Pamela Stewart Movies
- 1995
This low-brow drama centers on the lives of some slimy characters. The sordid mess begins when Terry "lullaby" Fairlane is released from prison. He spent nine years there after raping his wife Michelle's 12-year old sister. The only one who is really glad to see him is simpleton Speck White who works as a towel boy in a rundown boxing club. Terry moves in with Speck and his wife, the pothead Brenda. Terry runs across his ex-wife, now a college student, and when she rejects him, the loyal Speck goes out and kidnaps him a woman. Though he doesn't want her, Terry has Speck keep the woman anyway. Real trouble ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
- R
Hal Hartley's fourth feature is a significant break from the quirky romantic comedy territory of his previous work -- though all of the deadpan idiosyncracies which make him such a singular filmmaker remain intact, here he tries his hand at the thriller genre, a move yielding typically unconventional and innovative results. Amateur stars Hartley mainstay Martin Donovan as Thomas, an amnesiac who, in the first scenes, wakes up in an alley, badly injured; he stumbles to a nearby coffeeshop where he meets Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert), a former nun and would-be nymphomaniac who now makes her living writing pornographic fiction. She takes him back to her apartment, where in time his past slowly begins to emerge -- a sharp contrast to the sweet, even naive soul that Huppert has befriended, it appears that the old Thomas was in fact a vicious pornographer whose attempted murder was at the hands of his wife, adult film star wife Sofia (Elina Lowensohn). Thomas is also the target of a nefarious European arms merchant whose hired guns are hot on his trail. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan, (more)
- 1992
Nick and Leigh (Nicholas Backlund and Catherine Fogarty) were both teen-aged stars in an unbearably awful 1970s sitcom, entitled "Heaven Help Popp". The experience seemingly scarred them for life. Now in their thirties, the two wander the country together, settling in new towns only until their awful sitcom shows up as reruns on cable. Then they split, along with Leigh's female companion and lover Maryland (Mary Elizabeth Keller). When they reach a Virginia fishing town along the Chesapeake Bay, Nick has just about had it with wandering. He used to be Leigh's boyfriend back in the bad old days; now he wants to find a woman of his own, settle down, and live (modestly) off his residuals, the income he gets for re-broadcasts of the sitcom he was in. It begins to look as though he has finally found what he's seeking with a quirky local woman (Pamela Stewart), when the two former juvenile actors learn of the death of one of their co-stars. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicholas Backlund, Catherine Fogarty, (more)
- 1990
- R
The unlikely relationship between a pregnant high school student and a brooding electronics repairman lies at the center of this droll comedy from writer-director Hal Hartley. Intelligent but unconventional, Maria (Adrienne Shelly) has more to worry about than her pregnancy, as her expectant state drives away her boyfriend and triggers a fatal heart attack in her father. Meanwhile, Matthew (Martin Donovan) has his own problems: an abusive father, a heightened sense of morality that prevents him from taking semi-lucrative television repair jobs, and a suicidal streak that causes him to carry around a potentially deadly grenade. The meeting of these troubled minds at first promises to be beneficial for both, but sours as they are forced to interact with each other's dysfunctional families. As in all of Hartley's pictures, the narrative is filtered through an amusingly detached sensibility that some may consider an acquired taste. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrienne Shelly, Martin Donovan, (more)
