Ezra Barnes Movies
Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga star in director George Ratliff's uncomfortable psychological thriller Joshua, as Brad and Abby Cairn, an affluent young stockbroker and his wife, raising children in New York City. Their firstborn, the nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan), is a frighteningly intelligent child -- to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. Nearly always clad in formal wear and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist -- with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical pieces -- Joshua gravitates toward his gay aesthete uncle (Dallas Roberts) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kin -- particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital and unwisely alienates the young tyke. As the days pass, one at a time, the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange, unsettled, and disorienting; meanwhile, bizarre events transpire. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior, discarding all of his toys, disemboweling a stuffed animal, and killing off pets. One at a time, family members also begin to suffer tragic fates -- but are they Joshua's fevered and psychotic doings or merely the result of happenstance? ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, (more)
- 2000
The border between professional and personal relationships comes under fire in this independent drama. Michael (Martin Donovan) is a filmmaker whose last project featured a beautiful actress named Anna (Irène Jacob). While Michael is trying to work on his next screenplay, he can't get Anna out of his mind, and obsessively watches outtakes from her scenes. Deeply infatuated and desperate for a reason to speak to her, Michael calls Anna and asks is she can help with his script -- he's having some trouble with dialogue and it would help if he could have an actress read the lines with him. Anna agrees, but as she keeps returning to "assist" Michael with his project, he writes more and more of what he wants to hear her say, and his pretense of working on a film begins to melt away. A prizewinner at the Avignon Film Festival, The Pornographer (a love story) also features cameo appearances from Maggie Gyllenhaal and Laura Prepon. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1999
Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) learn that a murdered coed was in a relationship with college professor Miguel Clemente (Miguel Sandoval). Of equal interest to the D.A.'s office are two other suspects, a pair of male students with seemingly airtight alibis. The original print ads for this episode were right on the money when they promised "Shocking evidence will uncover the truth." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
