend, asking him if life is better on the other side, because life in Teslin sucks since he left. He says that his life is meaningless without the mill and he’s desperate to find a will to live. He always dreamt of the day he would retire and cash in his pension fund, but it was all taken away from him. He now has a hard time to find a will to live. He’s certain that Frank could have help him if he was still here. He says that he will come join him, his best friend, then, now and forever. He throws his second bottle, shattering it. He screams at the top of his lungs that this town should go to hell for what they did and he takes out his shotgun from the paper bag and he puts in his mouth.
A gunshot is heard by the people trying to find out what’s going on inside the Yukoner, but they don’t mind it, thinking it’s just a hunter. Inside the Yukoner, Margo tries to mediate the heated exchange between the two parties. Penny announces herself as the representant of the workers, citing her college education as the main factor. Sam calls her out for reminding them she went to college, but she majored in ancient history, and it doesn’t qualify her to represent them. Margo tells him to shut it off, he can’t even multiply. Jason defends his friends and he tells the black lover to shut up. Margo cocks her shotgun and it suffices to shut him up.
Webster presents the financial results of the mill for the last few years, which shows a steady decline and a massive debt. The main company sent him to close things down and to make sure that everything goes smoothly and right now, they’re giving him a hard time. He pauses to drink water and notices that everyone is looking at him, some are spitting on the floor as they make eye contact. Rogers jumps in on the conversation and he just want to say to everyone how hard he worked to steady the ship and he really did everything he could. Penny says that it’s a lie and that she worked alongside him for years and he never batted an eye. Webster says she isn’t a saint either, she saw those reports and did nothing. Maybe her friends would like to know that she received a severance pay too. Dave is shocked to find that out and the rest of the crowd too. Joleen says that trusted her, but she was just like them all along, she doesn’t want them to get paid, she’s just doing this to look good. Raymond says it doesn’t matter because it’s not fair to them. Teslin will die along the mill and no one seems to realise that. It generates murmur from the crowd. Dave says that if they want to destroy the town, they should at least consider giving people money so they can leave and start their life elsewhere. Webster says that life is going to be hard for them, anywhere else. They aren’t educated and that’s a fact. The company is willing to pay for their education, but their pension fund is simply out of reach. Penny says that’s illegal and there is surely a way to prove it, but Webster says he won’t give it to them.
A voice from the crowd emerges, Sam will take the offer. He will go back to school in hopes of making something of his life, to find a new meaning. He asks Jason if he wants to come with him, but he doesn’t want to, school just isn’t for him. He’s better off in the nature. Penny says that they can’t give up just like that and the crowd agrees. Rogers, drunk as a skunk, reveals that the company took advantage of Teslin, because they knew people weren’t educated and it would be easy to rip them off. The crowd gets agitated. Rogers continues: the funny thing is, he helped them do it. Webster says that it’s enough and that there’s nothing more to say about it. Dave and Raymond get up and block Webster’s access to the second floor. Margo threatens them to let him pass and the crowd gets agitated. Jason throws his glass as Webster and Rogers throws his and the crowd. A brawl ensues and Webster manages to slip out, taking Rogers with him. Dave is able to steal the shotgun from Margo as the crowd split in two, the one who want to take the deal and the ones who don’t. Punches are thrown and Margo struggles to control the crowd. Jason and Sam fight and they damage a gas pipe, creating a gas leak. During this time, Webster and Rogers leave Teslin in Rogers’ car. Dave feels like this is going the wrong way and he shoots in the air. The gas catches fire because of the detonation. The wooden structure of the Yukoner quickly catches on fire. People are screaming, running out of the Yukoner. Margo is seen crying, her bar destroyed. People are divided and fighting. The paper mill is closing and the Yukoner is on fire. This is the end of Teslin, Yukon.
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