Jesse Peretz Movies
Filmmaker Jesse Peretz was originally the bass player for the Lemonheads in the late '80s, and he directed the music video for "It's a Shame about Ray." As the son of the publisher of The New Republic, he stayed around the Boston area directing music videos, commercials, and the "Jimmy the Cabdriver" segments for MTV, which featured the actor Donal Logue dressed as a greasy cab driver who assaulted his passengers with commentary about MTV programming. Peretz also has photography credits on Juliana Hatfield records and most of his own band's releases. Some of Peretz's more notable videos include "Big Me" by the Foo Fighters and "Popular" by Nada Surf. In 1998, he teamed up with former bandmate David Ryan to adapt a short story by British author Ian McEwan that became his feature debut, First Love, Last Rites. The atmospheric love story starred Giovanni Ribisi and Natasha Gregson Wagner and featured a powerful soundtrack by Shudder to Think. In 2001 Peretz went to France to film his second feature, The Château, a comedy starring Sylvie Testud and Paul Rudd, shot on digital video. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Acclaimed music-video director Jesse Peretz made his third feature with this comedy starring Zach Braff and Jason Bateman. Tom (Braff) is an aspiring chef whose wife Sofia (Amanda Peet) has just quit her high-paying job to stay home with their new baby. When it becomes abundantly clear that they can no longer maintain their New York City lifestyle, the family picks up and moves to Sofia's hometown in Ohio, where Tom is hired to work at her father's ad agency. It is there that Tom meets Chip (Bateman), the agency's wheelchair-bound golden boy, who also happened to have a one-night stand with Sofia while the two were cheerleaders in high school. Suddenly, Tom finds himself sabotaged by Chip at every step as the nefarious paraplegic schemes to steal Sofia from him and destroy any chance he might have of success at the agency. Released briefly in 2006 under the title Fast Track, the film was retitled The Ex before receiving a wide release in the Spring of 2007. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, (more)
Two siblings with practically nothing in common are brought together by a real estate deal that threatens to leave them even more at odds than they were before in this semi-improvised comedy. Graham (Paul Rudd) and Rex (Romany Malco) are about as different as two brothers can get -- Graham is sloppy, lackadaisical, and in a state of puzzled wonderment about the world around him, while Rex (his real name is Alan, but he thinks Rex sounds better) is a tightly focused aspiring e-commerce tycoon. Graham and Rex also don't look much like brothers; Rex is adopted, which explains why he's black and Graham isn't. Graham and Rex don't see much of each other, but when a distant relative passes on and bequeaths them joint ownership of a home in the South of France, they fly out together to take a look at their new property. Graham and Rex discover that the estate is in dire need of repair and that the house's domestic staff -- butler Jean (Didier Flamand), cook Sabrine (Maria Verdi), caretaker Pierre (Philippe Mahon), and pretty maid Isabelle (Sylvie Testud) -- is still on hand and expecting to be kept on. Graham magnanimously promises the staff that they'll still have their jobs, but Rex discovers that the previous owner was deep in debt, and the only way to pay off the bills is to sell the place. So now they have to find a buyer who is willing to take the employees along with the home, none of which is helped by the fact that both Graham and Rex are vying for the attentions of Isabelle. The Chateau was shot using digital video equipment, then transferred to 35 mm film for its theatrical engagements. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rudd, Sylvie Testud, (more)
- 1997
- R
Jesse Peretz made his directorial debut with this intimate romantic drama adapted from a short story by Ian McEwan, switching McEwan's setting from an industrial English seaside town to the Louisiana bayou. Joey (Giovanni Ribisi) and Sissel (Natasha Gregson Wagner) live in a drab house on stilts, along with Sissel's lonely younger brother Adrian (Eli Marienthal). After Sissel introduces Joey to her father, Vietnam-vet Henry (Robert John Burke), the two men form a business catching eels. However, mistrust, anxieties, and arguments threaten the love Joey and Sissel share, and they begin to drift apart. Shown at the 1997 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natasha Gregson Wagner, Giovanni Ribisi, (more)
