American Independent Competition: Narrative Features

BOMB THE SYSTEM USA, 2003, 93 min directed by Adam Bhala Lough Southeast Premiere

Saturday, March 6 3:15 PM at Regal

Wednesday, March 10 9:30 PM at Enzian

Bomb the System

"Average New Yorkers see upwards of 50 pieces of graffiti a day. But they never stop to think about the stories behind these pieces." Writer-director Lough has. In this gritty story, 19-year-old guerilla "tagger" Blest (Mark Webber, The Laramie Project) has little ambition other than "bombing" the streets (painting graffiti) and getting high with his crew. He’s at a crossroads, however, hooking up with political activist Alex, being pressured to go to art school by his mother, and getting hassled by New York’s finest, the NYPD Vandal Squad. He’s also following in the footsteps of his dead brother. Writer-director Lough’s remarkably bold feature debut bursts with narrative energy, with jump cuts, dissolves, freeze frames, focal changes, saturated colors, and unusual stock exposures mimicking graffiti’s visual style, not unlike the work of the forty artists on display in the film. A great hip-hop/techno/electronica score, featuring DJ Spooky and Radiohead among others, adds to the subculture’s authenticity. Back to top.

DEAR PILLOW USA, 2003, 85 min directed by Bryan Poyser East Coast Premiere 2nd US Showing

Sunday, March 7 9:45 PM at Regal

Wednesday, March 10 4:30 PM at Enzian

Dear Pillow

Rude and lewd, funny and frank, this audacious look at sex and sexuality is refreshing in its candor, uncompromising in its language, and definitely not for prudes. For adventurous viewers, however, it’s a raunchy delight. Wes is a confused teenager who lives in a crummy apartment with his divorced dad, bags groceries and has no friends. Lonely and horny, with a burning sexual imagination and no outlet, he’s getting desperate . . . until one day he meets Dusty, who writes pornographic letters of women’s sexual fantasies for "Dear Pillow" magazine and who introduces Wes to a world of sex beyond his imagination. In his daring journey of sexual awakening, Wes encounters a colorful array of characters, including his burnt-out gay writer friend who mentors him and renews his own hunger for life. As they all interact, testing each other’s sexual boundaries, Wes finds himself being pulled into situations more and more intense, and discovers far more than he bargained for. Writer/director Bryan Poyser finds the joy and humanity in these sordid activities by treating sex as a simple force of nature and his characters as real people driven by natural impulses. Due to mature subject matter, no one under 18 will be admitted to this program. Back to top.

DOWN TO THE BONE USA, 2004, 100 min directed by Debra Granik East Coast Premiere 2nd US Showing

Sunday, March 7 3:15 PM at Regal

Friday, March 12 6:30 PM at Enzian

Down to the Bone

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," wrote Thoreau. Nowhere is a life of quiet desperation more acutely observed than in Debra Granik’s astonishing feature debut, Down to the Bone, inspired by her short film Snake Feed (FFF 1998). Vera Farmiga delivers an unforgettable portrait as Irene, an upstate New York, working-class mother who is a drug addict. Stuck in a stale marriage, Irene has a cocaine habit she can’t seem to shake even though she’s desperate to get clean. Deciding to check herself into a rehab center, she meets and begins an affair with a fellow reformed addict, Bob (Hugh Dillon). But when one of them experiences a relapse, can their commitment to each other conquer their personal demons? Quite unlike other addiction movies in its startling authenticity, its refusal to judge, and the truth found in the relationships Irene has with her children, husband (Clint Jordan), and lover, the superbly acted Down to the Bone explores the wrenching road to recovery with admirable restraint. Michael McDonough’s beautiful digital photography captures the gray, cold, and wet everyday life of marginalized people, making their struggle, both individual and together, all the more compelling. Winner—Dramatic Directing Award and Special Jury Prize for Acting (Vera Farmiga), 2004 Sundance Film Festival.  Back to top.

EASY USA, 2003, 99 min directed by Jane Weinstock East Coast Premiere 2nd US Showing

Saturday, March 6 9:00 PM at Regal

Friday, March 12 1:00 PM at Enzian

Easy

Pretty and sharp-witted, self-described “jerk-magnet” Jamie (Marguerite Moreau, Runaway Jury) finds sex easy, and she’s good at it. Love is another matter. A smart 25-year-old “product namer”, she is determined to try and change her ways and stop using sex to find love. Into the picture pops John (Naveen Andrews, The English Patient), a hunky Anglo-Indian poet and her former college teacher, as well as Mick (Brian F. O’Byrne, Intermission, FFF 2004), a charming and irreverent Irish talk show host who gets all of her jokes. To help her decide between them, she has to resort to extreme measures—like celibacy. An "unromanticized" romantic comedy, Easy is a story of sex, relationships, ideals and realities told with such clarity and humor that it transcends its genre. A first feature for writer/director Weinstock, the film is a wonderful example of what can happen when intelligence returns to an often-abused form. With a splendid supporting cast including D.B. Woodside (24), a terrific score by Grant-Lee Phillips, and fine production values, this surprising work reminds us that there are no easy answers to the questions it asks about love, sex, and the ways in which we all try to live with each.  Back to top.

HAPPY HOUR USA, 2003, 93 min directed by Mike Bencivenga

Sunday, March 7 2:15 PM at Regal

Tuesday, March 9 9:30 PM at Regal

Happy Hour

Anthony LaPaglia gives a tour-de-force performance as Tully, "a drinker with a writing problem," in a film that manages to deal with alcoholism, friendship, life, and death without being preachy or maudlin. A literate, often funny story of love and how to receive it, Happy Hour introduces us to characters so well drawn they seem real long after the final credits. LaPaglia’s Tully, a once-promising literary star now biding his time as an advertising copy editor, moves from cynicism to acceptance as he secretly hopes to write a great novel only to learn that his life of booze will end all too soon. Eric Stoltz (as his best friend) and Caroleen Feeney (as the girl who might have saved him) suffer the pain of Tully’s anger and rejection. Finally, when it is most needed, they are able to give him the love he has sought for so much of his life. A small film of large themes, Happy Hour never misses a beat or a character turn as it moves to its conclusion.  Back to top.

MADNESS AND GENIUS USA, 2003, 103 min directed by Ryan Eslinger Southeast Premiere

Sunday, March 7 7:30 PM at Regal

Wednesday, March 10 1:45 PM at Enzian

Madness and Genius

In his first feature film, 22-year-old Ryan Eslinger shines a dark, haunting light on modern academia and reveals some shattering truths. With remarkable insight, he probes the internal struggles of three wounded men: Frank, a brilliant but dispassionate physics professor slowly losing his grip on reality (Tom Noonan in a startling performance); Nigel, a lonely, sensitive student crippled with a degenerative disease, obsessed with a cold, beautiful T.A. who disdains him; and Jordan, Nigel’s corrupt roommate, a high school prodigy floundering in college, unable to leap from memorizing to analyzing, and driven to immoral action. In a stark, minimalist style underscored by Steve Huber’s stunning widescreen black-and-white cinematography, Eslinger examines the pressures of academic life that compel students to cheat, T.A.’s to sleep with teachers, and professors to crack and assault their students. Beautifully acted and incisively written, this is an intense, provocative psychodrama uncompromising in its honesty, constantly compelling, and in the end, deeply disturbing. It signals the arrival of a bold new filmmaker with a lot on his mind.  Back to top.

MILK + HONEY USA, 2003, 90 min directed by Joseph Maggio Florida Premiere

Sunday, March 7 9:30 PM at Enzian

Thursday, March 11 4:00 PM at Regal

Milk + Honey

At a New York City cocktail party, an emotionally troubled stockbroker re-proposes to his wife of ten years and is rejected and humiliated by her in front of friends and colleagues. So begins Milk + Honey--no "land of. . ." Rick and Joyce Johnson (Clint Jordan, also appearing in Down to the Bone, and Kirsten Russell) find their union complicated by past and present infidelities and the accompanying anger, resentment, and guilt. Under cover of one increasingly bizarre night in the city that never sleeps, the couple takes separate paths. Will they remain together? Writer-director Joe Maggio (Virgil Bliss) addresses the difficulty of honesty in relationships. Tense and unpredictable, the superbly acted drama reveals the connections we make and those that are made for us, as adults try to connect in a disconnected world. Featuring the original compositions of indie filmmaker Hal Hartley and the music of Fischerspooner and Yo La Tengo, perfectly in synch with the emotional curve of the story and characters.  Back to top.

MILWAUKEE, MINNESOTA USA, 2003, 95 min directed by Allan Mindel

Saturday, March 6 5:30 PM at Regal

Thursday, March 11 9:30 PM at Regal

Milwaukee, Minnesota

In this quirky, Fargo-like dark comedy, Troy Garity stars as slightly mentally challenged champion ice fisherman Albert Burroughs. His overprotective mother has convinced him it’s a dangerous world out there, and his only friend is the local shopkeeper (Bruce Dern). When Albert’s mother is mysteriously bumped off, the sharks start circling in the form of a brother-sister team of con artists and a sleazy traveling salesman (Randy Quaid) who claims to be his dad, all with their eyes on Albert’s prize-money earnings. Director Mindel captures the look and locale of Midwestern malaise and nonetheless finds the warmth of the human spirit, despite showing some human behavior at its worst. Milwaukee, Minnesota redefines smarts as Albert meets challenges head on, not only finding himself but making his way in the world. Garity catches the big fish, playing equal parts Forrest Gump and Rainman. Dern and Quaid face-off as nemeses and character actors, and with cameos by Josh Brolin and former Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn, it’s easy to see how this fun and original directorial debut won awards at the Seattle Film Festival and Cannes Critics Week.  Back to top.

NOISE USA, 2004, 84 min directed by Tony Spiridakis East Coast Premiere 2nd US Showing

Sunday, March 7 5:30 PM at Regal

Thursday, March 11 6:30 PM at Regal

Noise

Recently divorced Joyce finally finds a New York apartment and settles in, hoping to forget her past and remake her life. But her upstairs neighbor and her own insecurities conspire to turn her search for serenity into a bizarre reality of nights without sleep, delusional days, random sexual encounters, and other pathological behaviors that belie her innocent delicacy. In Noise, director Tony Spiridakis has created an exhilarating homage to Roman Polanski, taking the best of Repulsion and flavoring it with a dash of Rosemary’s Baby. The result is a sometimes terrifying story of a mind out of control in a world barely in control. Supermodel Trish Goff is stunning and vulnerable as Joyce, and Ally Sheedy nearly steals the film as Charlotte, the disturbing and very disturbed antagonist one floor up. Giancarlo Esposito as a friendly shop owner and Adam Ferrara as a detective co-star in this nifty urban psycho-thriller that also boasts one of the best and most ironic soundtracks ever heard.  Back to top.

NOSEY PARKER USA, 2003, 105 min directed by John O'Brien Florida Premiere

Saturday, March 6 1:00 PM at Regal

Tuesday, March 9 7:00 PM at Regal

Nosey Parker

Nosey Parker is the final installment in writer/director/producer/editor O’Brien’s anthropological trilogy of comedies set in Tunbridge, Vermont, based on the filmmaker’s hometown. A May-December suburbanite couple (Natalie Picoe and Richard Snee), tired of the Gotham rat race and maybe their marriage, move to rural Vermont and re-build their dream home. They encounter New England crustiness and folkways, but an unexpected friendship and rapport develops between the transplant wife and elderly local George (George Lyford). O’Brien says he aimed for Cassavettes-like scenes of emotional intensity, and they are there in the culture shock and tensions between husband and wife, improvised and telling. But the story is also full of humor and ultimately genuine good will among the characters. The filmmaker’s love and affection for people and place is infectious, with beautiful elegies to the glorious colors of rural Vermont as well as to the experienced wisdom of elders. Offbeat and charming, you’ll find that, despite what your mother may have warned, you’ll want to be a "nosey parker" too.  Back to top.