Christine Vachon Movies
One of the most influential producers in the independent film industry, Christine Vachon was behind many of the groundbreaking indie films of the 1990s. Her name has been associated in particular with a number of the gay and lesbian independent films of that decade, an association that began when she produced her first film, Todd Haynes' Poison, in 1991. The controversial film -- which sparked a controversy about NEA funding -- was awarded the Sundance Festival's Grand Jury Prize. That same year, Vachon produced video artist Tom Kalin's debut film, Swoon. Based on the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case, it garnered the 1992 Berlin Film Festival's Caligari Award.Some of Vachon's other credits include Rose Troche's Go Fish (1994), a film that was widely credited with signaling the advent of modern lesbian cinema; Haynes' acclaimed Safe (1995), Larry Clark's controversial Kids (1995), Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Todd Solondz's Happiness (1998), Haynes' lavish glam rock paean Velvet Goldmine (1998), which earned a Special Jury Award at Cannes; and Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry (1999), a highly acclaimed film about Brandon Teena, a young woman whose courageous decision to live as a man met with tragic results. Vachon has earned a number of honors over the course of her career, and has also authored a best-selling book, Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts Through the Barriers to Make Movies that Matter. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- NC17
This film has become infamous thanks to the efforts of the Rev. Donald Wildmon, who publicly questioned the fact that NEA dollars were spent on this "filth." While Wildmon's point was certainly overstated, this debut feature from Todd Haynes is quite disturbing. The Poison in question is sex, and its toxic effects are explored in three segments which have been shuffled together like a deck of cards. "Hero" is a pseudo-documentary about a seven-year-old boy who shoots his father and then ascends into the sky. "Horror" is a mad-scientist story filmed like a Roger Corman "B"-movie. The scientist in question has managed to distill the essence of the human sex drive into a test tube. When he inadvertently drinks it, he turns into a leprous monster, terrorizing the city. "Homo" is a gay love story set in a prison. All three segments are based on the writings of Jean Genet. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry Maxwell, Edith Meeks, (more)
Tom Kalin directed this cool and aloof black-and-white study of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case, a case told before in two previous films -- Rope and Compulsion. In 1924, in Chicago, Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb, two 18-year-olds, kidnapped and murdered the 13-year-old Bobby Franks, immediately killing him and then stuffing his naked body up a culvert. The motive for the crime was simply that they wanted to prove to themselves that they were smart enough to get away with it. The previous film versions downplayed Leopold and Loeb's homosexuality, but Kalin's version plays it up into a psychosexual motif. Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) is the calculating intellectual, while Leopold (Craig Chester), the amateur ornithologist, is the emotional and weak one. In love with Loeb, Leopold is willing to do anything for him, and when Leob uses the withholding of sex as a prompt, Leopold is even willing to commit murder to have his sexual desires satisfied by Loeb. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Schlachet, Craig Chester, (more)
Steven Gale (J. Evan Bonifant) is an artistically inclined six-year-old boy in the 1950's, who is especially fascinated by the television antics of Dottie Frank (Julie Halston) a zany comedienne with her own weekly show (similar to Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy -- his mother (Barbara Garrick) tolerates and even encourages his drawing, but his father (Robert Pall) doesn't understand the boy or his interests. Steven watches "The Dottie Frank Show" whenever it's on, and draws Dottie and dreams her. He does have contact with day-to-day reality, in the form of other children but he always feels separate from them, the other boys failing to understand or even regard him while the girls quietly ridicule him; but mostly he's isolated from them because of his rich fantasy life, which involves Dottie, the girls he knows, and himself. He strikes a quiet, careful (if uneasy) balance in his life between fantasy and reality, until one fateful day when he wins a contest that allows him to visit the set of "The Dottie Frank Show" -- and as luck would have it, he's present as his favorite television star and the object of his obsession acts out a scene that plays to his deepest fantasies. Steven's dreams become more vivid, as do his drawings, which leads to his parents discovering his fantasies. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
This hit arthouse ensemble piece traces the romantic and political ups and downs of a group of multicultural Chicago lesbians. The central story involves an unlikely romance between Max (Guinevere Turner), a hip young babe, and Ely (V.S. Brodie), a slightly older woman involved in a long-term, long-distance relationship that's basically a smokescreen for her fear of romantic risk. When the pair are introduced by Max's roommate, teacher/activist Kia (T. Wendy McMillan), Max isn't interested in Ely, whose long hair, hippie accoutrements, and fondness for decaffeinated herbal tea don't impress the younger, more fashion-conscious woman. Soon, though, fate, friends, and Ely's butch new hairstyle conspire to push the women closer together. As this new romance inches along, the pair's friends have problems of their own: Kia must help her closeted girlfriend, Evy (Migdalia Melendez), come to grips with the disapproval of her conservative Latina mother, while their pal Daria (Anastasia Sharp) incurs the disapproval of the lesbian community for her decision to sleep with a man. Filmed in black and white on-location in Chicago, Go Fish features a number of non-standard narrative devices, most notably the Greek chorus, or "jury," of lesbians who comment on not only the plot, but also the political and social ramifications thereof. Shown in competition at Sundance in 1994, Go Fish went on to earn critical and commercial success and establish the careers of director Rose Troche and actress Turner, who together co-wrote and co-produced the picture. Turner would appear in several additional indies and co-write the script for American Psycho, while Troche would go on to helm 1998's Bedrooms & Hallways. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guinevere Turner
This avant garde film is based on two angry autobiographical books by David Wojnarowicz: Close to the Knives and Memories That Smell Like Gasoline. Wojnarowicz, a noted performance artist, died of AIDS . The film examines three sides of his life. The first looks at his suburban childhood and the abuse he suffered at his alcoholic father's violent hand. The second chronicles his experiences as an teen-age street hustler and criminal in New York, and the third section, which is highly abstract, follows the adult Dave as he wanders through a dangerous desert. Once these identities are established, chronology is scattered to the winds, and the three ages of David play up to and comment on each other. The work of Wojnarowicz is also represented in Knud Vesterkov's film, By The Dawn's Early Light. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Lyons, Michael Tighe, (more)
The birth of the gay rights movement gets a fictionalized treatment in this drama based loosely on the acclaimed documentary of the same name by Martin Duberman. In 1969, Matty Dean (Fred Weller) arrives in New York City's Greenwich Village hoping that life there will provide the sexual liberation forbidden to him by his small town upbringing. Matty falls in love with LaMiranda (Guillermo Diaz), a cross-dresser who introduces him to the regulars at the infamous Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar. He is shocked, however, to learn that the NYPD regularly raids the Stonewall, harassing the clientele and closeted owner Vinnie (Bruce MacVitte). After one such incident, Matty ends up in jail, where he's attracted to Ethan (Brendan Corbalis), a gay activist preaching a moderate policy of conformity and peaceful protest. The latter is not possible, however, when police storm the Stonewall yet again and, led by Vinnie's lover Bustonia (Duane Boutte), enraged drag queens fight back in a riot of historical significance. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Diaz, Frederick Weller, (more)
Todd Haynes presents a revisionist take on the paranoia thriller with this story of a Southern California housewife who suddenly falls victim to an inexplicable, apparently incurable illness. Carol White (Julianne Moore) lives with her husband and son in suburban comfort until she collapses one day, for no apparent reason. Her condition worsens in the weeks that follow, as she suffers from coughing fits, exhaustion, and spontaneous nose bleeds, triggered by sources as disparate as car exhaust, cologne, and the sun. Failing to find any medical explanation for her maladies, her doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who suggests that her physical ailments are psychosomatic -- a theory echoed by her callous and increasingly frustrated husband. At her wits' end, Carol withdraws to an expensive New Age retreat for sufferers of "20th century disease," where the community's guru (Peter Friedman) champions a dubious regimen of diet, climate control, introspection, and self-love. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julianne Moore, Peter Friedman, (more)
Kids offers a bleak, unblinking view of a group of vacuous, thoughtless New York City teens in their ceaseless quest for sex, drugs, and trouble. The film primarily follows Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), who, having just realized the conquest of his latest virgin, brags that by day's end he will claim one more. While he and his friends brag to each other about their sexual exploits, Jenny (Chloë Sevigny) describes her own less-than-romantic encounter with Telly. Soon after the conversation, she learns that Telly, the only boy with whom she has slept, has infected her with the AIDS virus. Devastated, she sets out to find him and share the news. Meanwhile, Telly has set his sights on Darcy (Yakira Peguero), a lovely young girl whom he invites for a skinny dip at the local pool. Together with his friends, Telly drags Darcy along, and the entire crew jump the fence after hours. There he presents his now-familiar spiel which Darcy naïvely accepts, and the scene is set for disaster as the group heads back to a vacant apartment for an evening of sex, booze, drugs, and debauchery. Jenny finally locates Telly at the impromptu party and rushes to confront him, although she may be too late to save the next virgin in line from sharing her fate. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, (more)
