Jon A. English Movies
A con man discovers there is something he can't sell -- namely, a sour-voiced singer he's trying to mold into a star -- in this bittersweet comedy about the outer fringes of show business. Joey Grasso (Salvatore Coco) is an almost pathologically confident man who has just been released from prison after doing time for selling a phony cure for cellulite. Joey lives with his current girlfriend, Bonita (Sacha Horler), who is confined to a wheelchair due to an auto accident, though her father is convinced Joey is only interested in her for the $1 million settlement Bonita is due to receive. One day, at a motivational seminar, Joey makes the acquaintance of Nikki (Nikki Bennett), the daughter of popular nightclub performer Marty Raye (Carter Edwards). Nikki confesses to Joey that she wants more than anything to make it big as a singer, and Joey signs on as her manager, fast-talking a reluctant Bonita into bankrolling Nikki's bid for stardom. However, Nikki isn't a terribly good singer, and is a bit unstable to boot; after an audition for record producer Phil Wehner (Jon English) ends in disaster, Joey discovers just how steep an uphill climb he has in selling Nikki to the public. Walk the Talk was the second feature written and directed by Shirley Barrett, whose debut, Love Serenade, earned her the Camera d'Or at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Salvatore Coco, Sacha Horler, (more)
- 1994
This Italian film explores the terrible effects of dishonesty and graft on Italy. The work does not follow a traditional plot, but instead follows the characters as they give their opinions about the state of Italy. A large part of the film focuses upon Costanza, a landlady who cannot through out her dead-beat tenant Cecilia because she has not legally declared the rent she receives as income. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eliana Miglio, Lucia Gardin, (more)
- 1993
Made on short ends of film left over from The Bed You Sleep In, Frameup is a freewheeling road comedy about a pair of dimwitted lovers on the run. Ricky-Lee (Howard Swain), a two-bit criminal prone to spouting lengthy, obscenity-laced soliloquies, meets Beth-Ann (Nancy Carlin), an airheaded waitress with a weakness for romance novels, at the diner where she slings coffee. Immediately smitten, she joins him on a meandering journey across the Pacific Northwest -- punctuated by the occasional robbery -- and on into California, where the couple dream of heading to the sunny beaches of Los Angeles. Ricky-Lee's ineptitude catches up with him eventually, however, and their trip is cut short when a convenience store robbery goes awry. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Like Last Chants for a Slow Dance, Jon Jost's Sure Fire features Tom Blair in a dark, tragic character study. Blair plays Wes, a small-time real estate tycoon with big plans to lure urban Californians to his rural Utah town with the promise of cheap vacation homes. Wes applies his scheming business sense to every part of his life, from deciding on a gift for his wife to paying off his friend Larry's (Robert Ernst) debts to keep him under his thumb. The film culminates during a hunting trip, when Wes' troubled relationship with his teenage son, Phillip (Phillip R. Brown), leads to a shocking end. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Blair, Robert Ernst, (more)
- 1990
From experimental filmmaker Jon Jost comes this romantic drama comprised of mostly improvised scenes. Emmanuelle Chaulet plays Anna, a struggling French actress in New York who meets an overworked financial broker named Mark in the Vermeer Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anna resembles one of Mark's favorite paintings, so he asks he out for coffee. From there, the two struggle to overcome their personal baggage and attempt to allow themselves to fall in love. Director Jost was awarded the Caligari Film Award at the 1991 Berlin International Film Festival for this film and Sure Fire. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Chaulet, Stephen Lack, (more)
- 1989
The title refers to a rare etching of Dutch artist Rembrandt. Jon A. English plays a young musician who expresses his love for former girl friend Barbara Hammes by presenting her with a Xeroxed copy of the Rembrandt etching. Though Hammes is touched, she doesn't want to get back together with English. And that's what passes for a plot in this collection of loosely related visual anecdotes, recording the separate day-to-day existences of English and Hammes. Devotees of director Jon Jost will uncover profundities in every scene; those who aren't so taken by Jost will scratch their heads and wonder what all the shouting is about. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon A. English, Barbara Hammes, (more)
- 1980
- PG
Three attractive women turn into Robin Hoods in order to save a kindergarten in this routine comedy-caper. Eva (Wendy Hughes), Fiona (Chantal Contouri), and Millicent (Carmen Duncan) are ready to help out a charitable cause when they see one, but their hearts are bigger than their wallets. The only solution is to take money from those who have it to burn and judiciously redistribute it. With that thought in mind, the three recruit a few extra women to their cause -- they plan on robbing from the rich in a posh island resort. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wendy Hughes, Chantal Contouri, (more)
