Madeleine Gavin’s Sundance award-winning documentary “Beyond Utopia” has garnered the best documentary and best doc editing honors at the 24th annual Woodstock Film Festival.
The documentary, which was recently acquired by Roadside Attractions, is vying for Academy Award attention.
Using hidden camera footage, the doc follows the high-stakes journey that a handful of desperate families make in order to defect from North Korea — a country with the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dictator, Kim Jong-un.
Doc jurors included directors Barbara Kopple (“Harlan County USA”) Richard Rowley (“ Kingdom of Silence”) and Heidi Ewing (“Jesus Camp”).
“This year’s winner is an astonishingly intimate, white-knuckle thriller following families trying to escape North Korea,” the jurors said in a joint statement. “Stitched together from raw, first person footage, it is impossible not to feel the heart-breaking courage as a family clings to each other during a nighttime crossing of the Mekong River.
The documentary, which was recently acquired by Roadside Attractions, is vying for Academy Award attention.
Using hidden camera footage, the doc follows the high-stakes journey that a handful of desperate families make in order to defect from North Korea — a country with the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dictator, Kim Jong-un.
Doc jurors included directors Barbara Kopple (“Harlan County USA”) Richard Rowley (“ Kingdom of Silence”) and Heidi Ewing (“Jesus Camp”).
“This year’s winner is an astonishingly intimate, white-knuckle thriller following families trying to escape North Korea,” the jurors said in a joint statement. “Stitched together from raw, first person footage, it is impossible not to feel the heart-breaking courage as a family clings to each other during a nighttime crossing of the Mekong River.
- 10/1/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The upcoming Woodstock Film Festival will kick off with Chloe Domont’s “Fair Play” and present a lifetime achievement award to James Ivory.
The 24th edition of the fest, which runs from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 in New York’s Hudson Valley, about 100 miles north of Manhattan, features a lineup of world, U.S. and New York premieres of feature films directed by filmmakers ranging from Steve Buscemi (“The Listener”) and Wim Wenders (“Anselm”) to Roger Ross Williams (“Stamped From the Beginning”).
Opening night “Fair Play,” an erotic thriller about a power-hungry couple contending for power at a cutthroat financial firm, was acquired by Netflix for $20 million after debuting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Wff will be held at venues in Woodstock, Rosendale and Saugerties, all of which are Hudson Valley towns where many Academy members own homes, making the fest an award season campaign hotspot.
Additional narrative feature...
The 24th edition of the fest, which runs from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 in New York’s Hudson Valley, about 100 miles north of Manhattan, features a lineup of world, U.S. and New York premieres of feature films directed by filmmakers ranging from Steve Buscemi (“The Listener”) and Wim Wenders (“Anselm”) to Roger Ross Williams (“Stamped From the Beginning”).
Opening night “Fair Play,” an erotic thriller about a power-hungry couple contending for power at a cutthroat financial firm, was acquired by Netflix for $20 million after debuting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Wff will be held at venues in Woodstock, Rosendale and Saugerties, all of which are Hudson Valley towns where many Academy members own homes, making the fest an award season campaign hotspot.
Additional narrative feature...
- 8/29/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Josh Radnor (Hunters), Annie Parisse (Friends from College) and Nuala Cleary (The Crowded Room) will topline the period drama Three Birthdays from writer-director Jane Weinstock (The Moment), which has wrapped production. Other actors set for the pic include Jasmine Batchelor (New Amsterdam), Uly Schlesinger (Generation), Gus Birney (Shining Vale), Guy Burnet (Oppenheimer), Annie McNamara (Severance) and Dolly Wells (Doll & Em).
In the indie set in 1970, Radnor and Parisse star as college professor parents to a rebellious 16-year-old played by Cleary. Against the backdrop of the sexual revolution and increasingly violent demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, each member of this nuclear family struggles to reconcile the political with the personal. The film’s producers are Andrea Miller, Chris Collins and James Welling.
Radnor is an actor and filmmaker who currently stars opposite Al Pacino in the Amazon series Hunters, from executive producer Jordan Peele. He is otherwise best known...
In the indie set in 1970, Radnor and Parisse star as college professor parents to a rebellious 16-year-old played by Cleary. Against the backdrop of the sexual revolution and increasingly violent demonstrations against the war in Vietnam, each member of this nuclear family struggles to reconcile the political with the personal. The film’s producers are Andrea Miller, Chris Collins and James Welling.
Radnor is an actor and filmmaker who currently stars opposite Al Pacino in the Amazon series Hunters, from executive producer Jordan Peele. He is otherwise best known...
- 7/28/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Josh Radnor (Hunters) has signed on for a major recurring role opposite Lizzy Caplan in FX’s limited series Fleishman Is in Trouble. In addition to Caplan, he joins previously announced leads Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes and Adam Brody in the series, which is based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s bestselling debut novel.
FX Pilots & Series Orders
Created by Brodesser-Akner, the story centers on recently separated fortysomething Toby Fleishman (Eisenberg), who dives into the brave new world of app-based dating with the kind of success he never had dating in his youth, before he got married at the tail end of medical school. But just at the start of his first summer of sexual freedom, his ex-wife, Rachel (Danes), disappears, leaving him with the kids and no hint of where she is or whether she plans to return. As he balances parenting, the return of old friends, a promotion at...
FX Pilots & Series Orders
Created by Brodesser-Akner, the story centers on recently separated fortysomething Toby Fleishman (Eisenberg), who dives into the brave new world of app-based dating with the kind of success he never had dating in his youth, before he got married at the tail end of medical school. But just at the start of his first summer of sexual freedom, his ex-wife, Rachel (Danes), disappears, leaving him with the kids and no hint of where she is or whether she plans to return. As he balances parenting, the return of old friends, a promotion at...
- 4/29/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
War Story: Weinstock’s Sophomore Feature Rides on Leigh’s Laurels
Unveiling her first film since her 2003 debut, Easy, director Jane Weinstock’s latest, The Moment, is an intriguing psychological thriller featuring an exciting and unpredictable cast. Unfortunately, the film gets a bit derailed as its fatiguing complexities outweigh any enjoyment gained from experiencing its puzzling scenario. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars in a committed performance, though she can’t quite overcome the tedious fluctuations that drive us away rather than rope us in.
Lurking outside her ex’s isolated home, photographer Lee (Jennifer Jason Leigh) anxiously calls to announce her wish to collect some equipment she’d left behind in the house. Receiving no answer but seeing his vehicle located outside, she enters the home to find that John (Martin Henderson) hasn’t been there in sometime. Alarmed and somewhat stunned, Lee collects her instruments and reports him as...
Unveiling her first film since her 2003 debut, Easy, director Jane Weinstock’s latest, The Moment, is an intriguing psychological thriller featuring an exciting and unpredictable cast. Unfortunately, the film gets a bit derailed as its fatiguing complexities outweigh any enjoyment gained from experiencing its puzzling scenario. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars in a committed performance, though she can’t quite overcome the tedious fluctuations that drive us away rather than rope us in.
Lurking outside her ex’s isolated home, photographer Lee (Jennifer Jason Leigh) anxiously calls to announce her wish to collect some equipment she’d left behind in the house. Receiving no answer but seeing his vehicle located outside, she enters the home to find that John (Martin Henderson) hasn’t been there in sometime. Alarmed and somewhat stunned, Lee collects her instruments and reports him as...
- 6/18/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Moment
Written by Gloria Norris and Jane Weinstock
Directed by Jane Weinstock
USA, 2013
Mental illness has long been a subject wrought with stigma and social taboos. Though even today those stigmas remains people are now more accepting of those troubled with emotional problems. The mission of psychiatric care mission is to learn why people think and behave the way they do. In the new drama The Moment, Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a woman who is struggling with a very personal and internal battle. While the performances in this film are above average, the film as a whole is severely lacking.
The Moment focuses on Lee (Leigh), a war photojournalist who has seen her fair share of horribleness. She has flashbacks and obsessive beliefs that she has a rash all over her body. When her boyfriend John (Martin Henderson) goes missing, she begins to feel as though she’s losing her grip on reality.
Written by Gloria Norris and Jane Weinstock
Directed by Jane Weinstock
USA, 2013
Mental illness has long been a subject wrought with stigma and social taboos. Though even today those stigmas remains people are now more accepting of those troubled with emotional problems. The mission of psychiatric care mission is to learn why people think and behave the way they do. In the new drama The Moment, Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a woman who is struggling with a very personal and internal battle. While the performances in this film are above average, the film as a whole is severely lacking.
The Moment focuses on Lee (Leigh), a war photojournalist who has seen her fair share of horribleness. She has flashbacks and obsessive beliefs that she has a rash all over her body. When her boyfriend John (Martin Henderson) goes missing, she begins to feel as though she’s losing her grip on reality.
- 6/13/2014
- by Randall Unger
- SoundOnSight
Here's what occurs in the first 10 minutes of Jane Weinstock's electrifying second feature, The Moment: After weeks of unreturned phone calls, Lee (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a war photojournalist, barges into her ex-boyfriend's (Martin Henderson) house to retrieve her cameras. He's nowhere around, his goldfish are dead, and an uneaten dinner on his table craws with maggots.
But before Lee can process this, she's scuttling off to her gallery opening, where her estranged daughter (Alia Shawkat) shows up, still rigidly unforgiving of something Lee has done. She is further haunted by her own photograph of a Somali woman who died from a suicide bomb seconds after the portrait was taken. Lee herself sustained injuries, which itch unbearably; she claws at her clothes in the galler...
But before Lee can process this, she's scuttling off to her gallery opening, where her estranged daughter (Alia Shawkat) shows up, still rigidly unforgiving of something Lee has done. She is further haunted by her own photograph of a Somali woman who died from a suicide bomb seconds after the portrait was taken. Lee herself sustained injuries, which itch unbearably; she claws at her clothes in the galler...
- 6/4/2014
- Village Voice
Toronto-based sales agent heads to the Efm with slate led by four StudioVault titles.
The Toronto-based sales agent heads into Berlin with a robust slate led by the StudioVault roster of Side By Side, The Red Robin, The Moment and Heartland.
Jane Weinstock’s thriller The Moment [pictured] from producer Allan Jones stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Meat Loaf and screens today (Feb 6), as does Fred Holmes comedy Heartland starring Frank Ahearn and Prem Chopra and produced by Sunny Virmani.
Michael Z Wechsler’s psychological thriller The Red Robin starring Judd Hirsch and produced by Shawn Singh screens in the market tomorrow (Feb 7).
Buyers can watch family adventure Side By Side from first-timer Arthur Landon and starring Bel Powley and Alfie Field on Feb 9. Sarah Giles produced.
Director of acquisitions Michael Da Silva and managing director John Dunstan negotiated the deals with the producers of each film.
Cinemavault’s World division has acquired the culinary comedy Brasserie Romantique...
The Toronto-based sales agent heads into Berlin with a robust slate led by the StudioVault roster of Side By Side, The Red Robin, The Moment and Heartland.
Jane Weinstock’s thriller The Moment [pictured] from producer Allan Jones stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Meat Loaf and screens today (Feb 6), as does Fred Holmes comedy Heartland starring Frank Ahearn and Prem Chopra and produced by Sunny Virmani.
Michael Z Wechsler’s psychological thriller The Red Robin starring Judd Hirsch and produced by Shawn Singh screens in the market tomorrow (Feb 7).
Buyers can watch family adventure Side By Side from first-timer Arthur Landon and starring Bel Powley and Alfie Field on Feb 9. Sarah Giles produced.
Director of acquisitions Michael Da Silva and managing director John Dunstan negotiated the deals with the producers of each film.
Cinemavault’s World division has acquired the culinary comedy Brasserie Romantique...
- 2/6/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Jennifer Jason Leigh has a delicious history of playing characters right on — or beyond — the edge, from Rush to Single White Female to Dolores Claiborne. In The Moment, a psychological drama that has its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, she plays a Lee, a war photographer trying to balance her demanding career with her role as a mother, who doubts her own sanity after her estranged ex-boyfriend (Martin Henderson) goes missing. “Her initial reaction is to think that she killed him because of her guilt about him and about other things as well,” says co-writer and director Jane Weinstock.
- 4/18/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
We haven't seen much of Jennifer Jason Leigh on the big screen in the past few years. Her most recent outing was in Noah Baumbach's "Greenberg" and since then she's largely laid low, appearing only on the small screen in "Weeds" and "Revenge." In January she made a splash at Sundance with parts in two buzzy, upcoming films "The Spectacular Now" and "Kill Your Darlings" and perhaps most exciting of all the lead in the new drama "The Moment". The first poster from the flick promises to be a showcase part for an actress we could always use more of. Directed by Jane Weinstock (her first film since 2003's "Easy"), and co-written by her Gloria Norris, the story kicks off with the tumultuous affair between international photojournalist Lee (Leigh) and troubled writer John (Martin Henderson) that ends with John’s disappearance and Lee in a mental hospital. Whilst recuperating,...
- 4/11/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Tribeca Film Festival organizers on Wednesday announced 46 of the 89 feature films screening at the New York-set festival starting next month, including selections in the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film sections, as well as out-of-competition Viewpoints screenings.
"Big Men," a documentary about American corporations pursuing oil reserves in Africa, will serve as the opening night film for the World Documentary portion; "Bluebird," a small-town drama featuring "Girls" star Adam Driver, will kick-off the World Narrative slate. "Flex Is Kings," a documentary about Brooklyn street performers, is the Viewpoints opener. All three films premiere on April 18. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 17 through April 28, with "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, serving as the fest's opening night film.
"Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frederic Boyer said in a release. “The cinematic proficiency that...
"Big Men," a documentary about American corporations pursuing oil reserves in Africa, will serve as the opening night film for the World Documentary portion; "Bluebird," a small-town drama featuring "Girls" star Adam Driver, will kick-off the World Narrative slate. "Flex Is Kings," a documentary about Brooklyn street performers, is the Viewpoints opener. All three films premiere on April 18. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 17 through April 28, with "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, serving as the fest's opening night film.
"Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frederic Boyer said in a release. “The cinematic proficiency that...
- 3/5/2013
- by Christopher Rosen
- Huffington Post
The Tribeca Film Festival announced the first half of its 2013 movie slate today, including its World Narrative and Documentary Competition film categories, along with selections from the out-of-competition Viewpoints section, which highlights international and independent cinema. Festival organizers reviewed more than 6,000 submissions to select 89 feature-length films from 30 different countries for this year’s festival, which boasts 53 world premieres. “Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” said Frederic Boyer, Tribeca’s artistic director. “The cinematic proficiency that harnesses this lineup is remarkable and we’re looking forward to sharing these new perspectives, powerful performances,...
- 3/5/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
“Complexity” is a word that Jane Weinstock likes to use when describing her ideal movie, and it’s certainly an attribute that could be applied to her own work. “I crave it as an audience member. I think people are contradictory, and I like that kind of psychological realism,” she says. The same word is an apt description for her own pathway into the director’s chair, especially for her most recent film, The Moment. It was a fulfilling journey for the filmmaker, but one she also calls “a really long struggle.” Weinstock has had a varied career, having gotten her start …...
- 2/26/2013
- by Kishori Rajan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Embedded above is the first music video ever produced for the legendary art rock band Sonic Youth, “Death Valley 69,” the eighth and final track on their 1985 album Bad Moon Rising. This is also the first music video that was co-directed by Richard Kern, one of the leading figures of the Cinema of Transgression movement. The song and the video are a perfect time capsule blend of audio and images from the raging punk scene coming out of NYC’s Lower East Side in the ’80s.
According to Jack Sargeant‘s definitive history of the Cinema of Transgression, Deathtripping, Judith Barry was originally hired to direct the video with Kern only hired to do the gore makeup special effects. However, Kern would end up co-directing along with Barry. (The video’s on-screen credits, listed in full below, also credit Sonic Youth as a co-director.)
The final video ends up being...
According to Jack Sargeant‘s definitive history of the Cinema of Transgression, Deathtripping, Judith Barry was originally hired to direct the video with Kern only hired to do the gore makeup special effects. However, Kern would end up co-directing along with Barry. (The video’s on-screen credits, listed in full below, also credit Sonic Youth as a co-director.)
The final video ends up being...
- 9/28/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- "Easy" goes down easy. Writer-director Jane Weinstock takes you down a well-trod path in romantic comedy, but her characters are smart and funny, the twists are unexpected and, for once, a romantic triangle is presented realistically with the choice a woman must face being anything but easy.
Since romantic comedy is the one genre studios struggle to get right, meaning there is always a dearth of good romantic films, "Easy" is a date movie that has a chance to break out of specialty venues to reach a wider audience. The problems it faces are that it might be considered too "soft" by classic divisions and lacks name actors to market.
Weinstock's heroine, Jamie (pert Marguerite Moreau), finds going to bed with guys all too easy. But true love always escapes her. She has become, in her own words, a jerk magnet. At age 25, she encounters John (Naveen Andrews), an Anglo-Indian poet who once taught her poetry. Despite the warnings of her sister, Laura (Emily Deschanel), Jamie does the one thing she knows will attract a man: She sleeps with John at the first opportunity.
