Sabrina Grdevich Movies
Writer/director Alan Brown makes his feature-length debut with the comedy drama Book of Love, following his award-winning short film O Beautiful (released as part of Boys Life 4: Four Play). High school history teacher David (Simon Baker) is newly married to the lovely Elaine (Frances O'Connor). When they welcome the fresh-faced, teenaged student Chet (Gregory Smith) into their lives, both begin to feel a strain on their marriage after awhile. Book of Love premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the dramatic competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frances O'Connor, Simon Baker, (more)
Sadomasochism provides the backdrop for a very unusual employer/employee relationship in this very offbeat romantic drama from filmmaker Steven Shainberg. Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a shy young woman, who, after a brief spell in a mental institution, is released in the care of her overprotective mother (Lesley Ann Warren) and hard-drinking father (Stephen McHattie). Hoping to make good on her own, Lee begins looking for a job, and in her free time indulges in her odd habit of inflicting pain upon herself in various ways. Lee is hired as a secretary by E. Edward Grey (James Spader), a grim and ruthlessly efficient attorney who warns her that her work will be both dull and demanding. Lee takes to the job with genuine enthusiasm, and while she's recently acquired a new boyfriend, Peter (Jeremy Davies), she's far more intrigued by Grey's coldly patrician demeanor. While Grey often criticizes Lee, she seems to thrive on his abuse, but one day he crosses a line when he insists upon spanking her after some minor mistake. Lee quite enjoys the treatment, and wants it to continue, but Grey can no longer take pleasure humiliating Lee when he knows that she likes it; he fires her, despite her pleas to be allowed to stay. Finally discovering the key to her sexual and emotional needs, Lee tries to persuade Peter to be rough with her, but he simply doesn't have the taste or talent for it, and Lee soon maps out a last-ditch effort to win back her position with Grey, whatever the cost. Secretary won a special award for "Originality" at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Spader, (more)
Following up on his gritty Dogma-certified look at street life in Toronto in Johnny, Carl Bessai shifts gears to detail the suburb ennui in Vancouver. Lola (Sabrina Grdevich) spends much of her days on her therapist's couch, blankly wandering the malls and running the odd errand for her hard-driving husband Mike (Colm Feore). Their marriage has stagnated for so long that they can barely imagine another way of living together. One night after an ugly fight, Lola heads into the night. She runs into a hooker named Sandra (Joanna Going), who is fleeing a loan shark and who is heading home for the first time in 15 years after her father died. They strike up a fast friendship, adding a blush of real emotion to Lola's life that had been absent for years. When Sandra's loans catch up with her, Lola assumes Sandra's identity and goes to visit her mother. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 2001
- PG13
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Based on the 1969 short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long, by Brian Aldiss, this science fiction fantasy bears similarities to Pinocchio (1940) and originated as a long-gestating project of director Stanley Kubrick that passed to his friend Steven Spielberg after Kubrick's death. Haley Joel Osment stars as David, a "mecha" or robot of the future, when the polar ice caps have melted and submerged many coastal cities, causing worldwide starvation and human dependence upon robotic assistance. The first mecha designed to experience love, David is the "son" of Henry (Sam Robards), an employee of the company that built the boy, and the grief-stricken Monica (Frances O'Connor). David is meant to replace the couple's hopelessly comatose son, but when their natural child recovers, David is abandoned and sets out to become "a real boy" worthy of his mother's affection. Along the way, David is mentored by a pleasure-providing mecha named Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) and a talking "super toy" bear named Teddy. His adventures take him to the Roman Circus-style "Flesh Fair," where mechas are destroyed for the amusement of humans; Rouge City, where Gigolo Joe narrowly avoids capture by police; and finally a submerged New York City, where David's creator, Professor Hobby (William Hurt) reveals the secrets of the boy's creation. Brendan Gleeson and narrator Ben Kingsley co-star in A.I., which was adapted from Kubrick's treatment by Spielberg, in his first crack at screenwriting since Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, (more)
Mile Zero, director Andrew Currie's feature debut, focuses on the emotional journey of a distraught father, Derek (Michael Riley), who feels his estranged wife, Allison (Sabrina Grdevich), and his young son, Will (Connor Widdows of the Agent Cody Banks movies), slipping away from him. He surprises Will after school one day, taking him on a long journey through British Columbia to a remote spot in the Canadian Rockies. The movie jumps back and forth between the tense journey that Derek and Will are making, and home videos and flashbacks of happier times, and the gradual dissolution of the marriage. Derek doesn't cope well with their separation, even going so far as to surreptitiously install a video monitor in his son's room so he can watch Will sleep. When Allison starts seeing someone new, Derek's fantasies of reconciliation collapse, sending him down a desperate path that ends up endangering more than just his fragile relationship with Will. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Riley, Sabrina Grdevich, (more)
