Blame

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Quinn Shephard directs. Aaron Kovalchik behind the camera. Pierre-Philippe Côté scores. Quinn Shephard cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 8 years ago.
• 2Directed by Quinn Shephard, shot by Aaron Kovalchik. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Pierre-Philippe Côté. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Quinn Shephard shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Quinn Shephard and Nadia Alexander and Trieste Kelly Dunn carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "Forbidden Desire".
• 7IMDB entry: tt4607722 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Classified under 8 themes, including "high school", "jealousy", "based on play or musical", "suburb".

The technical file

Cinematography

Aaron Kovalchik

Original score

Pierre-Philippe Côté

Editing

Quinn Shephard

Costume design

Celeste Montalvo

Makeup / hair

Talia Arochas

Runtime

100 min · 1h 40m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

Blame (2018) ↗

Also by

Quinn Shephard

• 
  Under the Bridge

  2024 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Not Okay

  2022 · ★ 6.2
• 
  Till Dark

  2015

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Blame Trailer #1 (2017) | Movieclips Indie

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2024-11-11
  ★ 8/10

  Great drama about six students and a teacher at a high school in Anytown, USA A girl returns to her school at the start of the new school year after several weeks at a mental health facility (Quinn Shephard). While some of the kids persecute her, the new drama teacher perceives her maturity and offers support (Chris Messina), which stirs up the ire of the cheerleader from hell (Nadia Alexander). “Blame” (2017) was helmed by the actress who plays the protagonist, Shephard, when she was only 20 years-old (shot in July, 2015, in 19 days). While a few armchair critics have derided it as ‘a Lifetime movie with edge,’ it has the artistry and dramatic pull to place it with the top flicks of the genre, such as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” "Footloose,” "Clueless,” "The Virgin Suicides" and "The Rage: Carrie 2," even the micro-budget “Love Everlasting” (2016). While some of those feature light comedy and even horror, they’re all great dramas covering the high school experience in all its glories and shames. This one includes bullies, a supportive teacher, absent or abusive parents, a hateful rival, teen sex, questionable actions by those in authority, refusing to participate with bullies, slander and potential redemption. The soundtrack is a plus, including choice cuts like “Pretty Face” and “The Lion” by OH CHILD; and more. People who claim that a certain character is guilty of pedophilia apparently don’t understand what the word means, which is sexual attraction to kids under 11 years-old. Meanwhile hebephilia refers to attraction to post-pubescent minors in the 11-14 bracket. At most he could be accused of ephebephilia, which concerns attraction to fully developed teens 15-19. I’m not playing down his imprudent actions as the authority figure in the classroom, just pointing out that he’s in no way, shape or form a pedophile. Which brings us to the actuality that this is more than a psychological coming-of-age drama since the teacher is one of the key characters. He’s in his late-30s or early 40s and facing an early mid-life crisis. He can’t deny how he feels about a certain person, but he has to look within and without in order to make wise decisions about his life and the course it will take. The ending could’ve been better, less ambiguous, but I’m thinking Shephard was running out of money and therefore time and so she just wrapped it up in an ambiguous way. Still, upon reflection, the pieces are there for viewers to figure out what happened and what will likely take place from there. It runs 1 hour, 40 minutes, and was shot in Metuchen, New Jersey (Quinn’s hometown and high school), which is located 35 miles southwest of Manhattan. GRADE: A-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• RE

  Reel Enigma

Key crew

• Line ProducerMichael Jefferson
• Art DirectionLucy Goldberg
• Costume DesignCeleste Montalvo
• Makeup ArtistTalia Arochas
• Makeup ArtistPatrice Pugh
• Hair Department HeadSteph Hui
• Makeup Department HeadLia Micol
• Associate ProducerImraan Farukhi
• Co-ProducerLarissa Rhodes
• ProducerLaurie Shephard
• CastingLaurie Shephard
• EditorQuinn Shephard
• ProducerQuinn Shephard

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• high school
• jealousy
• based on play or musical
• suburb
• taboo
• teacher student relationship
• woman director
• drama teacher

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2017-04-22· Tribeca Film Festival
• Premiere2017-05-06· Montclair Film Festival
• Premiere2017-08-26· Sidewalk Film Festival
• Premiere2017-10-20· Philadelphia International Film Festival
• Premiere2017-10-31· Austin Film Festival
• Premiere2017-11-09· Cucalorus Film Festival
• Theatrical (limited)2018-01-05
• Digital2018-01-05· internet

Also known as

International titles

• WinaPL
• 女孩接招TW