John Stirratt Movies
- 2003
- PG13
Writer/director Enid Zentelis makes her feature-length debut with the coming-of-age drama Evergreen, shot on-location in Seattle, WA. Teenager Henri (Addie Land) and her single mother Kate (Cara Seymour) move in with Henri's grandmother (Lynn Cohen) in a crumbling old house. Kate works at a factory but the working-poor household just barely gets by. Henri goes to a new school and meets Chat Turly (Noah Fleiss), a wealthy boy from an upscale family. Welcomed with open arms, Henri falls in love with the Turly family (Mary Kay Place and Bruce Davidson) and all the material comfort that their lifestyle affords. Envy of this new family causes her to have shame for her own roots. John Stirratt from Wilco and Uncle Tupelo contributes to the musical score with his band the Autumn Defense. Evergreen premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the dramatic competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cara Seymour, Mary Kay Place, (more)
- 2002
- NR
- Add I Am Trying To Break Your Heart to QueueAdd I Am Trying To Break Your Heart to top of Queue
When photographer and commercial director Sam Jones began plans to make I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, he envisioned a long-form rock video about the making of a Wilco album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But right from the start, it seemed that Jones was destined to make a documentary about an extremely tumultuous period in the band's existence. The day before Jones started shooting, Jeff Tweedy, the band's singer-songwriter, called to say that they had fired Ken Coomer, and hired a new drummer, Glenn Kotche. Jones started shooting his film, in black-and-white, as the band recorded their inventive new album. He captured the tensions caused by creative differences between Tweedy and guitarist-songwriter-engineer Jay Bennett. Tweedy takes a break from making the album to go on a short solo tour. The band eventually completes the album, and after it's mixed by Jim O'Rourke, Tweedy is happy with it, and feels that the band has taken their music in a new direction. They send it to their label, Reprise, a division of Time Warner, and after two weeks of silence, the label, concerned about the album's commercial prospects, calls band manager Tony Margherita and asks for the band to make changes. Tweedy refuses, and Reprise decides to let the band take Yankee Hotel Foxtrot elsewhere. The band goes on tour, and stream the album on their website. Eventually the conflict between Tweedy and Bennett comes to a head. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (named of a song on the album) documents the unexpected trials of the band, and their efforts to overcome them. The film premiered at the 2002 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, (more)
