Susan A. Stover Movies
Writer/director Lisa Cholodenko follows up her much-acclaimed 1997 debut High Art with this examination of a young couple seduced into a hedonistic, left-coast lifestyle. Taking its title from its central locale, Laurel Canyon focuses on a pair of upper-middle class lovebirds from the East Coast who relocate to Los Angeles. Freshly minted from Harvard, Sam (Christian Bale) and Alex (Kate Beckinsale) are eager to continue their medical studies out West, but they need some lodging while they hunt for a home. Enter Jane (Frances McDormand), Sam's estranged, Age-of-Aquarius mom, who's more than willing to put the couple up in her lavish digs. Jane is a successful record producer whose latest charge -- both in the studio and in her bedroom -- is Ian (Alessandro Nivola), a brazen, libidinous twentysomething Brit-rocker. As Sam and Alex settle in at Jane's, they gradually lose their straight-and-narrow approach to life and begin to experiment. Alex takes to Ian and Jane, while Sam is wooed by co-worker Sara (Natascha McElhone). Laurel Canyon features a score by Shudder to Think's Craig Wedren; the music for Ian's band was provided by Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous and indie-rockers Folk Implosion. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, (more)
Two women on different ends of the spectrum of corporate power come together with explosive results in this drama. Julie Styron (Stockard Channing) is a successful executive with a major international corporation who is starting to feel the pressure of her position; she has few friends and no family to buffer her from the responsibilities of her work, and she suspects that the company's CEO is thinking about replacing her. Trying to get one step ahead, she meets with the slightly manipulative headhunter Nick Harris (Frederick Weller). Julie's anxieties come to a head when she has to give a major out-of-town presentation without the help of her assistant Paula Murphy (Julia Stiles), who failed to show up on time. Furious, Julie gives Paula a severe dressing down before firing her, but then Julie is called into a meeting with Nick in which she gets some unexpected news -- she's going to be taking over his job. Eager to celebrate, Julie runs into Paula, and tries to apologize for their earlier encounter by offering her a hotel room for the night and a few drinks. In time, Nick also turns up at the hotel and the women - upon running into him - realize that he is a mutual acquaintance. Later, Paula shares a secret with Julie -- Nick raped one of her friends while they were in college, and since then Paula has pondered taking revenge against him. Julie is eventually drawn into Paula's plan when they encounter Nick later that evening. But there may be more to Paula than meets the eye. The Business of Strangers was the first feature from writer and director Patrick Stettner; the film was shown in competition at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stockard Channing, Julia Stiles, (more)
Is Ruby Weaver's Mr. Right really an emissary from the year 2,470, or is he just a complete loon ball? This question is at the heart of Brad Anderson's whimsical romantic comedy. The story opens with Ruby (Marisa Tomei) lamenting over her boyfriend Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio) to her shrink (Holland Taylor). In a series of flashbacks, the film quickly sketches Ruby as a neurotic with an unhappy track record concerning men and Sam as an oddball who is afraid of small dogs and has a barcode tattooed to his arm. But he's nuts over Ruby, and at least initially, that is enough for her. Slowly, Sam begins to reveal his "past." He tells her that he is from the Dubuque of the future and that he hails from a rare "anachronistic" family who believe that reproduction should occur the old-fashioned, fun way as opposed to the more popular cloning method. At first, Ruby is amused, until she realizes that he's not kidding. After a series of arguments, he agrees to visit Ruby's analyst, which yields unexpected results. This film premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marisa Tomei, Vincent D'Onofrio, (more)
Lisa Cholodenko wrote and directed this lesbian-themed drama, winner of the 1998 Sundance Film Festival's Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Ambitious photography magazine associate editor Syd (Radha Mitchell) has a ho-hum relationship with James (Gabriel Mann). Investigating a ceiling leak, she enters the apartment of her neighbor, retired photographer Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy), who lives with former Fassbinder actress Greta (Patricia Clarkson), a heroin addict. The friendship between the worldly Lucy and the naive, insecure Syd ripens into an affair, one destined to change the lives of both women. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ally Sheedy, Radha Mitchell, (more)
This well-crafted independent horror film from writer-director Larry Fessenden is one of the better films to emerge from the '90s "revisionist" movement in vampire cinema, which also included Abel Ferrara's The Addiction and Michael Almereyda's Nadja. Fessenden also plays the lead as Sam, a disillusioned part-time bartender in New York's East Village who half-heartedly tries to escape a life of disappointment and failure by immersing himself in alcohol. His woes include the recent death of his father, a respected archaeologist, and a trial separation from girlfriend Liza (Heather Woodbury), who still loves him but refuses to be drawn into his world of alcoholic nihilism. At a wild Halloween party thrown by his two best friends, Nick (Aaron Beal) and Rae (Patricia Coleman), Sam meets a lovely dark-eyed woman named Anna (Meredith Snaider), with whom he's instantly infatuated. The two engage in idle conversation, leaving together when the festivities die down. A mutual attraction seems evident, but Anna disappears, leaving Sam a bogus telephone number. Thus begins a game of romantic cat-and-mouse, consisting of brief and steamy encounters separated by long periods of uncertain waiting for Sam. During the first of these encounters, the two find themselves pursued by a pack of wolves in Central Park, which Anna seemingly repels with a motion of her hand. At their first moment of sexual contact, Anna bites Sam on the lip and licks the blood -- an act which causes Sam to pass out in ecstasy. Their sporadic clinches are often punctuated by similar bouts of bloodletting, and Sam begins to succumb to a desperate, all-consuming need for Anna. His paranoid behavior seems to be a product of his intensifying alcohol addiction ... but Sam begins to suspect his condition is actually the onset of vampirism, caused by Anna feeding on his blood. Despite suggestions that his sanity is in serious doubt, there are several hints that his suspicions may be well-founded. For instance, one of Sam's friends tells him of a wild one-night stand with a mysterious woman who sounds like Anna -- after which he disappears without a trace. Anna also seems to have difficulty entering Sam's apartment or standing near him when he's cooking with garlic. Later, an eerie moment occurs at a ceremony honoring Sam's father, when one of the professors spots Sam's lady friend and is overcome with dread. Fessenden keeps this premise deliriously ambiguous, casting doubt over what Sam is really experiencing (even when it seems obvious that Anna is preying on every one of Sam's friends) and continues to crank up the intensity until the startling and violent climax. The director uses his locations to remarkable effect, fashioning a nightmarish but strangely beautiful world with images like a red-lit Empire State Building, a disorienting ride on a Coney Island Ferris wheel, and a furtive nude photo shoot on Wall Street. As an actor, Fessenden is appealing as Sam, an intense and creative thinker with a crumbled sense of self-worth, a shaky grip on reality and some missing front teeth. Far more horrifying than countless effects-laden vampire films, this surreal yet wholly convincing work merits multiple viewings. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry Fessenden, Meredith Snaider, (more)