The true story of Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist who became notorious after shooting art world icon Andy Warhol, is portrayed in this fact-based drama. In an attempt to present a fair assessment of her actions, writer-director Mary Harron focuses on Solanas' troubled life, from her childhood as an abuse victim to her life as teenage prostitute in New York City. These experiences left Solanas (played by Lili Taylor) deeply scarred, contributing to a hatred of men that later found full flower in her famous "SCUM Manifesto," an extremist tract calling for the establishment of a "Society for Cutting Up Men." Deeply troubled, she nevertheless briefly finds hope after befriending young transvestite Candy Darling (played by Stephen Dorff) and discovering herself on the fringes of the wild, colorful world surrounding the eccentric Warhol. She becomes obsessed with the idea that Warhol's support could change her life, only to become violently enraged when the artist and his friends begin to turn away from her. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lili Taylor, Jared Harris, (more)
Can a homophobic tough guy and an out-of-the-closet gay man find happiness splitting the rent in Midtown Manhattan? This and other crucial questions are answered in this comedy. Frankie (Nick Scotti) is a macho and slightly thick-headed Italian-American from the Bronx who works in a pizzeria but dreams of becoming a successful actor, like his heroes Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. He's long had vague plans of someday moving to Manhattan and taking a serious shot at making his dream a reality, but it takes a personal crisis to put Frankie's plans into first gear -- namely, learning that his brother Pino (Anthony DeSando) has been sleeping with his girlfriend. This turn of events leaves Frankie with neither a significant other nor a place to live, so he starts hunting for affordable digs downtown. Looking in an alternative newspaper, Frankie spots an ad for a "GWM seeking same to share fully furnished apartment;" naive Frankie figures "GWM" means "Guy With Money," and since the price is right, he moves in right away. However, after spending several days with his new roommate Warren (Anthony Barrile) and his friends, Frankie slowly makes the discovery "GWM" actually means "Gay White Male," which is most certainly not what Frankie was looking for. However, he's in no financial position to go anywhere else, so both Frankie and Warren wind up confronting their fears and learning a lot about people different from themselves. As it turns out, Warren does a bit of acting, and when he hurts his leg shortly before the opening of an off-Broadway play in which he's to appear, Frankie arranges to take his place. There is, however, a catch -- Frankie will be playing a gay man, and he'll have to kiss another actor full on the lips in his big scene. Kiss Me Guido was the first feature film from writer and director Tony Vitale. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Scotti, Anthony Barrile, (more)
Photographer Cindy Sherman, who often uses motifs from exploitation films in her work, pays witty tribute to slasher films in this satiric horror-comedy. Dorine Douglas (Carol Kane) has spent 16 years at the bottom of the totem pole as a copy editor for Constant Consumer magazine when, due to budget cuts, she's downsized into a contract employee and forced to work out of her home. Dorine isn't at all happy about this, and when she's called back into the office to help obnoxious writer Gary (David Thornton) fix a glitch in his computer, she's not at all upset when he's accidentally electrocuted. Dorine brings Gary's corpse home to join her in front of the TV. When pushy publisher Virginia (Barbara Sukowa) orders Dorine and overly ambitious Kim (Molly Ringwald) to salvage Gary's story from his notes, Dorine snaps, and soon Gary has some company in Dorine's increasingly crowded home office. Office Killer also stars Jeanne Tripplehorn and Michael Imperioli as more of Dorine's co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald, (more)
At the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, American independent director Todd Haynes (Safe) received the "Artistic Achievement" award for this re-creation of the UK glam rock scene of the early '70s. Glam rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who does a character named Maxwell Demon, predicts his own death onstage. As per his prediction, this happens, but when the killing is exposed as a hoax, it marks the end of Slade's stardom. A decade later, in 1984, Brit reporter and former Slade fan Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale), who witnesses the hoax murder, gets the assignment to do a "Whatever Happened To..?" article, and the film's plot suddenly goes into a prismatic Citizen Kane mode, reflecting various angles on Slade's life and career. Arthur visits the wheelchair-bound Cecil (Michael Feast), who discovered Slade, and then tracks Slade through his early life and his initial encounter with outrageous, maniacal American singer Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor). Slade's rise begins as manager Jerry Divine (Brit comedian Eddie Izzard) moves in to take over the performer's career. Ex-wife Mandy Slade (Toni Collette), interviewed by Arthur in a dimly lit nightclub, has memories going back to their initial 1969 Sombrero Club encounter. Their marriage paralleled his Bowie-like ascent to fame as an innovative, bisexual rock star pushing the limits. Idolized by teens, Slade teamed up for a while with the drug-addicted Wild. Eventually, the marriage of Mandy and Slade comes to an end, and she hasn't seen him in seven years when she's interviewed by Arthur. The soundtrack features vintage music by Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed and Brian Eno, plus new tunes. Some background on the making of Velvet Goldmine is documented in producer Christine Vachon's book Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter (Avon, 1998) by Vachon with Slate film critic David Edelstein. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, (more)
After his 1995 breakthrough, Welcome to the Dollhouse, director Todd Solondz was courted by a number of studios to make a big-budget film with top stars. Instead, he chose to make this aggressively dark comedy-drama of perversions and twisted lives. Andy Kornbluth (Jon Lovitz) explodes with anger after rejection in a restaurant from Joy Jordan (Jane Adams), one of a trio of middle-class New Jersey sisters. Joy's sister Trish (Cynthia Stevenson), a housewife with three kids, is married to psychiatrist Bill (Dylan Baker), who counsels the lonely, overweight Allen (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Allen is obsessed with Joy's other sister, the successful poet Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), all the while ignoring the attentions of his seemingly sweet yet overweight neighbor Kristina (Camryn Manheim). Bill has fantasies of turning an assault rifle on families in a park, masturbates to teen magazine photos, and develops an unhealthy interest in a classmate of his 11-year-old son, Billy (Rufus Read). After a telephone sales job, Joy moves on to substitute teach at an adult education class, where she falls prey to the advances of an insensitive cabdriver, Vlad (Jared Harris). Allen's series of obscene phone calls to Helen come to an end when she challenges him to come next door and carry out his sexual threats. Meanwhile, the sisters' parents, Lenny and Mona Jordan (Ben Gazzara and Louise Lasser), find their marriage collapsing after 40 years. Lenny has sparked the interest of divorcée Diane Freed (Elizabeth Ashley), but he actually would prefer to be alone. The path to happiness, it seems, is littered with dreams, despair, and abnormalities. Winner of the International Critics' prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, Happiness met with much controversy both in pre-production and upon its release, as chronicled in producer Christine Vachon's book Shooting to Kill. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, (more)
This 1998 film about a dysfunctional Los Angeles family is directed by Bruce Wagner, on whose novel this is based. Everyone in this family has a problem. Perry (Frank Langella) is a successful TV producer who has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer just before his 60th birthday. His son Bertie (Andrew McCarthy) is an unsuccessful actor but a wonderful father with an adorable daughter and an ex-wife who is known to show up for visitations visibly stoned. Rachel (Rosanna Arquette), a niece who is now his adopted daughter, finds out that her father murdered her mother years ago before taking his own life. We follow these characters as they go through their share of hardships and love. We are given a lot to chew on, including death, adultery, AIDS, and deceit. Wagner got a lot of very good actors to appear in small roles, including Amanda Donohoe, Buck Henry, Elizabeth Perkins, and Ed Begley Jr.. Prior to this film Wagner was chiefly known as the writer of Wild Palms and Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. ~ Brett Harrison, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Amanda Donohoe, (more)
Based on a true story, this drama was adapted from the life of Brandon Teena, born Teena Brandon, a woman who chose to live her life as a man and suffered tragic consequences as a result. In 1993, 20-year-old Brandon (Hilary Swank) leaves Lincoln, Nebraska for the nearby community of Falls City, where she sports a crew cut, favors jeans and boots, and is regarded as a man by most of the people in town. While Brandon's friend Lonny (Matt McGrath) warns her that sexual outsiders aren't looked upon kindly in Falls City, she develops a reputation for being something of a ladies' man, and is soon living with a single mother named Candace (Alicia Goranson). But when Brandon meets teenage Lana (Chloe Sevigny), the two become romantically involved almost immediately. Brandon makes friends with Lana's mother (Jeanetta Arnette) and a burly ex-con named John (Peter Sarsgaard). John and his buddy Tom (Brendan Sexton) run with a rough group of men who like to drink and carouse, and they accept Brandon as one of their own. However, when Brandon ends up in jail on a traffic violation, her secret comes out, and, while Lana stands by Brandon's side, John and Tom feel betrayed -- and their anger soon boils over into violence. A distinguished feature debut for director Kimberly Peirce, Boys Don't Cry was enthusiastically received in its showings at 1999 film festivals in Venice, Toronto, and New York. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, (more)
