Lynn Shelton Movies
My Effortless Brilliance writer/director Lynn Shelton takes the topic of male bonding to new extremes with this comedy about two best friends who make an unusual pact that both may soon come to regret. Back in college, Andrew and Ben were inseparable. Years later, Andrew comes knocking on Ben's door and discovers that his former roommate is all grown up -- married and planning to have a baby. Meanwhile, Andrew never settled down at all, and has spent the past decade partying and traveling the world. Both men experience a mini existential crisis when they see what their own lives lack, and their dissatisfaction manifests itself in a strange way, when a drunken conversation about the upcoming amateur porn festival spirals into a contest of one-upmanship, with each guy daring the other to star together in a gay adult film. Two straight guys having sex together on film will surely be the hit of the festival -- and besides, it isn't a gay thing, just an artistic experiment! Strangely enough, even after sobering up the next day, neither Andrew nor Ben is willing to back down from their unique proposal. As the friends put their dignity, heterosexuality, and Ben's marriage in jeopardy to pursue their strange project, underlying issues about growing up, being friends, and the fear of a passionless life begin to creep into the picture. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, (more)
A successful and self-absorbed novelist makes a belated attempt to mend his fractured friendship with the lifelong buddy who unceremoniously sent him packing years ago in this drama from director/screenwriter Lynn Shelton. Eric Lambert Jones was a terrible friend, so bad that his childhood friend Dylan wanted him out of his life altogether. One day, while traveling across country on his latest book tour, Eric drops by Dylan's picturesque Washington state home in hopes that their friendship can still be salvaged. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Nelson, Basil Harris, (more)
- 2008
- NR
Two people who fall in love while separated by 800 miles find it's hard to stay friends while living in the same city in this low-key independent drama. James (Joe Swanberg) and Mattie (Greta Gerwig) are in love and trying to make their relationship work. But James lives and works in Chicago, while Mattie calls New York home, and though they try to visit one another as often as they can, their infrequent weekends together are punctuated by telephone calls, e-mails, on-line chatting, and sending digital pictures back and forth. As much as Mattie cares for James, in time the space between them is too much to deal with and they break up. Twelve months later, James' career as a video-game designer is taking off, and a new project necessitates a move to New York City; while they're no longer lovers, he tries to reconnect with Mattie, though his recent success has added a new and uncomfortable element to their relationship. Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig wrote, directed, and produced Nights and Weekends as well as playing the two leads; the film received its world premiere at the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Gerwig, Joe Swanberg, (more)
- 2005
A young actress who has recently landed her first leading role finds herself haunted by her thirteen-year-old self in director Lynn Shelton's slightly surreal tale of one woman's attempt to reconcile her past. The one thing that Kate has always wanted was to be on stage and under the spotlight. When the tireless actress lands her first stage role on her twenty-third birthday and reads a letter she had written to herself at the age of thirteen, it appears as if all of her wildest dreams may finally be coming true. The letter seems to have a strange effect on Kate's psyche, however, and as the younger incarnation of Kate begins to speak to her as well as appear before her in a series of fleeting visions, the aspiring actress gradually begins to lose both her self-confidence and her once dogged determination to succeed. As Kate's resolve weakens the visions of her adolescent self become increasingly vivid until, in one shocking act of self-confrontation, the thirteen-year-old Kate finally manifests in the flesh to go toe-to-toe with the woman she will soon become. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amber Hubert, Maggie Brown, (more)
