E-Mail This Article to a Friend NOSEY PARKER

Now comes the third film in John O’Brien’s "Tunbridge Trilogy" (after the docu-comedies Vermont Is for Lovers and Man with a Plan). Natalie Picoe and Richard Snee are Natalie and Richard Newman, a Manhattan couple who relocate to a palatial home on a remote hilltop. The crusty locals (including Man with a Plan’s hilarious Fred Tuttle, who died in October) gossip about solid-gold fixtures and drug-fueled orgies; meanwhile, Richard’s psychiatric practice thrives and Natalie is bored and lonely. Enter George Lyford, a retired farmer and "lister" (tax appraiser) who stops by one day; his corny jokes and kind demeanor charm Natalie, who hires him to do odd jobs. Their friendship blooms amid George’s farm implements and Natalie’s over-furnished fortress. Lyford is a natural; his unfortunate death in 1999, before filming ended, forced O’Brien to rethink the conclusion. But the real star in this simply told story is the landscape. Filmed in autumn, O’Brien’s Vermont is a Northeast Narnia, all majestic spice-colored trees and green meadows full of placid animals. This film describes a way of life that’s slowly dying, and it does so with grace, humor, and a gutsy sensibility we’d all do well to live by. (104 minutes) In the Coolidge Corner screening room.