Don Byron Movies
Acclaimed animator and independent filmmaker Emily Hubley directed this offbeat fusion of animation and live action. Mona Peek (Lily Rabe) is slowly coming to terms with the death of her father when she learns that the house where she grew up is about to be sold. As a child, Mona buried a bone in the backyard, imaging it had magical powers, and now that a new family is about to move in, she decides to head back home to dig it up. As Mona searches for the lost talisman, she discovers she's misplaced her wallet and has to make time to find it. Meanwhile, on another plane, a pack of talking dogs are playing a game of cards that controls the path of Mona's life. The Toe Tactic also stars Kevin Corrigan, Mary Kay Place, and John Sayles, while Eli Wallach, David Cross, Don Byron, and Andrea Martin contribute their voice talents. The score was written and performed by the celebrated indie rock band Yo La Tengo, whose drummer, Georgia Hubley, is Emily's sister. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lily Rabe, Daniel London, (more)
- 2002
Made famous by singer Billie Holiday in an unforgettable 1939 recording, the haunting anti-lynching anthem "Strange Fruit" was not, as many believe, written by an African-American. Rather, it grew out of poem penned by a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx, Abel Meeropol. Outraged by the shabby and often brutal treatment of black citizens in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, Meeropol gravitated to the burgeoning civil rights movement of the 1930s, where he also found a nurturing home for his left-of-center sentiments (the same sentiments which, years later, moved him to adopt the children of executed atomic spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg). To avoid persecution from the radical right and from the anti-Semites of the era, Meeropol published the song under the pseudonym Lewis Allen, the same name he later used for his less impassioned but equally powerful anti-bigotry ballad "The House I Live In." Naturally, this 60-minute documentary includes film clips of Billie Holiday performing the title song (in her only TV appearance, in 1958), as well as renditions by such activist-artists as Pete Seeger, Josh White, and Cassandra Wilson. Strange Fruit was first telecast as a presentation of the PBS anthology Independent Lens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Abel Meerpol, Billie Holiday, (more)
Writer Paul Auster made his solo directorial debut with this romantic drama about an affair between a middle-aged musician and an aspiring actress. Hit by a stray bullet during a nightclub shooting, jazz saxophonist Izzy Maurer (Harvey Keitel) can no longer play, and he falls into a depression. His ex-wife Hannah (Gina Gershon), now attached to producer Philip Kleinman (Mandy Patinkin), turns up unexpectedly to take care of Izzy. Izzy meets Kleinman, and he also has an encounter with actress-director Catherine Moore (Vanessa Redgrave), who's planning a production of Pandora's Box. Walking around Lower Manhattan, Izzy finds a man's body with a phone number and a stone that emits a blue light with healing properties. When he phones the number, he speaks with actress Celia (Mira Sorvino), who just happens to be listening to his music. They fall in love, and Celia gets Izzy a job as a busboy at the restaurant where she works. Both are fired when he goes into a jealous rage over the attention she receives from one of her customers. After Celia leaves to act in a film in Ireland, anthropologist Dr. Van Hom (Willem Dafoe) turns up, searching for the healing stone. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, (more)
- 1996
This cool and tuneful documentary centers on a band of modern musicians in period garb playing a dozen authentic pieces from 1934 Kansas City jazz. Their performance was recorded on the set of Robert Altman's 1996 film Kansas City, and selections from this atmospheric concert were used in his feature. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
