Benjamin Ross Movies

Adapted from the best-selling novel by author Clare Allan, director Benjamin Ross' made for television drama follows the unlikely friendship between a psychiatric patient who lives to sponge off the system, and the newly arrived patient who causes her to question everything she ever thought she knew. N (Anna Maxwell Martin) has spent the last thirteen years living in a North London psychiatric ward, and she'd do it all over again if given the opportunity. She's made it her mission in life never to be released, and she's willing to do whatever it takes to remain institutionalized for life. Her life is changed forever with the sudden appearance of a new patient named Poppy Shakespeare (Naomie Harris), an elegant yet temperamental woman who insists that she isn't insane. But while N can't quite understand Poppy's reasons for wanting to escape the mental ward, she's more than happy to help her new friend try. The only problem now is that in order for Poppy to qualify for release, N must help prove that she's not insane. . . but how does one go about proving their sanity when in order to do so they must first appear to be mad? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When RKO Pictures began work on production number 281, no one could have imagined that they were making perhaps the greatest American film of all time. But the moment Orson Welles (played by Liev Schreiber) announced that he intended to make a film based on the life of tyranical multi-millionaire publisher William Randolph Hearst (James Cromwell), they knew that they had trouble on their hands. Welles, the enfant terrible of American theater and a household name thanks to his infamous radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's "The War Of The Worlds," was signed to direct films for RKO, and he was given an unusually free hand to make whatever sort of film he wanted. But what Welles didn't count on was the power of Hearst to keep his film from being seen. RKO 281 is based on the true story of the making of Citizen Kane and the war of words between Welles and Hearst. It also stars Melanie Griffith as Hearst's mistress Marion Davies, John Malkovich as screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, Brenda Blethyn as Hearst's movie columnist Louella Parsons, and Roy Scheider as George Schaefer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on the true story of Graham Young, a young British psychopath of the 1970s, this is the offbeat feature film debut of writer-director Benjamin Ross. Hugh O'Conor plays Young, who narrates the story in a sullen voice-over. He is an isolated, studious young adolescent who is increasingly absorbed in his chemical research projects and estranged from his annoying family. After his greatest experiment blows up, he seeks revenge on his stepmother, who has falsely accused him of hiding pornographic magazines. The boy poisons her chocolates and then his sister's eye drops, partially blinding her. He next poisons his stepmother's stomach medicine. Graham lets her discover the notebook in which he has documented his work, but she can no longer speak, and she dies unable to communicate the truth. Young then starts to poison his father -- but lets himself be discovered and is sent to an insane asylum. There, he is befriended by a psychologist, Dr. Ziegler (Anthony Sher), an optimist who hopes for a recovery by exploring Young's dreams. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide