Liana Pai Movies
- 2002
The charred body of a young Asian woman is found huddled near an apartment elevator. At first, it appears that the victim may have set herself on fire in protest over religious differences with the Chinese consul general. Ultimately, however, a murder case is assembled and a suspect brought into court -- and the defense attorney is Howard Pincham (Chris Sarandon), a longtime friend of DA Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Is Ruby Weaver's Mr. Right really an emissary from the year 2,470, or is he just a complete loon ball? This question is at the heart of Brad Anderson's whimsical romantic comedy. The story opens with Ruby (Marisa Tomei) lamenting over her boyfriend Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio) to her shrink (Holland Taylor). In a series of flashbacks, the film quickly sketches Ruby as a neurotic with an unhappy track record concerning men and Sam as an oddball who is afraid of small dogs and has a barcode tattooed to his arm. But he's nuts over Ruby, and at least initially, that is enough for her. Slowly, Sam begins to reveal his "past." He tells her that he is from the Dubuque of the future and that he hails from a rare "anachronistic" family who believe that reproduction should occur the old-fashioned, fun way as opposed to the more popular cloning method. At first, Ruby is amused, until she realizes that he's not kidding. After a series of arguments, he agrees to visit Ruby's analyst, which yields unexpected results. This film premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marisa Tomei, Vincent D'Onofrio, (more)
- 1997
A group of party cruisers is besieged by a gunman, resulting in several fatalities. The subsequent investigation leads to a man who is leading a double life. When D.A. Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) refuses to seek the death penalty, he is removed from the case, leading to a tense judicial showdown between Schiff and the Governor of New York. This final episode of Law & Order's seventh season culminates in a devastating personal tragedy for the beleaguered Adam Schiff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this comedy, a woman discovers that it's impossible to get ahead in business without a man to guide her -- so she invents one. Laurel (Whoopi Goldberg) is an expert financial analyst with a top Wall Street brokerage; however, she keeps getting passed over for raises and promotions, and she's convinced that no one at her firm takes her seriously because she's a black woman. Frustrated, Laurel and her loyal assistant Sally (Dianne Wiest) open a new firm, but Laurel discovers that her fears were based firmly in reality: male clients don't want to take financial advice from women, especially women of color. So Laurel invents a white man, Robert S. Cutty, to be the firm's top adviser. Speaking on Cutty's behalf, Laurel passes along the fictional man's advice, which her new clients find to be quite sound, and when they stop by to see him, he always manages to be out of the office (and why wouldn't a man so successful be busy?). The ruse seems to work, and soon Laurel's business is going great guns, but an increasingly large number of her clients want to see Cutty face to face, which won't be easy to pull off. However, with the help of a drag queen, Laurel tries to remake herself into Cutty for a night in order to keep her firm afloat. The Associate was based on a novel by author Jenaro Prieto. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, (more)
- 1996
A lawyer is murdered, and high on the list of suspects is the dead man's abrasive girlfriend. Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) track down the suspect, only to discover that "she" is really a "he." As if that wasn't baffling enough, another suspect suddenly resurfaces, one who might be protectively shielding the genuine culprit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
A lover, an ultimatum, a phone call, and a gun: these elements are found in each segment of Hal Hartley's Flirt, an experimental comedy-drama that essentially repeats the same story three times. But while the basic narrative remains the same -- a congenital flirt must decide whether or not to commit to a current lover, who otherwise will marry someone else -- the details differ greatly, from the location of the film to the gender of the participants. The initial segment, set in New York, tells the tale with a male flirt in turmoil over his relationship with a woman. The film then moves to Berlin, where the same drama is played out amongst a gay male couple, with an added touch of self-reflexive humor. The third and final episode takes place in Tokyo, with a female flirt and a more abstract cinematic approach, including several sequences in traditional Japanese pantomime. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Sage, Parker Posey, (more)
This lively and complicated romantic comedy-drama centers on four fellows. Runyon is a poet carrying a torch for Kathryn; he flies to LA to talk about scripting a movie and is accompanied by the lovely Tarzaan. Gadabout Josh is seen having a fling with a Chinese hat-check girl and pursuing Cynthia; despite his womanizing, he also still cares for his ex-wife Gina, the sister of Phil, a plumber and owner of a hardware store who is married with two children. Phil is in a quandary because he finds himself lusting for a sophisticated English coquette who just might be interested in him. Meanwhile, therapist Mark is utterly wrecked over a difficult relationship with Tasha. The title of the film comes from a line in rocker Steve Miller's song, "The Joker". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Cryer, Tim Guinee, (more)
- 1995
- R
In this independent drama, Vivian Saunders (Elizabeth Pena) comes home one day to an unusual surprise: her boyfriend Reggie (Andrew McCarthy) is lying on the kitchen table with a large sword sticking out of his body. At first Vivian thinks this must be some sort of joke, but she discovers that Reggie is indeed dead, and as she calls her best friend Louise (Paige Turco) to figure out what might have happened and what to do, it occurs to her that she blacked out after too much wine the night before and isn't sure what she did before she passed out. After a few phone calls, Vivian's women's support group arrives, and what to do about Reggie soon takes second place to what Vivian should do for herself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Peña, Andrew McCarthy, (more)
An interracial romance sparks social upheaval in this indie drama from first-time writer/director Anthony Drazan. Jewish high school student Zack Glass (Michael Rapaport) lives with his widowed, womanizing father (Ray Sharkey) in one of the nicer areas of Detroit. His pop and grandfather own a pair of vintage record stores full of everything from swing and jazz to soul and disco; Zack carries on the vinyl-centric family tradition by selling hip-hop mix tapes out of his locker and mixing fiddles and Puccini into his DJ sets at local parties. One day at school, beautiful New Jersey transfer student Nikki (N'Bushe Wright) witnesses Zack's girlfriend unceremoniously dumping him; when it turns out that Zack's best friend, Dee Wimms (DeShonn Castle), is Nikki's cousin, the stage is set for romance -- the first interracial pairing for each teen. Dee is happy to play matchmaker, but members of the Wimms clan aren't as pleased with the romance. Nikki's mother, Marlene (Candy Ann Brown), asks Zack point-blank if he's curious about black women -- or just slumming it. Such mild disapproval is nothing compared to the rage felt by Nut (Ron Johnson), a young troublemaker who wants to romance Nikki himself. When Nikki overhears Zack making a racially insensitive comment about her to his pals at a party, she questions the viability of their relationship; the next day, she finds herself making time with Nut, who displays an unexpected tender streak. When Zack shows up at the local skating rink to talk to Nikki and sees Nut pestering her, things spiral out of control. Soon, the lines are drawn in a community-wide debate about interracial dating and urban violence. Zebrahead earned a Filmmaker's Trophy for Drazan at Sundance in 1992 and launched the successful careers of Rapaport and Wright. Indie fans will notice Kevin Corrigan in an elliptical subplot involving the industrial disintegration of the Motor City. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- N'Bushe Wright, Paul Butler, (more)
- 1992
Detectives Logan (Chris Noth) and Cerella (Paul Sorvino) swing into action when a Chinese-American honors student is killed. At first, it seems as though an Asian street gang was responsible for the killing. Then, more evidence comes to surface, leading to an intense scholarship competition and a dangerously ambitious family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
