Ora Rubinstein Movies

For sheer abject self-indulgence this side of an Eric Schaeffer movie, one need look no further than the films of Henry Jaglom. Jaglom's vanity productions require an intense Stalin-like loyalty to the filmmaker and his films going in, otherwise a viewer is lost. So when, in Venice/Venice, Henry Jaglom appears as a filmmaker named Dean at the Venice Film Festival, there promoting a film resembling a Henry Jaglom film, a viewer must give himself up to the force or walk out of the theater. Dean is the kind of pretentious Hollywood type who likes to wear his heart and his distribution contract on his sleeve, so when adoring European journalist Jeanne (Nelly Alard) inexplicably smiles at him the right way, filmgoers will come to understand why the film business is so attractive to wimpy film geeks. Jeanne and Dean fall in love and take a walking tour of Venice, but Jeanne pays no attention to the city, since she religiously hangs on every word Dean has to say regarding love, films, and destiny. Since there are more pearls of wisdom to be gloaned from this Bel-Air Gandhi, Jeanne willingly follows Dean back to Venice, California. Realizing that she has already spent too much time basking in the brilliance of Dean's sun, Penny (Melissa Leo), Dean's California girlfriend, obligingly offers to pack up and leave when she sees Dean returning to Southern California with Jeanne in tow. When Henry Jaglom talks, they all listen. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Jon Voight stars in this David Seltzer-scripted sentimental tale about a divorced father who tries to achieve an emotional connection with his children. J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) is a confused and childish man who, five years earlier, was divorced from his wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins). Kathleen received custody of their three children and they now all live with Kathleen's new husband Mitchell (Richard Crenna), a brilliant lawyer. But out of the blue, J.P. reappears into their lives. J.P. wants to take his three children on an ocean voyage in the Mediterranean. At first Kathleen and Mitchell are reluctant, but then they agree. At sea, J.P. begins to bond with his children --Tilde (Roxana Zal), Truman-Paul (Robby Kiger), and Trung (Son Hoang Bui). But then J.P. receives some tragic news that he tries to conceal from the children. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi