Glenn Fitzgerald Movies

Emily Hamilton and Parvin Dabas star in this centuries-spanning fantasy romance from director Kruti Majmudar. Grace (Hamilton) is an English woman with little knowledge of foreign culture who marries maharaja Jayant in 19th-century India. After a series of cultural clashes, the story flashes forward to modern day, where we're introduced to a man and woman who bear a striking resemblence to the married couple. Could they be the reincarnation of Grace and Jayant? ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

The cynical son of an upper-class New York family bedeviled by booze, pills and mental illness strikes out on his own in this caustic, darkly comic drama. Igby Slocomb (Kieran Culkin) and his older brother, Oliver (Ryan Phillippe), are are in the process of killing their mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon). Flashbacks delineate Igby's troubled childhood: Speed-freak Mimi and her depressed husband, Jason (Bill Pullman), snipe at each other endlessly until Jason attempts suicide before Igby's very eyes and takes up residence in a mental hospital. Igby grows into a rebellious youth, gets kicked out of several boarding schools and ends up in a hellish military academy. After one failed escape attempt, he heads to New York City and hides out in the apartment of Rachel (Amanda Peet), the heroin-addled mistress of his godfather, D.H. (Jeff Goldblum). Oliver locates the young scoundrel and informs him that Mimi is suffering from cancer. Unperturbed, Igby continues his slacker existence -- and his romance with Sookie (Claire Danes), a hipper-than-thou undergraduate who finds herself torn between Igby and Oliver. As Igby gets drawn further into the mind games and hypocrisy of the adult world, his already jaded outlook grows even darker. He takes to dealing smack and hanging out with a cross-dressing performance "artist" (Jared Harris). Ultimately, though, Mimi's impending death draws him back into the family fold for unexpected revelations and realizations. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Burr Steers, Igby Goes Down features Rory Culkin, Kieran's brother, as the young Igby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

The "reality TV" craze is taken to its final, logical extreme as six people hunt each other down in a small town for the benefit of network TV cameras in this darkly comic satire. "The Contenders" is a top-rated television game show in which six contestants are set loose in the same Connecticut community, with orders to kill or be killed; the last of the six who is still alive is declared the winner. As "The Contenders" goes into its seventh season, Dawn (Brooke Smith) is a two-time champion who is hoping to hold on to her title, despite the fact that she's due to have a baby in a month. Dawn's rivals this time out are Tony (Michael Kaycheck), an unemployed blue-collar worker with a taste for violence; Connie (Marylouise Burke), a middle-aged nurse who doesn't like to hurt people but is an experienced hand with a syringe; Lindsay (Merritt Wever), an 18-year-old dance student whose parents are eager to see her compete; Franklin (Richard Venture), an elderly conspiracy theorist with a tenuous hold on reality; and Jeff (Glenn Fitzgerald), who is dying of testicular cancer -- and was Dawn's boyfriend years ago. Series 7: The Contenders marked the directorial debut for Daniel Minahan, who previously employed pop culture and America's obsession with violence as themes in his screenplay for I Shot Andy Warhol. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Several "wilding incidents" occur during a Hispanic Pride festival in Central Park. When a woman's body is found in the park's lake, the detectives at first believe that she was a victim of random violence. Slowly but surely, however, the suspect field narrows down to those closest to the woman -- especially her very rich and very powerful husband. Due to complaints from a number of ethnic organizations, this episode was withdrawn from the Law & Order rerun package. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Taking home both the audience prize for Best Director as well as the critics' prize for Best Film, writer-director Hilary Birmingham was the toast of the 2000 L.A. Independent Film Festival with this slice-of-life drama about a pair of motherless young men and their relationships with women. Tully Jr. (Anson Mount) and Earl (Glenn Fitzgerald) live on their father's Nebraska ranch, proud and independent to a fault. While the shy, reclusive Earl spends his free time watching movies, the cockier Tully works his way through a succession of short-term affairs and an off-again, on-again relationship with April (Catherine Kellner), a stripper in town. When their childhood friend Ella (Julianne Nicholson) returns to town to start a veterinary practice, however, Tully falls for her -- although the townsfolk have their doubts that he could ever commit to one woman. Birmingham based her film on a short story by author Tom McNeal; before Tully, the director cut her teeth producing PBS documentaries. Tully would go on to show at festivals in Toronto, Canada, and Melbourne, Australia. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Boaz Yakin (a Sundance winner for Fresh) wrote and directed this drama, set in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community, about a young woman who harbors doubts about continuing to follow the path of her religion. Sonia (Renee Zellweger) gives birth to her first child. She wants to name the boy after her dead brother, but after an argument over the name, she resentfully defers to her husband, scholarly zaddik (holy man) Mendel (Glenn Fitzgerald). Both are apprehensive over the child's circumcision. Hasidic traditions dictate their life, including aspects of making love which leave Sonia sexually frustrated. This leads her into an affair with Mendel's older brother, the materialistic Sender (Christopher Eccleston), who offers her an opportunity to manage his neighborhood jewelry store. Against the wishes of Mendel, she accepts, displaying her flair for the jewelry business and establishing herself as a very good businesswoman. However, after she befriends sensitive Hispanic artist Ramon (Allen Payne), a sculptor and jewelry designer, she upsets everyone, especially Sender, who bars her from the store. Forbidden to see her child, Sonia begins a confused, downward spiral. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

The title of this British-French production refers to the dream of the film's hero -- aka The Young Man (Glenn Fitzgerald) -- to hunt an African rhino. After a failed suicide, The Young Man treks across Europe in an effort to track the girlfriend who walked out on him. In Paris, he attempts to deliver a traveling child, but the boy's dad never arrives. Instead, the situation leads him to The Teen (Karine Adrover). In a New Age nod, The Young Man and The Teen make love in a chair with giant angel wings, but before their relationship can ripen, he gets a clue regarding his former girlfriend's whereabouts and takes off for Belgrade and more merry misadventures. Shown at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

The debut feature from writer/director Lisa Krueger stars Scarlett Johansson and Aleksa Palladino as the titular Manny and Lo, orphaned teenaged sisters who avoid foster homes by living on the run, stealing food, and sleeping in random model homes. Older sister Lo is the rude, bossy, incompetent leader, and younger sister Manny is her thoughtful, realistic, logical underling. It quickly becomes apparent that Lo is pregnant and they won't be able to continue their wandering lifestyle of "keep moving and you won't get nailed." After a significant stage of denial, Lo goes to a hospital for an abortion and is denied. Quickly running out of options, Lo comes up with plan that seems ridiculous to the observant narrator Manny. Since they don't know anything about birthing babies, they kidnap Elaine (Mary Kay Place), a middle-aged woman dressed as a nurse who works in a maternity store. Together, the three women squat in an abandoned house in the woods so the disgruntled Lo can have her baby. Eventually, the owner of the house comes home and the captive Elaine resorts to a strange solution to the problem. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

After a coed is murdered, a detailed description of the crime appears online. Once again, detective Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) must rely upon the computer savvy of his partner Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) to track down the perp. Once the accused is in custody, Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) must deal with the stonewall tactics of the defense attorney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi