Clint Jordan Movies

Writer-director Michael Kang makes his feature debut with the coming-of-age comedy, The Motel. Newcomer Jeffrey Chyau stars as Ernest Chin, a chubby 13 year-old Chinese-American boy whose mother (Jade Wu) runs a sleazy motel in upstate New York. The clientele of The Motel are predominantly prostitutes and their johns, which spurs Ernest's budding sexual curiosity. When he's not cleaning rooms, eavesdropping on guests, avoiding the local bully, or tormenting his little sister Katie (Alexis Chin), Ernest harbors a crush on Christine (Samantha Futerman), who works at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Ernest has entered a writing contest at school with a story about his unhappy life at The Motel, and won an honorable mention. His scornful mother thinks his writing is a waste of time, and Ernest doesn't want her to see the story for fear that it will anger her. He's a social misfit, so he's intrigued when Sam Kim (Sung Kang of Better Luck Tomorrow), a Korean-American guest who frequently brings home prostitutes, befriends him. Sam takes Ernest under his wing, teaching him to drive and offering him his wisdom regarding women. Of course, Sam turns out to have his own serious issues with the opposite sex, and his advice to Ernest about Christine may not be exactly what the boy needs. Kang won the Asian American International Film Festival screenwriting competition with his script for The Motel in 2001, and the completed film was shown at the festival in 2005. The script was workshopped at the Sundance labs, where filmmaker Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl) signed on as a producer. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Independent filmmaker Debra Granik makes her feature debut with the drama Down to the Bone, based on her award-winning short Snake Feed. Vera Farmiga stars as Irene, a working-class mother living in upstate New York. She struggles to keep her marriage together and raise two sons while keeping her cocaine addiction a secret. Hoping to make a change in her life, she tries to kick her drug habit. However, this proves even more difficult with the oncoming winter and a developing affair. Also starring Hugh Dillon and Clint Jordan, Down to the Bone premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

In this stark independent drama, Virgil (Clint Jordan) is a small-time thief with a bad temper and poor social skills who winds up in prison for armed robbery. But Virgil wants to make something better of his life, and when he makes parole, he's determined to get (and keep) a decent job, hoping to someday find a good woman and start a family. While living in a halfway house, Virgil meets Ruby (Kirsten Russell), a drug addict who sometimes turns tricks to support her habit. While Rudy isn't quite the sort of woman Virgil was dreaming of, they share a genuine affection for each other, and Virgil moves in with Ruby after getting a job as a janitor. Like Virgil, Ruby wants to straighten out her life, hoping to someday regain custody of her son, but both Ruby and Virgil find that a lifetime of emotional abuse and years of bad judgement are not simple things to overcome. Shot on digital video, Virgil Bliss had its premier at the 2001 Slamdance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Who Shot Patakango? is a coming-of-age tale set in Brooklyn during the late '50s. Though the film briefly suggests racial tensions at the interracial vocational high school where the movie is set, it prefers to pursue a purely nostalgic story line instead. Over the course of the film, the filmmakers run through a number of good-natured, humorous anecdotes about growing up during the late '50s. It's an entertaining, if slight, film that features a fine performance by David Knight as the film's narrator. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi