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Christopher Collins Movies

2007  
PG13  
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Director Sarah Gavron and screenwriter Abi Morgan team to adapt author Monica Ali's award-winning novel about a young girl from Bangladesh who finds the spark in her soul slowly fading after traveling to London for an arranged marriage. As a child, Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) was always told that she was a survivor. Now, as a young adult, she must contend with the sudden death of her mother. Her father arranges her marriage to a man she has never met, and she gets shuttled off from her quaint village to a working-class neighborhood in East London, as the bride of Chanu (Satish Kaushik), where she earns extra income via sewing. At first, the newlywed Nazneen does her best to be a devoted wife and loving mother. It's a lonely life, and as the pompous ineffectual Chanu does his best to fit into British society, the bored housewife finds herself increasingly drawn to Karim (Christopher Simpson), the hotheaded fellow who delivers pants to her door for various sewing jobs. The two lapse into an impassioned affair, but Chanu grows increasingly determined to marry Nazreen himself, especially as his own politics become more and more radical in the wake of 9/11. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Tannishtha ChatterjeeSatish Kaushik, (more)
 
2007  
 
A handful of characters in a small British town deal with love, disappointment and temptation in this independent drama. Nan Wilson (Patricia Loveland) has come home after a long stay in the hospital, and finds herself sharing her house with her sister Gail (Rachel McIntyre). Gail doesn't comfortably connect with the outside world, and would prefer to stay in her room reading romance novels rather than reach out to others, but Nan struggles to find a common ground between them. Mr. and Mrs. Gladwin (Frank Bench and Betty Bench) have been married for six decades, but they've slowly began to drift apart, with time and misunderstanding creating a wall that separates them from one another. And after the woman he loved dies unexpectedly, Rob (Liam McIlfatrick) turns to narcotics to dull the pain, and has visions of living happily with her again. The first feature film from writer and director Duane Hopkins, Better Things was screened as part of the Critics' Week series at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Rachel McIntyreEmma Cooper, (more)
 
2006  
 
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The efforts of an American ex-patriot living on a remote Mediterranean to establish himself as a serious musician are constantly thwarted by every inhabitant of his small village in director Francesca Joseph's ensemble comedy drama. Larry (Stanley Tucci) thought that by moving to the village that was once home to a celebrated European composer he would find inspiration, but instead he just spends his nights playing for peanuts in the local pubs. Eventually Larry becomes convinced that if he stages a gala tribute to the late composer the locals will finally take note of his talent. But organizing such a lavish event and convincing the late composer's widow (Marisa Paredes) to allow her esteemed late-husband's works to be played publicly by a famed pianist (Virgile Bramley) isn't going to be easy, especially when it begins to seem like everyone wants their say in the event. Now, with everyone from Larry's neurotic partner Miranda (Jessica Stevenson) to the late musician's lovely muse Helena (Emmanuelle Seigner), opportunistic Englishman Sebastian (Hugh Bonneville) and his capricious brother Dickie (Rhys Ifans), and even Larry's long lost daughter Frankie (Jena Malone) crawling out of the woodwork, the put upon pianist will have to balance out the chaos that swirls around him if he holds out any hope of delivering his true masterwork. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Stanley TucciRhys Ifans, (more)
 
2004  
R  
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Two young women find love under difficult circumstances in this distinctive drama. Mona (Natalie Press) is a 16-year-old girl living in a small English town. There has never been much to do the neighborhood, and there's even less going on now that her older brother, Phil (Paddy Considine), who runs the local pub, has become a fanatical born-again Christian and is turning the tavern into a hall for prayer meetings. Tamsin (Emily Blunt) is another teenage girl who lives nearby; her mother is a successful actress who is usually away on projects, and her businessman father is too busy with his mistress to pay his daughter much attention. When Mona and Tamsin meet, they fall instantly in love and begin an erotic involvement. However, they soon discover that it isn't easy to keep their budding romance a secret in such a small town. My Summer of Love was enthusiastically received in its premiere screenings at the 2004 Edinburgh Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Natalie PressEmily Blunt, (more)
 
2002  
 
The feature-length debut of Francesca Joseph, Tomorrow La Scala!, is about an unusual production of a musical. Victoria (Jessical Stevenson) is the head of a small opera company that goes to maximun-security Seaworth Prison to mount a staging of Sweeney Todd. Gurad Kevin (Shaun Dingwell) warns the troupe of the restrictive behavior expected from them. Janey (Samantha Spiro) is in charge of costumes and she resists the tamping down of her natural flamboyance. The inmates and the theater group learn from each other during the rehearsals. Tomorrow La Scala! was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

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Starring:
Jessica StevensonSamantha Spiro, (more)
 
1995  
R  
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In this artful blend of suspense and black comedy, a woman who wants to find out the truth about the murder of her boyfriend finds out more than she ever suspected. When Sean (Stuart Laing) is found dead after attending a particularly uninhibited party, his girlfriend finds it hard to believe that his passing was entirely accidental, and she begins doing some amateur detective work on the matter. In time she discovers three minor-league public figures were the last to see him alive -- Angel Farnham (Con O'Neill), Andrea Wallis (Frances Barber), and Harry Roberts (James Fleet). The deeper the woman digs into the lives of these three, the more disturbed she becomes about the strange and sordid society that they inhabit, and she's drawn into a dark netherworld of crime and corruption. 3 Steps to Heaven was written and directed by Anglo-Greek filmmaker Constantine Giannaris; the film was purchased for American distribution by Miramax in 1995, but it was not seen in the United States until its video release in 2005. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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