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Title: Fall is a Good Time To Die (2025) Director: Dalton Coffey Writer: Dalton Coffey Studio: Aught Six Films // Buffalo 8 Productions IMDb Plot: A young ranch hand hunts justice for his sister through the vast landscape of South Dakota. As he wrestles with what he is about to do, Cody crosses paths with a local county sheriff coming to terms with what she has already done. Joe Says: Hollywood best pay attention: Dalton Coffey just blew into town with wicked camera skills and a whole lotta attitude.

Filmmaker Dalton Coffey’s Fall is a Good Time To Die rides in quiet, mean, and beautiful. A full-tilt showcase of one man’s talent, this indie cinema treasure is written, directed, shot, cut, scored—and damn near breathed—by Coffey himself. If Rebel Without a Crew is a gospel preached by Robert Rodriguez, then Coffey’s a living, breathing disciple. Fall… is his El Mariachi. And Hollywood best pay attention: Dalton Coffey just blew into town with wicked camera skills and a whole lotta attitude.

Set against the open plains of South Dakota, Fall is A Good Time To Die is a story about the weight of grief, the pull of revenge, and the silence between breaths. It’s slow and deliberate—until it’s not. There’s reflection in every frame. Stillness in every scene. When it needs to get loud, Coffey damn sure sees that it does.

Cody (Joe Hiatt) is a lone ranch hand. He works alone, lives alone, and eats a single fried egg alone. His shirt’s always folded, his voice rarely used. His eyes are as blue and as silent as the Dakota sky. But winds shift. And Cody’s fixin’ to do the same.

Cody’s aunt Trista arrives (Joey Lauren Adams, with a triumphant return to indie cinema) with news that Jason White has been released from prison. Cody doesn’t take kindly to that fact and plans to – quietly – get revenge for White’s murdering Cody’s younger sister.

Jennifer Pierce Mathus, a county sheriff where White is holding up, is suffering through her own silence. A divorce. A father with Alzheimer’s. A job that has become routine. She is tired, she admits. Her holster can barely support the weight of her world. She wants something new.

What Coffey crafts here ain’t just a revenge story. This is a perfect character piece. Raw. Weathered. Human. Joe Hiatt plays Cody with remarkable professionalism and gives him a quiet fury, while Mathus wears her sadness like a second skin. Coffey plays Cody’s naivety off Mathus’s world-weary Jane. He moves their characters, and slowly builds their converging stories into a dramatic and final interaction.

Through it all, Coffey’s wonderful cinematography skills are on exhibition. He shows the rawness and starkness of land and people alike all in beautiful browns and tans and blues. On top of the gorgeous visual, Coffey lays down a killer soundtrack full of piano, slide guitar, and electric kicks. His music is just as masterful as his visuals. It’s haunting. It’s hopeful. It’s all his.

Dalton Coffey doesn’t waste a word or a frame. Similar to his guitar work, Coffey’s minimalistic writing concludes with a big payoff. Cody might no longer be quiet. Jane might have a little bounce on her step. Yet South Dakota remains unchanged. Fall is a Good Time To Die doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Dalton Coffey just rolls it slow and steady, right where it needs to go. This one deserves attention that’s as wide as the South Dakota sky.