- 2000
Eric Roberts appears in this coming-of-age drama about a young lass coming to terms with her parents' radical past. Raised without a mom, Cally (Clea DuVall just happens to stumble across Sabine (Daryl Hannah), a hippy-dippy artist with a passion for gauzy fabrics, driftwood sculptures, and potent psychotropics. Of course, this aging, drug-fried woman is Cally's mom, and soon Calley is obsessed with her, even to the point of having sex with her lover (Eric Roberts). ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clea Duvall, Daryl Hannah, (more)
- 2000
- R
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Recalling both The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and American Beauty (1999), this teen drama recounts the trials and tribulations of one very dysfunctional family. Roseanne Skolnik (Monica Keena) is a popular high school student who is dating Jimmy (James DeBello), the football captain. She also lives in a family where her embittered mother Maggie (Ellen Barkin) is plotting to murder Roseanne's violent drunken stepfather Fred (Michael Ironside). After a smashed Fred rapes her, Roseanne starts plotting her stepfather's demise too. She ropes her boyfriend into doing the deed, and soon she finds herself under arrest and on trial for the crime. With all of her friends shunning her, she confides in her creepy voyeuristic neighbor. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monica Keena, Vincent Kartheiser, (more)
From the controversial director of Happiness comes another dark look at New Jersey, this time broken into two separate stories. The first is a 26-minute segment entitled "Fiction," which highlights the life of Marcus (Leo Fitzpatrick), an aspiring writer who was born with deformities due to cerebral palsy. He unsuccessfully tries to read a new short story to his girlfriend Vi (Selma Blair), and leaves her after the story is similarly dismissed by his fellow students and teacher, Mr. Scott (Robert Wisdom), a black Pulitzer Prize winner. Vi approaches Mr. Scott in a bar one night and agrees to go home with him, recalling a "fictional" account of their experience in the next class. The second segment, titled "Nonfiction," follows Toby Oxman (Paul Giamatti), a thirtysomething sad sack who gets the idea to make a documentary of contemporary suburban teenage life. Looking for subjects, he runs into Scooby (Mark Webber), a disaffected, dim young man who dreams of being a TV star. Scooby's home life is highly dysfunctional, with a strict father (John Goodman), a prim and proper mother (Julie Hagerty), a football player brother (Noah Fleiss), and a younger brother Mikey (Jonathan Osser), who continually chats up the family's put-upon maid Consuelo (Lupe Ontiveros). Consuelo is soon banished from the household due to her involvement with Mikey, becoming an outcast just like Scooby. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Selma Blair, Leo Fitzpatrick, (more)
Following up on her 1998 opus Bedrooms and Hallways, Rose Troche directs this ensemble film about suburbia and its discontents. Once an up-and-coming singer/songwriter, Paul Gold (Joshua Jackson) now lies in a coma, attentively nursed by his mother Esther (Glenn Close), who dotes on her son to the exclusion of her husband and her daughter Julie (Jessica Campbell). Meanwhile, Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) is a workaholic lawyer who is closer to his tortes than to his spouse Susan (Moira Kelly). Their son Jake has taken a morbid fascination with his sister's foot-high girl doll. At the same time, Paul's former lover Annette Jennings (Patricia Clarkson) is trying to pull her life and her family back together after a particularly brutal divorce. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Dermot Mulroney, (more)
Novelist/filmmaker Bruce Wagner skews the classic George Cukor film The Women in this digital video effort adapted from a section of his novel I'm Losing You (which was also made into a feature film). Using a video diary format, the director focuses on three women desperate to become filmmakers. There is Phyllis (Beverly D'Angelo), an acid-tongued independent producer with a penchant for pharmaceutical drugs, who shops around her highly troubled new film project and decides to keep a journal to record its progress. Sara (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a casting director stuck in a failing marriage who writes personal letters to her blind baby boy and confides in friend Holly Hunter about her need to get back on her feet. And Gina ($Portia de Rossi) is a delusional actress/masseuse who steals the energies of her rich celebrity clientele and believes that TV producer Darren Star has stolen her ideas and is determined to seek retribution. Women in Film was shot by Russell Lee Fine, who transferred the video to a standard 35 mm format for release. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beverly D'Angelo, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, (more)
