Gil Kofman Movies
- 2012
- NR
An L.A. filmmaker attempts to make a thriller in China, only to find his production hijacked from behind the scenes in this documentary from directors Gil Kofman and Tanner King Barlow. As his work on the feature gets underway, the director -- working with a translator -- watches as his film is gradually undone at virtually every turn. When small compromises made to accommodate cultural differences between the East and West give way to more egregious alterations like having his lead actors inexplicably recast and his script furtively rewritten, however, the producer of the film begins documenting the fiasco as the director struggles to stand his ground. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2011
A staged abduction turns terrifyingly real in this psychological thriller that shows the lengths internet celebrities will go to in order to boost their loyal fan-bases. MissTulips22 is the host of a popular video blog. Dismayed that her popularity seems to have hit a plateau, she conspires to boost her viewership by pretending to be kidnapped. With her boyfriend acting as her abductor, the ruse gets off to a perfect start. The situation takes a terrifying and unexpected turn, however, when devoted Miss Tulip fan Lee stages a daring rescue attempt that results in the death of her boyfriend. Meanwhile, upon learning the truth, Lee explodes. Now Miss Tulip is in real danger, but her pleas for help fall on the deaf ears of her increasingly cynical fans. But not everyone is convinced this latest development is a sham, and as a weary undercover cop begins investigating the case, he discovers that in the information age, fact and fiction are more difficult to distinguish than ever before. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A woman struggling with a number of emotional demons tries to make sense of her life in this independent drama from writer and director Ry Russo-Young. Shelly Brown (Stella Schnabel) is the 23-year-old daughter of a woman with a long history of mental illness. Shelly has unfortunately inherited some of her mother's instability, and the narrative follows her after she's released from a brief stay in a mental hospital. Shelly dreams of a career as an actress, but at auditions she delivers readings that are intense enough to scare off most casting directors. Shelly wants to bond with other young women in the arts, but her paranoia and multiple insecurities make her a difficult friend at best and few of her peers are willing to bother. And while Shelly thinks she's ready for a relationship, the manner in which she approaches men tends to result in rejections or one-night stands. You Won't Miss Me received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stella Schnabel, Simon O'Connor, (more)
For Lukas (Mark Webber), an ambitionless, socially isolated tollbooth worker, each day is indistinguishable from the next -- filled, from the onset of work until the end of shift, with thousands of cars that slide through his station. Day in and day out, he must contend with the monotony of the work, the rage of the drivers, and the nauseating stench of exhaust. Lukas' life turns an odd corner when a bigoted driver haphazardly tosses a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf into his booth in lieu of a fare; curious, Lukas retrieves the book and begins to comb through it, which catches the eye of yet another driver, this one a Holocaust survivor. Mistakenly inferring that the boy is a neo-Nazi, the gentleman passes Lukas a videocassette of his testimony about the Holocaust, produced by an organization that specializes in creating such films. Lukas not only takes this as a cue and seeks out the said organization to learn more about it, but (devoid of memories from his own past) begins to acquire a persistent delusion that he himself is both Jewish and a Holocaust survivor; in time, he becomes deeply emotionally involved and smitten with Mira Zweig (Rachel Miner), the attractive daughter of an actual survivor (Jerry Adler). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Webber, Rachel Miner, (more)
- 2005
- NR
In a rare and refreshing reversal of roles, filmmakers put the powerful Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA for short) under the microscope for inspection in Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick's incisive look at stateside cinema's most notorious non-censoring censors. Compelled by the staggering amount of power that the MPAA ratings board wields, the filmmaker seeks out the true identities of the anonymous elite who control what films make it to the multiplex. He even goes so far as to hire a private investigator to stake out MPAA headquarters and expose Hollywood's best-kept secret. Along the way, Dick speaks with numerous filmmakers whose careers have been affected by the seemingly random and sexual-content obsessed judgments of the MPAA, including John Waters, Mary Harron, Darren Aranofsky, Wayne Kramer, Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, and Atom Egoyan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kimberly Peirce, Alison Andres, (more)
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