Based on the "Oprah Book Club" selection by Anna Quindlen, Black and Blue stars Mary Stuart Masterson as New York City housewife Fran Benedetto. Outwardly living an ideal existence, Fran harbors a painful secret: She is regularly abused, both verbally and physically, by her husband Bobby (Anthony LaPaglia). But why does not Fran go to the police? The answer is tragically simple: Bobby is a cop himself. Ultimately, Fran goes into hiding in Florida -- whereupon Bobby grimly applies the skills gleaned from years of detective work to track his hapless spouse down. Benefiting from believable characterizations and logical plot twists, the made-for-TV Black and Blue originally aired November 14, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Stuart Masterson, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
- 1999
Originally titled Milgaard, this made-for-TV drama is a disturbingly accurate account of one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in Canadian history. In 1969, 17-year-old hippie David Milgaard (Ian Tracey) is arrested on suspicion for the rape and murder on nursing assistant Gail Miller (Ardith Boxall). Anxious for a quick conviction despite a paucity of conclusive evidence, the authorities in Saskatchewan rush David's trial through, and within less than two months of the murder he is sent to prison for life. As David's mother Joyce (Gabrielle Rose]) and a team of dedicated pro bono attorneys battle to clear her son's name, David goes through hell behind bars--for the next twenty-three years. First telecast in Canada in April of 1999 (though banned from viewing in Saskatchewan, where the events took place), Milgaard was retitled Hard Time: The David Milgaard Story for airing in the US via the Lifetime channel. Since that time, a third title has been bestowed on the film at the behest of David's family: Innocent: The David Milgaard Story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Bartender Terry Cuff (Yasmine Bleeth) marries a good-looking but slightly disreputable military man named Bobby Woodkin (Richard Grieco). It isn't that Terry is madly in love with Bobby: It is just that she is desperate to have a house and children of her. Bobby, however, is in love with Terry--and quite madly. Having already installed the incredibly naïve and trusting Terry in a "dream home" that doesn't really belong to him, the increasingly unhinged Bobby sets about to secure an adopted baby for Terry. . .even if he has to commit murder! Made for cable, Ultimate Deception first aired January 19, 1999 on the USA network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- NR
Writer/director Peter Wellington's Joe's So Mean to Josephine tracks the slow unraveling of a dysfunctional relationship. Josephine (Sarah Polley from Go), a smart but immature college girl living in Toronto, is out drinking with some friends when she sees Joe (Eric Thal) sitting at the bar. Joe is cute, wears a leather jacket, and seems quite unfriendly. Josephine is intrigued enough to smile at Joe as he leaves the bar. Joe ignores her. The next morning, Josephine wakes up to find Joe in her kitchen, arguing with her mother (Dixie Seatle). It turns out that when Joe's not earning an extra dollar illegally wiretapping phone lines, he works as a telephone repairman. Josephine approaches him and introduces herself. He doesn't seem particularly interested. Later, Josephine steps out of a bar and sees Joe waiting for his hapless partner-in-crime, Mike (Canadian indie superstar Don McKellar). Joe is pretty cold to her, but this time, he invites her out to eat. She's nervous, but delighted, and ends up going home with him. After their tryst, she shows up at his job, and then at his apartment, and she buys a goldfish for his empty aquarium. He seems sick of her, and treats her rudely. She tells him off and leaves, which he likes. When she returns later, he's nicer to her, and they start dating again. But when they run into some of her friends from the newspaper where she works, Joe's rude to them, and the two argue. Eventually, Josephine moves out of her parents' house, and in with her friend, Mona (Waneta Storms). Her budding writing career starts coming together, and Joe feels threatened by her success. She tries to break up with him, but finds he's not so easy to get rid of. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Thal, Sarah Polley, (more)
Retired from rock 'n roll, ex-musician Joe is busy preparing for his upcoming wedding to the conservative daughter of a wealthy demolitions expert, in the full expectation of being trained in the family business. His dreams are shattered when he is kidnapped by a leather-clad performance artist who is upset that the boy's soon-to-be father-in-law is evicting her from her groovy loft apartment. She chains him to a huge metal ball, claiming that it is a mine, and holds him hostage. Since she is a "performance artist," it's difficult at first to determine whether she is serious or not. In time, it becomes clear that, demented or not, she is a more suitable spouse for the hapless musician than his fiancee. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.W. Moffett, Kate Vernon, (more)
