Larry Pine Movies

To an even greater degree than Oskar Schindler, Dr. Israel Kasztner played a key role in saving the lives of well over 1,000 Jews from the Holocaust (1,600 in Kasztner's case; 1,200 in Schindler's), but a fascinating and deeply sad irony lay buried in the differences between the men's stories: Schindler was a Nazi party member who manipulated the Gestapo in such a way that it enabled him to save the said individuals, and he died a veritable hero; Kasztner was a Jew who bargained with Adolf Eichmann for the salvation of the 1,600 (whom he shuttled off to Switzerland on a train), and was not ultimately laurelled as a hero, but branded a traitor by his own people. This occurred largely because the notion of bargaining with the Nazis struck many as morally unacceptable (indeed, a greater moral infraction, in the eyes of some, than simple party membership). Kasztner's tale thus speaks volumes about the complex loyalties, conflicting allegiances, and deep-seated confusion at the heart of World War II, and those are the gray areas explored by director Gaylen Ross in this penetrative documentary account of Kasztner's life. The film ultimately poses key questions about the extent to which collaboration with the enemy is morally acceptable in a time of war; it reveals the extent to which Kasztner touched innumerable lives, and features deeply moving interviews with Kasztner's family (who are still attempting to restore his legacy), even as it also features conversations with Kasztner's political opponents and detractors. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A circle of friends who met in college struggle to come to terms with their successes, their failures, and their ambitions as they approach their 30th birthdays in this independent drama. Yuppie Julie (Nicole Bilderback) has been scaling the corporate ladder with skill and enthusiasm since graduation, and her longtime boyfriend and husband-to-be, Andrew (Ryan Locke), wants to take what he's learned from his years as a businessman and apply it to a new firm he plans to launch. However, Andrew is lured away from his plans by fast-talking financier Louie (Terry Serpico), who takes advantage of Andrew's workaholic nature and causes a rift between him and Julie. Julie's brother Tony (Andrew Wei Lin) hasn't had much success with long-term relationships until he meets Robert (Bill Sage), a handsome and charming academic. However, Tony is troubled by the fact Robert is almost two decades older than he is, and has been diagnosed as HIV-positive. Ben (Colin Fickes) is overweight, painfully shy and lonely, and is hoping that Andrew will give him a job with his new company that will take him out of his rut. And Felix (Thomas Sadoski) is embarking on a tentative romance with Lucy (Cordelia Reynolds), but that, like everything else in his life, is compromised by his ongoing addiction to heroin. The New Twenty was the first feature from writer and director Chris Mason Johnson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A minor car accident brings Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily (Kelly Bishop) back together. Christopher (David Sutcliffe) is made to understand the seriousness of the relationship between Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Luke (Scott Patterson). Rory (Alexis Bledel) helps Logan (Matt Czuchry) write an article for the "Yale Daily News", hoping to wangle an introduction to Logan's publisher father. And Lane (Keiko Agena) mulls over her mother's invitation to attend a Lunar New Year Party--but will she bring Zach (Todd Lowe)? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Award-winning short filmmaker Jessica Yu makes her feature-length debut with In the Realms of the Unreal, a documentary about outsider artist Henry Darger. Born in 1892, Darger lived in Chicago and worked as a janitor for most of his life. When he died in 1972, his landlord found his life's work: The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion (often simply referred to as The Realms). A massive, multiple-volume fantasy novel, The Realms also contains nearly 300 illustrations of collages, drawings, and paintings. Rather than interview art scholars and psychologists, Yu chooses to look at Darger's work from the viewpoints of those who knew him. Yu also incorporates animation segments into the documentary, using Darger's original images. In the Realms of the Unreal was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the documentary competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Two men search for an emotional center to their lives and become embroiled in a circle of drugs, prostitution, deception, and blackmail in this independently produced feature. Adapted for the screen by Matt Swan from his off-Broadway play, Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler opens with its titular conceit: Middle-aged businessman Mr. Smith (Larry Pine) leaves his comfortable suburban home for Manhattan's Lower West Side one night to hire male prostitute Bobby Blue (Alex Feldman). Once they get to the hotel room, however, Bobby is surprised to find that Mr. Smith would rather talk than have sex with him, and the pair continue to meet -- for a fee -- for philosophical conversations about their home lives and futures, or lack thereof. But when Bobby starts forgoing his other tricks in favor of spending time with Mr. Smith, his pimp Lapp (Benjamin Hendrickson) becomes suspicious, and Bobby and Mr. Smith find themselves the focus of an inordinate -- and inordinately dangerous -- amount of scrutiny. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Onetime advertising director Eric Webber, who in the 1980's created campaigns for Dr. Pepper and Molson, here takes a satiric look at his former profession. Ken Tuttle (Randy Pearlstein) is a frustrated author who takes a job as a copywriter at Cranston & Co., headed by Tom Cranston (Robert Klein). Tuttle is guided through the corporate world by bitter creative director George Parkyn (Tony Hendra) as he helps craft an ad campaign for a sanitary napkin which its makers claim is so revolutionary it will change the way women view the world. However, a rival firm has also been retained to create a campaign for the same product, and tense competition between the two companies leads to infighting at Cranston & Co. and personal problems for Tuttle and his girlfriend (Ingrid Rogers). This dark and sharp-edged comedy was drawn from Webber's personal experiences in the ad game; he claims several of the film's most outrageous moments are based on true stories. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Jonathan Nossiter's first feature film is a moody exploration of assaults upon, and shifts in, personal identity. The movie's action all takes place on a Sunday in a poor section of the New York City borough of Queens. Oliver (David Suchet) is a newly homeless middle-aged man who was downsized out of his job as a mid-level functionary at a computer corporation and lost his wife and family because of his employment troubles. Out walking in the borough, Oliver collides with Madeleine Vesey (Lisa Harrow), an out-of-work British actress who is in the process of breaking up with her American husband, Ben (Larry Pine). Madeleine mistakes Oliver for Matthew Delacorta, a famous film director, and Oliver goes along with the mistake, hoping that it will help him to escape his misery. Madeleine hopes that she can make an impression that will land her a film role, so she invites her new friend up to her apartment. When Oliver tells her his life story, she mistakes it for an invented movie plot because Madeleine lives her life in a fantasy world, pretending reality is a film. After the two lost souls have sex without emotion, Ben shows up. He tells Oliver that his recent open-heart surgery wounds were caused by a knife attack from Madeleine. Oliver leaves as the estranged couple argues, but he returns to retrieve his precious winter coat, and he becomes further entangled in the fantasy of a new identity. Sunday won the Grand Jury prize at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

There is no shortage of suspects when a high-profile lawyer is murdered. Among the likeliest "candidates" are Willard Tappan (Michael Zaslow), a crooked financier who specializes in fleecing wealthy women, and John Curren (Jonathan Hogan), the now-impoverished son of Tappan's most recent victim. Edie Falco of The Sopranos fame appears as defense attorney Sally Bell, who'd once been "serious" with Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is a very enjoyable tongue-in-cheek horror film about some homicidal maniacs who break out of an asylum and terrorize a psychiatrist's family on a dark and stormy night. Martin Landau and Jack Palance are particularly funny, but there are some genuine scares as well. One scene, in which a frightened woman is menaced on her bed by a maniac thrusting a butcher-knife up through the mattress, is a clever send-up that will nevertheless linger in the memory. The coda, in which the crazy Palance has a bizarre encounter with a spaced-out punk chick in a nightclub, is a real gem. Recommended. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