For once though, things seem to work out, as the romance turns serious. Then when the relationship hits a major setback, heart-broken Jamie breaks things off and takes a 90-day vow of chastity.
Around this time, at her acupuncturist's, she meets Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne), an Irish comic with a late-night talk show. When Mick learns that Jamie has an unusual job in which she creates names for consumer products, he invites her to appear on the show.
Their friendship blossoms, and Mick clearly would like it to blossom into something more intimate. But things are now complicated. There is Jamie's vow, which she is determined to keep, and John has come back into her life, sincerely repentant and begging for a second chance.
Weinstock writes with a wide angle that takes in the social milieu of young, arty Westside Los Angeles and a host of characters with interesting quirks that orbit around her main ones. Jamie's sister, for instance, appears to be in a happy marriage, but there are signs of trouble. Then there is the unresolved guilt felt by the siblings and their father over the suicide-death of their mother years before. John and Mick also have pasts that catch up with them. John's former girlfriend turns up, and Mick's ex-wife Sandy (Caroline Goodall), who is bisexual, is not completely out of his life.
Weinstock locates her story in a world of creativity. Jamie's father, husband and sister are all architects. People meet in bookstores and art galleries. The art and photographs they look at reflect themes within the film. "Easy" is one of those rare movies that captures a real side to L.A. rather than using the city as a mere backdrop.
There is smoothness to the entire production that is astonishing for a film shot in 21 days in many locations. The actors, even in small roles, bring energy and conviction to their parts. Cinematographer Paul Ryan, designer Aradhana Seth and costumer designer Mona May locate the story in places that feel lived-in and unglamorous.
In "Easy", bumps on the road to love hit the characters hard, shaking people who are already gun-shy because of past relationship failures. They often overreact and place in jeopardy the thing they desire the most. A viewer is never completely confident about how things will end. And when the movie does end, one cannot say for certain what will happen next to Jamie and Mick and John and Laura.
EASY
Over Easy Prods
Credits:
Writer-director: Jane Weinstock
Producer: Gloria Norris
Executive producer: James Welling
Director of photography: Paul Ryan
Production designer: Aradhana Seth
Music: Grant-Lee Phillips
Costume designer: Mona May
Editors: Robert Hoffman, Lauren Zuckerman
Cast:
Jamie: Marguerite Moreau
Mick: Brian F. O'Bryne
John: Naveen Andrews
Laura: Emily Deschanel
Sandy: Caroline Goodall
Martin: D.B. Woodside
Lawrence: John Rothman
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- "Easy" goes down easy. Writer-director Jane Weinstock takes you down a well-trod path in romantic comedy, but her characters are smart and funny, the twists are unexpected and, for once, a romantic triangle is presented realistically with the choice a woman must face being anything but easy.
Since romantic comedy is the one genre studios struggle to get right, meaning there is always a dearth of good romantic films, "Easy" is a date movie that has a chance to break out of specialty venues to reach a wider audience. The problems it faces are that it might be considered too "soft" by classic divisions and lacks name actors to market.
Weinstock's heroine, Jamie (pert Marguerite Moreau), finds going to bed with guys all too easy. But true love always escapes her. She has become, in her own words, a jerk magnet. At age 25, she encounters John (Naveen Andrews), an Anglo-Indian poet who once taught her poetry. Despite the warnings of her sister, Laura (Emily Deschanel), Jamie does the one thing she knows will attract a man: She sleeps with John at the first opportunity.
For once though, things seem to work out, as the romance turns serious. Then when the relationship hits a major setback, heart-broken Jamie breaks things off and takes a 90-day vow of chastity.
Around this time, at her acupuncturist's, she meets Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne), an Irish comic with a late-night talk show. When Mick learns that Jamie has an unusual job in which she creates names for consumer products, he invites her to appear on the show.
Their friendship blossoms, and Mick clearly would like it to blossom into something more intimate. But things are now complicated. There is Jamie's vow, which she is determined to keep, and John has come back into her life, sincerely repentant and begging for a second chance.
