Jun Suenaga Movies
- 2008
- NR
The fates of a Mexican woman sold into sexual slavery, a car thief seeking to go straight, and a Japanese assassin converge on the streets of New York City in director John-Luke Montias' complex crime drama. Lured to New York from Mexico with the promise of a stable restaurant job, Olivia (Jessica Pimentel) finds herself imprisoned in an inner-city bordello and forced into prostitution. She's under the thumb of Albanian pimp Milot (Stivi Paskoski), who has recently dethroned a Chinese mob boss named Eddie Chang (Clem Cheung). Chang is none too pleased to see Milot encroaching on his business, and hires Japanese hitman Tomo (Jun Suenaga) to take care of the competition. Meanwhile, gullible car thief Joey (Montias) bickers with his uncle Jack (Gene Ruffini) about the best way to go legit, and Olivia finds herself in hot water after attacking her latest john, a crooked cop, in a moment of unbridled rage. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Pimentel, Jun Suenaga, (more)
As Kurt Vonnegut once put it, "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be very careful with what we pretend to be." A light variation on this theme is presented in the mock-documentary The Love Machine, in which a filmmaker (played by Marlene Forte) examines several Internet sex sites, and then pays a visit to the people behind the electronic facades. As it turns out, the flesh-and-blood people don't bear a great deal of resemblance to their on-line images or personalities. Gordon Ericksen's satire received its premier at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlene Forte, Gary Perez, (more)
