Martin Donovan Movies
Most recognizable as a Hal Hartley regular, tall, lanky Martin Donovan has made an indelible impression, gaining widespread respect as one of the more underrated figures in the film industry.Born August 19, 1957, in Reseda, CA, Donovan attended the American Theater of Arts in Los Angeles before working for a number of theaters in Los Angeles and New York. Donovan's first starring role came in the 1984 drama Hard Choices, which also starred John Sayles and J.T. Walsh. 1991 marked his first collaboration with Hartley, as he starred in both Surviving Desire (made for PBS' American Playhouse) and Trust. The latter became an art house favorite, helping to establish Hartley's reputation. The following year, Donovan made his next film with Hartley, 1992's Simple Men.
Following his role in Hartley's critically acclaimed Amateur (1994), Donovan performed in a steady number of films throughout the rest of the decade. For Hartley, he appeared in Flirt (1995) and The Book of Life (1999), in which he played a modern-day Christ opposite PJ Harvey's Magdalena. Other notable work for the versatile actor included his role as Nicole Kidman's consumptive confidant in The Portrait of a Lady (1996); a turn as a divorced gay father in the unsettling Hollow Reed (1996); the part of Holly Hunter's philandering husband in Living Out Loud (1998); and his triumphantly understated portrayal of Christina Ricci's too-tolerant half-brother in Don Roos' black comedy The Opposite of Sex (1998). It was this last role, in particular, that helped to thrust Donovan a little further into the spotlight, introducing him to an audience that was eager to learn more about this multi-talented, multifaceted actor. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1984
In this odd mix of social commentary, forbidden romance, police action thriller, and teenage delinquency, a well-meaning social worker slowly careens off the charts when a 15-year-old teen is about to receive a stiff sentence as an accessory to a crime. Bobby (Gary McCleery) is driving the getaway car when his two brothers run into trouble in a robbery and shoot a policeman to death. The trio of siblings is quickly apprehended, and Bobby is thrown in jail until the judge can decide whether to try him as an adult or not. Not a moment behind it all is Laura (Margaret Klenck), a young woman who runs a non-profit agency dedicated to making sure young teens are not given adult sentences for their criminal behavior. When it looks like Bobby will get a life sentence, Laura cannot accept the inevitable and asks a close friend (and drug-runner) to help her out - and then she walks into the sheriff's office with a gun and gets Bobby out of jail. Her drug-running friend spirits them off to Florida, where Laura and Bobby hide out and begin a romantic entanglement - just another mistake in a long series of mistakes that have placed the two in a dangerous and impossible situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary McCleery, John Seitz, (more)
- 1984
In a strange mix of the sacred and the profane, the leader of a group of pro-peace activists (Tony Meyer) is mistaken for Jesus Christ by the village simpleton and has to lead his "flock" against their nemesis, Captain Benson (David Meyer, Tony Meyer's twin brother). The Captain is in town with his soldiers to hunt down the members of the peace group. In the meantime, the local priest seems more devoted to pop music than anything else and is busy rehearsing his favorite song for competition in a Eurovision contest. With a secularized priest and divinized secular leader, the film should be iconoclastic, yet it misses because it has simplified both people and concepts beyond the range of credibility. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Court, David Meyer, (more)