Weinstock writes with a wide angle that takes in the social milieu of young, arty Westside Los Angeles and a host of characters with interesting quirks that orbit around her main ones. Jamie's sister, for instance, appears to be in a happy marriage, but there are signs of trouble. Then there is the unresolved guilt felt by the siblings and their father over the suicide-death of their mother years before. John and Mick also have pasts that catch up with them. John's former girlfriend turns up, and Mick's ex-wife Sandy (Caroline Goodall), who is bisexual, is not completely out of his life.
Weinstock locates her story in a world of creativity. Jamie's father, husband and sister are all architects. People meet in bookstores and art galleries. The art and photographs they look at reflect themes within the film. "Easy" is one of those rare movies that captures a real side to L.A. rather than using the city as a mere backdrop.
There is smoothness to the entire production that is astonishing for a film shot in 21 days in many locations. The actors, even in small roles, bring energy and conviction to their parts. Cinematographer Paul Ryan, designer Aradhana Seth and costumer designer Mona May locate the story in places that feel lived-in and unglamorous.
In "Easy", bumps on the road to love hit the characters hard, shaking people who are already gun-shy because of past relationship failures. They often overreact and place in jeopardy the thing they desire the most. A viewer is never completely confident about how things will end. And when the movie does end, one cannot say for certain what will happen next to Jamie and Mick and John and Laura.
EASY
Over Easy Prods
Credits:
Writer-director: Jane Weinstock
Producer: Gloria Norris
Executive producer: James Welling
Director of photography: Paul Ryan
Production designer: Aradhana Seth
Music: Grant-Lee Phillips
Costume designer: Mona May
Editors: Robert Hoffman, Lauren Zuckerman
Cast:
Jamie: Marguerite Moreau
Mick: Brian F. O'Bryne
John: Naveen Andrews
Laura: Emily Deschanel
Sandy: Caroline Goodall
Martin: D.B. Woodside
Lawrence: John Rothman
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- "Easy" goes down easy. Writer-director Jane Weinstock takes you down a well-trod path in romantic comedy, but her characters are smart and funny, the twists are unexpected and, for once, a romantic triangle is presented realistically with the choice a woman must face being anything but easy.
Since romantic comedy is the one genre studios struggle to get right, meaning there is always a dearth of good romantic films, "Easy" is a date movie that has a chance to break out of specialty venues to reach a wider audience. The problems it faces are that it might be considered too "soft" by classic divisions and lacks name actors to market.
Weinstock's heroine, Jamie (pert Marguerite Moreau), finds going to bed with guys all too easy. But true love always escapes her. She has become, in her own words, a jerk magnet. At age 25, she encounters John (Naveen Andrews), an Anglo-Indian poet who once taught her poetry. Despite the warnings of her sister, Laura (Emily Deschanel), Jamie does the one thing she knows will attract a man: She sleeps with John at the first opportunity.
For once though, things seem to work out, as the romance turns serious. Then when the relationship hits a major setback, heart-broken Jamie breaks things off and takes a 90-day vow of chastity.
Around this time, at her acupuncturist's, she meets Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne), an Irish comic with a late-night talk show. When Mick learns that Jamie has an unusual job in which she creates names for consumer products, he invites her to appear on the show.
Their friendship blossoms, and Mick clearly would like it to blossom into something more intimate. But things are now complicated. There is Jamie's vow, which she is determined to keep, and John has come back into her life, sincerely repentant and begging for a second chance.
Weinstock writes with a wide angle that takes in the social milieu of young, arty Westside Los Angeles and a host of characters with interesting quirks that orbit around her main ones. Jamie's sister, for instance, appears to be in a happy marriage, but there are signs of trouble. Then there is the unresolved guilt felt by the siblings and their father over the suicide-death of their mother years before. John and Mick also have pasts that catch up with them. John's former girlfriend turns up, and Mick's ex-wife Sandy (Caroline Goodall), who is bisexual, is not completely out of his life.
Weinstock locates her story in a world of creativity. Jamie's father, husband and sister are all architects. People meet in bookstores and art galleries. The art and photographs they look at reflect themes within the film. "Easy" is one of those rare movies that captures a real side to L.A. rather than using the city as a mere backdrop.
There is smoothness to the entire production that is astonishing for a film shot in 21 days in many locations. The actors, even in small roles, bring energy and conviction to their parts. Cinematographer Paul Ryan, designer Aradhana Seth and costumer designer Mona May locate the story in places that feel lived-in and unglamorous.
In "Easy", bumps on the road to love hit the characters hard, shaking people who are already gun-shy because of past relationship failures. They often overreact and place in jeopardy the thing they desire the most. A viewer is never completely confident about how things will end. And when the movie does end, one cannot say for certain what will happen next to Jamie and Mick and John and Laura.
EASY
Over Easy Prods
Credits:
Writer-director: Jane Weinstock
Producer: Gloria Norris
Executive producer: James Welling
Director of photography: Paul Ryan
Production designer: Aradhana Seth
Music: Grant-Lee Phillips
Costume designer: Mona May
Editors: Robert Hoffman, Lauren Zuckerman
Cast:
Jamie: Marguerite Moreau
Mick: Brian F. O'Bryne
John: Naveen Andrews
Laura: Emily Deschanel
Sandy: Caroline Goodall
Martin: D.B. Woodside
Lawrence: John Rothman
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- "Easy" goes down easy. Writer-director Jane Weinstock takes you down a well-trod path in romantic comedy, but her characters are smart and funny, the twists are unexpected and, for once, a romantic triangle is presented realistically with the choice a woman must face being anything but easy.
Since romantic comedy is the one genre studios struggle to get right, meaning there is always a dearth of good romantic films, "Easy" is a date movie that has a chance to break out of specialty venues to reach a wider audience. The problems it faces are that it might be considered too "soft" by classic divisions and lacks name actors to market.
Weinstock's heroine, Jamie (pert Marguerite Moreau), finds going to bed with guys all too easy. But true love always escapes her. She has become, in her own words, a jerk magnet. At age 25, she encounters John (Naveen Andrews), an Anglo-Indian poet who once taught her poetry. Despite the warnings of her sister, Laura (Emily Deschanel), Jamie does the one thing she knows will attract a man: She sleeps with John at the first opportunity.
For once though, things seem to work out, as the romance turns serious. Then when the relationship hits a major setback, heart-broken Jamie breaks things off and takes a 90-day vow of chastity.
Around this time, at her acupuncturist's, she meets Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne), an Irish comic with a late-night talk show. When Mick learns that Jamie has an unusual job in which she creates names for consumer products, he invites her to appear on the show.
Their friendship blossoms, and Mick clearly would like it to blossom into something more intimate. But things are now complicated. There is Jamie's vow, which she is determined to keep, and John has come back into her life, sincerely repentant and begging for a second chance.
Weinstock writes with a wide angle that takes in the social milieu of young, arty Westside Los Angeles and a host of characters with interesting quirks that orbit around her main ones. Jamie's sister, for instance, appears to be in a happy marriage, but there are signs of trouble. Then there is the unresolved guilt felt by the siblings and their father over the suicide-death of their mother years before. John and Mick also have pasts that catch up with them. John's former girlfriend turns up, and Mick's ex-wife Sandy (Caroline Goodall), who is bisexual, is not completely out of his life.
Weinstock locates her story in a world of creativity. Jamie's father, husband and sister are all architects. People meet in bookstores and art galleries. The art and photographs they look at reflect themes within the film. "Easy" is one of those rare movies that captures a real side to L.A. rather than using the city as a mere backdrop.
There is smoothness to the entire production that is astonishing for a film shot in 21 days in many locations. The actors, even in small roles, bring energy and conviction to their parts. Cinematographer Paul Ryan, designer Aradhana Seth and costumer designer Mona May locate the story in places that feel lived-in and unglamorous.
In "Easy", bumps on the road to love hit the characters hard, shaking people who are already gun-shy because of past relationship failures. They often overreact and place in jeopardy the thing they desire the most. A viewer is never completely confident about how things will end. And when the movie does end, one cannot say for certain what will happen next to Jamie and Mick and John and Laura.
EASY
Over Easy Prods
Credits:
Writer-director: Jane Weinstock
Producer: Gloria Norris
Executive producer: James Welling
Director of photography: Paul Ryan
Production designer: Aradhana Seth
Music: Grant-Lee Phillips
Costume designer: Mona May
Editors: Robert Hoffman, Lauren Zuckerman
Cast:
Jamie: Marguerite Moreau
Mick: Brian F. O'Bryne
John: Naveen Andrews
Laura: Emily Deschanel
Sandy: Caroline Goodall
Martin: D.B. Woodside
Lawrence: John Rothman
Running time -- 99 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/27/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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