Mandel Holland Movies
- 2007
- Add Love and Other Four Letter Words to QueueAdd Love and Other Four Letter Words to top of Queue
Philadelphia-based television talk-show host Stormy LaRue (Tangi Miller) has always put her professional life before her personal life, but when her terminally ill Nana (Aloma Wright) makes one last wish to see Stormy marry, the self-centered media starlet embarks on a tireless mission to seek out the ideal husband. All Nana ever wanted was to see Stormy exchange her wedding vows, and all Stormy wants is to make her loving Nana's dreams come true. But what's a woman to do if she can't find the perfect spouse? Now, as Stormy scrambles to hire an actor to pose as her husband and videotape the sham ceremony to send to her ailing grandmother, Nana surprises everyone by announcing that she plans to attend the wedding in person. Things go from bad to worse when the minister, a lifelong friend to Stormy, senses that something isn't quite right about the radiant bride and her dashing groom. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tangi Miller, Aloma Wright, (more)
A nice guy tired of finishing last tries playing on the other side of the fence in this independent comedy. Martin (Mekhi Phifer) and Junnie (Andre B. Blake) are two brothers living in one of Harlem's upscale neighborhoods. In many regards, the two siblings are as different as night and day. Martin is a successful journalist and more than a bit shy, while Junnie mostly gets by on his charm and his bravado. When Martin discovers his fiancée is having an affair with another woman, he immediately calls off the engagement, but he's never been especially good at charming the ladies, and soon turns to his brother Junnie for advice. While Junnie is bad with long-term relationships, he's great at picking up women, and after teaching Martin a few of his tricks, the former nice guy is meeting and disposing of women like a master. When Paula (Tangi Miller), a beautiful and brilliant art historian, moves into Martin's building, he tries Junnie's best lines on her, only to discover she wants someone more refined. So can Martin go back to being his nice-guy self and still have any chance of getting to first base with Paula? The Other Brother was the first feature film from writer and director Mandel Holland. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mekhi Phifer, Andre B. Blake, (more)
The push and pull of familial bonds and clashing cultures sets the stage for the comic drama Chutney Popcorn. Renna (Nisha Ganatra) is a young woman of Indian descent living in New York, where she works as both a photographer and a body artist who creates henna tattoos. Renna is also a lesbian, which does not please her mother, Meenu (Madhur Jaffrey), who prefers to dote on her more traditionally minded (and happily married) daughter Sarita (Sakina Jeffrey). One day, Renna gets some bad news from Sarita: While she and her husband have been trying to have a baby, her doctor has informed that her she is infertile and will never bear a child of her own. Renna volunteers to serve as surrogate mother for Sarita; she wants to help her sister and hopes this will smooth some of the rough spots in her relationship with her mother. But Renna starts to have second thoughts, as her lover Lisa (Jill Hennessy) feels left out of the loop, and Meenu thinks both Renna and Sarita are making a mistake. Nisha Ganatra co-wrote and directed Chutney Popcorn and also plays Renna; the film was enthusiastically received in its screening at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Hennessy, Nisha Ganatra, (more)