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Smith, Glenn Fitzgerald, (more)
Actor Ethan Hawke takes the director's chair for a test drive with this independent feature, based on a play by Nicole Burdette, in which a number of creative types living in New York's famed bohemian enclave the Chelsea Hotel struggle with their muses as well as their personal concerns. Middle-aged novelist Bud (Kris Kristofferson) is having problems with his latest project, as well as his appetite for alcohol, while he juggles two relationships -- with his wife Greta (Tuesday Weld) and his lover Mary (Natasha Richardson). Audrey (Rosario Dawson) is a poet who is attracted to Val (Mark Webber), but Val has a hard time staying away from drugs, and his pal Crutches (Kevin Corrigan) is doing nothing to help. Grace (Uma Thurman) is trying to make a name for herself as a poet, but in the meantime she supports herself waiting tables; she's developed a crush on her neighbor Frank (Vincent D'Onofrio), but she can't figure out how to get him to pay attention to her. And Ross (Steve Zahn) and Terry (Robert Sean Leonard) are a pair of would-be rock stars who have just arrived in New York from the Midwest, wondering how to get noticed as they try to pick up women. Jeff Tweedy from the acclaimed rock band Wilco composed the film's musical score, while legendary jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott appears in a nightclub scene. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Corrigan, Rosario Dawson, (more)
Adapted from the hit off-Broadway musical of the same name is this tale of an "internationally ignored" rock & roll singer who hails from Communist Berlin and who dreams of becoming an American sensation. Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell), born a boy named Hansel, is raised by a single mother (Alberta Watson) who wishes to see her son do better than his poverty-stricken family. Some years later, Hansel is attracted to a good-looking American G.I, who promises a better life overseas for young Hansel, under one condition: that he undergo a sex-change operation to become a fully functional female who he can then marry. The operation is seriously botched, leaving the now-renamed Hedwig with an "angry inch" only to be stranded in a dingy Kansas trailer park on the day the Berlin Wall comes tumbling down. Hedwig then supports herself through a series of ill-fated lounge gigs and side jobs, meeting up with 16-year old Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt), a religious type who befriends her and later steals her songs and becomes the rock star Hedwig always dreamed of being. Undeterred, Hedwig continues to perform in the shadow of Tommy's sold-out stadium tour, attempting to make herself whole in spirit, if not physically. The film features several songs by composer Stephen Trask, who also appears as a member of Hedwig's disinterested rock band; Miriam Shor portrays Hedwig's newfound love and back-up singer. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, (more)
Actor, writer, and director Tim Blake Nelson adapts this grim look at the Holocaust from his own play, based on Miklós Nyiszli's book, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account. The film centers on the Sonderkommando: Jewish concentration camp prisoners whose job was to herd their fellow Jews into the gas chamber, and to dispose of the bodies following the execution. In return, these prisoners received food and a little more time before their own executions. As the members of the sonderkommando struggle to orchestrate what would be the only armed insurrection in Auschwitz, a group of them discover a 14-year-old girl who somehow survived the gas chamber. The girl becomes a symbol for their own spiritual salvation and they become obsessed with keeping the girl alive, even if it endangers the uprising that could save thousands. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, (more)
Funnyman Robin Williams steps out of character in this tense, low-key thriller that marked the feature-film directorial debut of music video veteran Mark Romanek. Semour "Sy" Parrish (Williams) runs the photo processing department at a large discount store; Sy is dedicated to his job, and takes great pride in his work. Sy's favorite customers are Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen and Michael Vartan), an attractive and cheerful young couple with a nine-year-old boy, Jake (Dylan Smith). Sy dotes on the Yorkins and their son whenever they drop off film to be processed -- something they've been doing quite often ever since Jake was born -- and Nina and Will are indulgent of Sy's attentions, regarding his as a harmless eccentric. What the Yorkins don't know is Sy is a desperately lonely man with no real life of his own, and he's been obsessively making copies of their photos, for years, imagining himself to be "Uncle Sy," a member of the family. Sy's tenuous hold on reality begins to collapse when he develops a roll of film brought in by a new customer that suggests Will has been unfaithful to Nina; the notion that his ideal family may be falling apart is troubling enough for Sy, and when he loses his job, Sy reaches the breaking point. One Hour Photo was screened in competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, (more)
