Lisanne Skyler Movies
- 2000
Dreamland is an appropriate title for a film that examines up close and personal that place where dreams are made and just as quickly broken -- the gambling world of Las Vegas. The documentary moves beyond the bright lights and neon glitz of the famous casino strip and into the dark and dingy neighborhood casinos that thrive in a city where compulsive gambling is every bit as addictive as a drug habit, and often seeks to escape the same symptoms of pain, loneliness, and unhappiness. Using interviews with patrons of these casinos and gambling halls, from middle-class retirees and blue collar workers to professional gamblers and casino dealers, director Lisanne Skyler provides a frank and honest look at the grim reality of an American pastime. ~ Kathryn Tamms, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Premiering in the dramatic competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Getting to Know You is director Lisanne Skyler's first narrative feature, following her 1995 Sundance Film Festival documentary No Loans Today. The film takes place in one afternoon at a bus depot where Judith (Welcome to the Dollhouse's Heather Matarazzo) and her brother Wesley wait for the bus. There Judith meets Jimmy (Michael Weston), a kid with a great imagination and nowhere to go. Jimmy tells Judith stories about the lonely people who are sitting at the depot, and his tall tales become flashbacks in the film. As the story progresses, Jimmy and Judith start falling in love and finally reveal the secrets of their own lives: Jimmy's father was a cop who was killed in a simple domestic disturbance call, and Judith lives with her aunt following a spousal argument that put Judith's father in prison and her mother (Bebe Neuwirth) in a mental institution. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heather Matarazzo, Zach Braff, (more)
