Brenda Thomas Denmark Movies
American independent filmmaker Lodge Kerrigan returned after a six-year hiatus with this formally challenging tale of a disheveled man desperately searching New York City for his young daughter. Keane takes its name from its central character, a middle-aged man (Damien Lewis) who wanders Port Authority with a seemingly tenuous grasp of his sanity, muttering to himself and causing altercations with passers-by. He claims to have lost his daughter at a bus station, and consistently pleads for assistance from indifferent authority figures. When he's not roaming the streets, he uses his meager savings to rent out a room nightly in a cheap hotel; there, he meets Lynn (Amy Ryan), a single mother with a daughter, Kyra (Abigail Breslin), almost the same age as Keane's missing child. As he grows closer to Lynn and Kyra, he starts to see the young girl as instrumental in deciphering his own loss. Keane premiered at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival before securing a 2005 theatrical release. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, (more)
A family takes on the difficult task of learning how to get along with one another in this emotional comedy drama. Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is a middle-aged man who feels caught in the middle of his familial obligations as he muddles he way through a midlife crisis. While a successful businessman, Alex sometimes still feels as if he's under the shadow of his father, Mitchell Gromberg (Kirk Douglas), a successful attorney whose skills in the courtroom outstripped his gifts as a parent. Elderly Mitchell has recently survived a stroke, and Alex and Mitchell want to mend their relationship while there's still time, but making it so proves difficult, even with Alex getting advice from his wife, psychologist Rebecca (Bernadette Peters), and Mitchell being prodded by his long-suffering wife, Evelyn (Diana Douglas). Alex is also trying to reach out to his two sons, who are as different as night and day; college student Asher (Cameron Douglas) is an aspiring club DJ who seems to be styling himself to bear no resemblance to his father, while 11-year-old Eli (Rory Culkin) is an overly serious lad who is having trouble navigating the first steps of adolescence. It Runs in the Family marked the first time Kirk Douglas acted in a film with his son Michael Douglas; adding to the family atmosphere was Michael's son Cameron Douglas, working with his family for the first time, and Diana Douglas, Kirk's former wife and Michael's mother. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Kirk Douglas, (more)
- 2001
Not long after a wealthy gay man adopts an infant son, the man's partner is killed and the baby is kidnapped. At first, ransom is thought to be the motive, but then the homophobic biological father of the child becomes a prime suspect. The upshot of all this is the decision by the DA's office to prosecute the case as a hate crime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bermuda-born Alison Swan, a NY documentary filmmaker, made her dramatic feature directorial debut with this comedy-drama, a low-budget look at racial identities. With divorced parents (white attorney father and black mother), Nia (Karyn Parsons) grew up in Westchester Country. Employed as an upwardly mobile advertising copywriter, she hangs out with both black and white friends. Irritated by an ad campaign to spur ghetto blacks to consume alcohol, she quits her job with plans to write a book. Stirring the racial mix, she sets out to find her own identity. Shown at the 1998 New York Women's Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karyn Parsons, Eric Thal, (more)
- 1996
Created by William Finkelstein of Civil Wars fame, the made-for-TV feature On Seventh Avenue was intended as the pilot for a weekly series. Wendy Makkena stars as Nadine Jacobs, the owner of a high-profile fashion business established by her father (played by actor-director Gene Saks). In order to keep her business afloat in a sea of cutthroat competitors, Nadine recklessly cuts several deals with a major investment firm--and with the Mob. In typical "pilot" fashion, the film ends with several loose plotlines still dangling and unresolved; guess we'll never know what happened now (sigh!) On Seventh Avenue was telecast by NBC on June 10, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The office of a limited-circulation magazine is the scene of three murders. One of the victims, the magazine's editor, had been locked in a power struggle with his brother Peter Nichodos (Peter Frechette). As he prosecutes the cast, Assistant D.A. McCoy runs up against two formidable opponents: Nichodo's mother, Elaine (Sada Thompson), who is determined to save the family business at any cost, and the obstructive rulings of presiding judge Edgar Hynes (Louis Zorich), who happens to be an old friend of McCoy's boss, Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
A woman is the seemingly random victim of a letter bomb. As the detectives and the D.A.'s office pursue their investigation, it becomes painfully apparent that the killing was no accident of fate. It seems that the dead woman was the estranged wife of scientist Edward Manning (Harris Yulin), and she had driven him to distraction by delaying their divorce proceedings. This episode was directed by former Law & Order regular Dann Florek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
When an African-American honors student is found murdered, detectives Logan (Chris Noth) and Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) dig up evidence that the dead girl was stealing from her family to support a drug habit. The number-one suspect is the girl's sleazy crack-dealing boyfriend, but for reasons that defy explanation, he will not plea-bargain with the D.A.'s office. Meanwhile, the search goes on for the missing murder weapon -- or has it been deliberately hidden by a hitherto unsuspected party? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
The frozen body of a baby is found, whereupon the child's mother falls under suspicion for causing the infant's death. The woman insists that the real villain is slumlord Iris Colman (Karen Lynn Gorney), who cites the "rent laws" as her excuse to deny proper heating to her tenants. But another resident of the same apartment building offers up an entirely different story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