A man tries to rebuild his life and reconnect with his family after a stretch in prison in this independent drama. Eben Cole (Thomas Hildreth) is a lobster fisherman who lives and works on a small island off the coast of Maine. Eben takes pride in his work and works hard to provide for his wife, Cheryl (Amy Jo Johnson), and daughter, Sara (Mackenzie Young). However, Eben also has a temper, and when a pair of commercial fishermen from the mainland try to take over one of his fishing spots, the argument escalates into violence. Eben's attack on the fishermen earns him five years behind bars, and his father (Larry Pine) tells him he'll no longer have anything to do with him. After serving his time, Eben is released from jail only to find that many of his worst fears have been confirmed: Cheryl refuses to see him anymore, she's moved in with Jimmy (Mark Kiely), another local lobster trapper, and she won't allow Eben to visit with Sara (now played by Emma Ford). Regarded as a black sheep by the local fisherman, Eben takes a job at a scrap yard to keep body and soul together, but it's not until Popper (Philip Baker Hall), a veteran fisherman, befriends him that he begins to regain his self-respect and show the world he's changed. Islander was screened at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Nola (Emmy Rossum) is a Kansas teen who runs away to New York City to escape an abusive stepfather. Once she gets to the big town, she sets about looking for a job and for her father, whom she's never met. She attacks both tasks with fierce determination, but has little success, until she stumbles upon a greasy spoon near Union Square where the eccentric owner, Gus (Sam Coppola), immediately takes a liking to her. Soon, she's waitressing at the diner and crashing in a room upstairs with the handsome fry cook, Ben (James Badge Dale), who also goes to law school when he feels like it. Nola spends her spare time using the phone book in an effort to track down the man she knows only as "Hutch." Things look up for Nola when she meets the sassy owner of the diner, Margaret (Mary McDonnell), who also runs a very classy escort service. Margaret sees something in Nola, and hires the girl as her assistant. As Nola's relationship with Ben gets more intimate, she tells him about her dream of being a successful songwriter. But things take an ugly turn when one of Margaret's escorts, a transsexual named Wendy (Michael Cavadias) offends a rich and powerful client, Niles (Thom Christopher). Niles is determined to have his revenge, and tries to use his media contacts to have an exposé written about Margaret's business. But the reporter assigned to the story, Leo (Steven Bauer), turns out to be an old friend of Margaret's. Nola, the feature debut of writer/director Alan Hruska, a former trial lawyer, had its world premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Adam Marcus, whose previous works include Jason Goes to Hell (1993), directs this heartwarming romantic comedy. The film opens with little James Ellis watching his parents divorce and his mother (Bernadette Peters) hop from one Mr. Wrong to the next. His grandmother warns him that "in this family, the men leave and the women go crazy." Fast-forward 14 years to a gloriously snowy winter day when James (played by screenwriter and brother of the director Kipp Marcus) runs into his neighbor Sarah (Alice Dylan). As best buddies, the two help each other out as he enrolls in a cooking school and she studies at a New York college. Soon, their attraction boils over and they stumble into their first kiss. Confused, Sarah tells James that the kiss was a mistake, though in her heart it felt all too right. Crestfallen, James dutifully agrees. But when he gathers the courage to tell her what he really feels, she has left to study in England. James seeks solace from a series of failed rebound dates by spending evenings at a local club with his fellow walking wounded. Snow Days was screened at the 1999 AFI/L.A. Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In this slightly dark comedy about romantic obsession, Sam (Matthew Broderick) is an astronomer who likes his life in the small New England town he calls home and loves his fiancée, Linda (Kelly Preston). But one day, Linda tells Sam that she's moving to New York because she has found a new job -- and a new boyfriend. Sam is shocked and doesn't want to give Linda up, so when she moves to Manhattan, Sam follows her. Moving into an empty loft across the street from Linda's new apartment, Sam constructs a camera obscura that allows him to watch what she and her new beau, a French restaurateur named Anton (Tcheky Karyo), are up to. Sam's convinced that Linda is just going through a phase, and when she gets tired of Anton, he'll be there to pick up the pieces. But Sam soon has company in his obsessive watch over Linda's new flat: Anton's former girlfriend, Maggie (Meg Ryan), crashes Sam's hideout and joins him in his spy mission. While Sam just wants Linda back, Maggie is seething with rage against Anton after he dumped her and now she's out for revenge. Addicted to Love was the directorial debut of actor and producer Griffin Dunne; he cast his father, noted author Dominick Dunne, in a small role as a food writer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide