Lacey Schwartz wasn’t going to direct the documentary about her life growing up in a Jewish family and discovering that her dark skin wasn’t the result of a Sicilian ancestory, and that the man who had raised her was not her biological father. Every director she approached told her that such a personal story about… Read More »
CITY ISLAND
The Rizzo Family of CITY ISLAND is a family of secret smokers. That smoke, though, is just a screen for the many other secrets that lurk amid this close-knit but volatile family, one that has no problem expressing itself, but not as much talent in sharing confidences. In fact, most of the secrets, smoking included,… Read More »
ADORE
ADORE, adapted from Doris Lessing’s novel The Grandmothers, is a compelling, dangerous meditation on the stifling nature of convention, and the fluid nature of emotional bonding when societal norms are put aside. At the center are two lifelong friends, Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright), best friends since childhood. They are not, as the… Read More »
MEET THE ROBINSONS
One day geeks may indeed rule the world, if they don’t already, that is, and when they do, we could do worse that the scenario presented in MEET THE ROBINSONS. Much worse. Based on the book, “A Day with the Robinsons” by William Joyce, this gentle tale of family lost and found is a wild… Read More »
Guy Maddin Imprints His BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!
Guy Maddin’s appearance at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival marked the second consecutive year that he had brought his unique vision to that event. Last year, it was to receive the festival’s Persistance of Vision Award. This year, it was to present his latest film, BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! in its live event incarnation, complete with orchestra,… Read More »
Nia Vardalos & John Corbett & MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
Unlike most interviews I do, this one took place several weeks after the film in question opened theatrically. The studio decided to capitalize on the momentum generated by the word-of-mouth on this sweet romantic comedy by sending its stars on a belated press tour. Vardalos, who also wrote the script from her one-woman show of the same… Read More »
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris & LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Johnathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are partners is life (as in married) and in business (as in successful makers of commercials for umpteen years). Maybe it took such a combination to bring LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE to the screen without slighting either the family angle of the story, or the sly visual vocabulary used to portray… Read More »
Tom Dolby Savors the LAST WEEKEND
It was only right that when I spoke by phone with Tom Dolby about LAST WEEKEND on September 12, 2014, he was on his porch overlooking a lake. LAST WEEKEND, which Dolby co-directed with Tom Williams from his own script, is set on Lake Tahoe during an emotionally tumultuous Labor Day Weekend for the affluent Green family. One of the… Read More »
Simon Barrett & Adam Wingard Say YOU’RE NEXT
Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett take the art and craft of the horror film very seriously. And when I spoke to them on April 28, 2013, it was not all fun and games. They were refreshingly cerebral about horror, and about what they wanted to accomplish with YOURE NEXT. In little things, such… Read More »
Belen Atienza, Sergio Sanchez & Juan Antonio Bayona Take on THE IMPOSSIBLE
Respect was a word that came up often as I was talking with the filmmakers who brought THE IMPOSSIBLE to the screen on October 31 2012. Based on the true story of one family’s harrowing experience trying to survive in the aftermath of the Christmas Day tsunami in Thailand, the film was shot on location… Read More »