James Schamus Movies
Since his initial efforts of the early '90s, independent film producer and screenwriter James Schamus has learned a lot about international culture through his frequent fruitful collaborations with celebrated film director Ang Lee. "I can order a beer in Chinese now," jokes Schamus "and not just by saying Tsing Tao. I can actually say 'beer' in Chinese." Multilingual restaurant beverage ordering jokes aside, Schamus has been a key component in the production of some of the most provocative and intriguing independent films of the '90s, often recognized for taking necessary risks to bring challenging stories by innovative filmmakers to the screen, as well as consistently forsaking conventional confines in favor of artistic freedom and vision.Take a look at any list of important independent films of the past decade and it's likely that Schamus' name will appear somewhere in the credits. Aside from his collaborations with Lee, Schamus has worked with such notorious filmmakers as Todd Haynes and Todd Solondz, often producing (through his Good Machine production company) fiercely defiant and shockingly compelling films that may otherwise have been lost in a sea of mediocrity and studios unwilling to take the needed risks in bringing these stories to light. Aside from his work with Solondz and Haynes, Schamus' most enduring cinematic relationship may lie with Lee, with whom he has collaborated as screenwriter on all of Lee's films except Sense and Sensibility (on which Schamus served as co-producer). Schamus' keen ability to capture the complex emotional intricacies of characters in difficult situations has been a driving factor in the success of his scripting of Lee's films, including The Ice Storm (1997), Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), and the phenomenally successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which was produced by Good Machine and earned Schamus Oscar nominations for Best Music (Song) for his lyrics to the film's "A Love Before Time" and Best Adapted Screenplay (along with co-writers Wang Hui Ling and Kuo Jung Tsai). Not speaking the Mandarin language in which the film is presented, or in which the original novel was written, Schamus describes the experience of writing the film as both rewarding and nerve-wracking. "It was weird because on the one hand, I was writing an original screenplay because I didn't know the novel...And on the other hand, I knew that I had to maintain fidelity to something I didn't know." ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2010
Filmmaker Ang Lee and screenwriter/producer James Schamus team for this adaptation of Jean Dell's play about a happily engaged Brooklyn couple who, after hearing rumors that they have broken up, decide to find out how their circle of friends really feels about their coupling. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
What sort of people engage in recreational group sex on a regular basis? David Schisgall's documentary The Lifestyle provides one answer: mostly cheerful, but paunchy, suburban couples who have either slipped into middle age or are starting to advance past it. For the most part, they look like normal workaday folks, and could even be your neighbors. Schisgall interviews 20 members of "swinging" groups in Orange County, CA, and discovers most are happily married (often for decades), politically lean a bit right of center (several of his subjects once had careers in the military), and are personally unremarkable once you get past their "hobby." The Lifestyle also reveals why AIDS is all but unknown in "swing" circles and takes a trip to a "Lifestyles" convention where fun seekers from around the country get to know each other (in more ways than one). Portraying its subjects with an affectionate sense of humor, The Lifestyle was premiered at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1998
When young Turkish talent Kutlug Ataman wanted to make a film about transvestites, the first location he had in mind was Istanbul. As he developed the script, his thought was to place these marginal characters, who are subject to societal prejudices in an environment where there is already discrimination, would add dramatic effect. Supported by funding from German sources, Ataman set his story in Berlin, inside the community of "guest workers" where Turkish transvestites are shunned not only by Germans, but by their own kind as well. The result is a strong film with moments of tenderness, emotion and laughter juxtaposed with the harsh realities of life for those who dare to be different. 16 year old Murat (Baki Davrak) is a Turk who is curious about gay life and eventually submerges himself in the gay hustler and transvestite subculture. He is taken by the free and easy atmosphere of the dimly lit bars and the appearance of camaraderie among this marginal community, while at home his very conservative brother Osman (Hasan Ali Mete) rules with an iron fist. Murat finds the brotherly love denied at home in a transvestite, Lola (Gandi Mukli), who turns out to be his actual brother, disowned by Osman years ago. As more family secrets come to the open, violence erupts. Murat survives the ensuing tragedy and finally finds a way of living his own life. Most of the players in this film are non-professional actors from Berlin's Turkish community (and incidentally, not all of them are gay or transvestite). Veteran German actress Inge Keller, who plays the mother of Frederich, an aristocrat who risks his social standing because of his passion for Bilidikid (Erdal Yildiz), is the only famous name among the cast. Clever editing by Ewa J. Lind prevents a downhill flow into sheer melodrama by periodically mixing the narrative with dynamic performances in Turkish transvestite bars, as if giving the audience a chance to fuel up before charging them with the next powerful emotion. Night scenes in the desolate parks of Berlin accentuate the loneliness of the characters with impressive camerawork by Chris Squires. Lola und Bilidikid opened the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999 and won the Teddy Bear Award given to gay/lesbian films. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gandi Mukli, Erdal Yildiz, (more)
- 1997
Gena (Aesha Waks) is a 16-year-old girl whose mother has fallen into a coma; with her immediate family unable to watch over her, it's decided that she'll spend the summer with her Uncle John (Paul Lazar). Gena takes a part-time job at a beauty parlor and makes friends with a girl named Jane (Summer Phoenix). Jane, however, is not an especially good influence; she's a recent runaway from a halfway house and is looking for her missing brother Sonny (Sam Rockwell), a convicted felon. When Jane disappears, Gena searches for her and is led into a netherworld of drugs, crime, gang violence, and sexual initiation. This independent drama was screened at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival; Heather Matarazzo of Welcome to the Dollhouse appears in a supporting role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Photographer Cindy Sherman, who often uses motifs from exploitation films in her work, pays witty tribute to slasher films in this satiric horror-comedy. Dorine Douglas (Carol Kane) has spent 16 years at the bottom of the totem pole as a copy editor for Constant Consumer magazine when, due to budget cuts, she's downsized into a contract employee and forced to work out of her home. Dorine isn't at all happy about this, and when she's called back into the office to help obnoxious writer Gary (David Thornton) fix a glitch in his computer, she's not at all upset when he's accidentally electrocuted. Dorine brings Gary's corpse home to join her in front of the TV. When pushy publisher Virginia (Barbara Sukowa) orders Dorine and overly ambitious Kim (Molly Ringwald) to salvage Gary's story from his notes, Dorine snaps, and soon Gary has some company in Dorine's increasingly crowded home office. Office Killer also stars Jeanne Tripplehorn and Michael Imperioli as more of Dorine's co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald, (more)
- 1994
The powerlessness of sensitive children in the face of adult perversity is one of the themes of this drama about a young girl who faces the prospect of life without her mother. At first, when nine-year old Margaret's (Remy Ryan) mother (Laurie Metcalf) is taken to the hospital, Margaret tries to make sure that no one knows that her mother is dying and that she will soon be left alone. For a while, it looks as though she will succeed, but after her mother dies and her next of kin, Margaret's Aunt Fergie (Shirley Knight), is notified, any foolish hopes she might have along those lines are quickly and efficiently squashed. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Remy Ryan, Laurie Metcalf, (more)
- 1994
Based on a popular one-man play and filmed in a single day at the theatrical space the Kitchen in 1993, this avant-garde drama contrasts the lives of two famous homosexuals, both of whom died of AIDS in the 1980s. Both men are played by original castmember Ron Vawter. Roy Cohn was a gay-bashing right-wing lawyer and a steadfast protector of the "American Family." He was also a closet homosexual. Jack Smith was an openly gay experimental filmmaker who was credited as one of the fathers of performance art. In this film version of the play, the opposing lives of the two men are woven together, whereas on stage, they were profiled in two separate acts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Vawter
- 1993
An American sitcom family is parodied in this scathing satire that is part of the Independent Television Service's "TV Families" series. The family is comprised of Japanese-Americans fit into the typical Anglo sitcom family mold. The results are hilarious as they deal with drugs, sexuality, discrimination, aging, and the perils of parenting. Ma loafs around in the house dressed in her lovely bedroom clothes taking the life-support drugs of ailing Grandpa. Dad, the perfect TV dad, has a secret urge to murder his sick father. Their daughter is a pregnant cheerleader addicted to sex; their twins boys are total opposites. Kazumi is a drug addict with a space case for a girlfriend. Marvin is the classic computer nerd who secretly lusts after men in uniforms. Surrounding this family are drug-dealers looking to collect on owed money, cheerleaders on a vendetta, and a family lawyer looking for new prospects for the kiddie-porn industry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Omi, Ken Narasaki, (more)
- 1992
When the Native peoples of the U.S. are shown to possess something that government or big business wants, long-standing treaties and trust arrangements going back for centuries pose no obstacle; the Indians must go. That was as true in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Reservation as it was in the early 19th century, when the discovery of gold in the Appalachians resulted in the displacement of the Cherokee and other tribes from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. In 1975, the object of the second land-grab in less than a century directed against the Oglala Sioux was once again mineral wealth. The U.S. government grew alarmed at efforts by members of the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) to protest the sale of tribal lands to corporations and instituted a number of subversive actions using the government-controlled tribal government as its proxy. During the resulting conflicts, two F.B.I. agents were killed, quite possibly by gangs funded by the government. However, these killings supplied the pretext that it had long sought for the government to arrest many of A.I.M.'s leaders. Leonard Peltier was one of those leaders, and he was convicted on what even the government prosecutors later admitted were trumped-up charges. Despite that incredible fact, he remains in prison serving two consecutive life sentences. This documentary tells his story and includes interviews with Peltier himself, as well as author Peter Mathiessen and others either involved with or knowledgeable about America's best-known political prisoner. It differs from the other well-known documentary covering many of these same issues Incident at Oglala by providing a more wide-ranging overview. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Consumed by visions of prosperity and clean, attractive cities, Silva travels to New York City from Poland with all the cash she can scrape together in her purse, speaking not one word of English. Once there, she swiftly falls prey to an aggressive con artist, and sees nothing but the dingy crime-filled streets which represent New York at its worst. Refusing to be ignored by the man who took her money, she hounds him until he takes her to bed with him, and then her relationships expand to include the creep's cousin. At no point is a good time had by anyone. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schrader, Dani Levy, (more)
- 1991
Director Jan Oxenberg's purpose for making Thank You and Good Night was to seek out an answer to the question, "What is this thing called death?" The subject of this documentary is Oxenberg's grandmother Mae Joffe, who was dying of cancer when the film was made. In between Joffe's candid and sometimes quite funny observations, Oxenberg offers dramatized flashbacks to her childhood experiences with her grandmother. These sequences, along with a fantasy quiz show, are "enacted" with cardboard cutouts made from family photographs. Filmed in 1991, Thank You and Good Night received its national premiere on May 19, 1993, as an installment of PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
The Golden Boat, the first American production from internationally acclaimed director Raul Ruiz, is a dry-humored, surreal tale set in downtown Manhattan. Young writer Israel Williams (Federico Muchnik) encounters a wounded man on the street. Though he has been stabbed several times over, the man seems unaffected by his wounds and refuses to go to a doctor. Instead, he asks Israel to help find his estranged son. Israel reluctantly agrees but is met with disbelief and suspicion from the supposed son, a South American television star. Things become dangerously complicated when the old man proves to be a murderer with shady criminal and political connections. Israel soon becomes lost in a strange world of international celebrities, Marxist operatives, and postmodern literary critics. The film deconstructs traditional techniques, relying instead on unconventional cinematography, jarring sound design, and eccentric patterns of recurring imagery, including several pairs of boots that reappear in odd places throughout the film. Ruiz made The Golden Boat on a shoestring budget, working in collaboration with The Kitchen, an avant-garde theatre group. Several notable members of the New York art scene make cameos, including director Jim Jarmusch and writer Kathy Acker. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Kirby, Jim Jarmusch, (more)
Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee tells the story of the Greenwich Village interior designer who inadvertently helped to spark a cultural revolution by offering the organizers of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival boarding at his family's Catskills motel. The year is 1969. Change is brewing in America, and the energy in Greenwich Village is palpable. Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) is working as an interior designer when he discovers that a high-profile concert has recently lost its permit from the nearby town of Wallkill, NY. Emboldened by the burgeoning gay rights movement yet still tied to tradition in the form of the family business -- a Catskills motel called the El Monaco -- Tiber phones producer Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) at Woodstock Ventures and offers boarding to the harried concert crew. Later, as the Woodstock Ventures staff begans arriving in droves, half a million concertgoers make their way to Max Yasgur's (Eugene Levy) adjacent farm in White Lake, NJ, to witness the counterculture celebration that would ultimately make history as one of the greatest events in the annals of rock & roll. Imelda Staunton, Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber, and Paul Dano co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Demetri Martin, Dan Fogler, (more)
Ang Lee's adaptation of E. Annie Proulx's story Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as young cowboys named Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar. Each of them is hired to corral sheep on the title location and they soon bond very closely. Their platonic relationship explodes into a physical one, but eventually the two are separated when their job comes to an end. Although the two follow different life paths -- one becoming a father of two and the other marrying into a successful business -- they have a reunion years later. Each is affected profoundly by the rekindling of their old feelings for each other. Those feelings lead each to consider what continuing their hidden relationship would cost them. The screenplay was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, (more)
The life and sordid, untimely death of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane are explored by director Paul Schrader in this biopic, which marks one of the few times the filmmaker has not scripted his own film. Auto Focus chronologically traces the meteoric rise of Crane's show business career, beginning with his early success as a jokey deejay on Los Angeles morning radio in the early '60s. A devout family man, Crane lives in Southern Californian comfort with his wife Anne (Rita Wilson) and their young children, relishing the modicum of celebrity his job provides him. His life begins to change, however, when his agent Lenny (Ron Leibman) proposes that he take a breakthrough role on the CBS POW-camp sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Initially reluctant to take the job, Crane signs on with the production and, to his and everyone else's surprise, the show becomes a smash hit. With celebrity comes a new set of friends, and Crane falls in with audio-visual guru John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), a Sony sales rep who spends his days setting up home entertainment systems for the Hollywood elite, and his nights cruising strip clubs for anonymous sexual encounters. Already a pornography buff, Crane starts using his fame to secure him and Carpenter an endless parade of affairs, which they videotape and then obsessively review. It isn't long before Anne demands a divorce, and Crane marries his Hogan's co-star Patti Olsen (aka Sigrid Valdis, here played by Maria Bello), who's more accepting of his escapades. When the sitcom is canceled, however, Crane has trouble securing acting jobs, and recedes further and further into his life of amateur porn with Carpenter. Auto Focus premiered at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals before its art-house run in the fall of 2002. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, (more)
Australian director Gregor Jordan makes his sophomore effort with this tale about crooked U.S. soldiers based in Germany during the waning days of the cold war. Special Fourth Class soldier Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) guards against the Soviets while on duty, and rips off the U.S. military while off duty. Handsome, calculating, and thoroughly amoral, Elwood runs a profitable black-market business that operates just below the official radar. He and his associates make drugs to sell to his fellow GIs; steal Army supplies, selling them to a German connection; and a host of other dirty deeds. One day, he and his gang uncover some loot that will land them some real money -- high-tech military weaponry. As they try to quietly offload the stuff, the new sergeant, Robert K. Lee (Scott Glenn), catches on to Elwood's nefarious deeds and sets out to put him out of businesses. Elwood, in turn, catches on to the fact that Lee has a very attractive daughter (Anna Paquin) and sets out to bed her. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, (more)
A complex tale of uneasy alliances along the Kansas/Missouri border during the Civil War, Ride with the Devil concerns Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), a proud son of the South ready to fight for the Confederate cause after his father is killed by Union troops. Chiles's best friend, Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire), joins the Bushwhackers, a group of renegade Southerners aligned with the Confederate Army, even though his family supports the Union cause. The two young men, used to the slow pace and gracious lifestyle of the South's privileged class, are soon confronted with the chaos of battle. Their comrades include valiant leader Black John (James Caviezel), paranoid madman Pitt (Jonathan Rhys Myers), Southern gentleman George (Simon Baker), and Daniel (Jeffrey Wright), a slave from George's plantation. The Bushwhackers hide out in a barn near the home of Sue Lee (singer/songwriter/poet Jewel, in her film debut), a pregnant widow whose husband died in battle three weeks after their marriage. Roedel and Sue Lee begin a chaste romance, but it remains to be seen if the war will permit them to stay together. Adapted from the novel Woe to Live On by Daniel Woodrell, Ride with the Devil was directed by Ang Lee, whose previous project was a very different look at America's past, the 1970s domestic drama The Ice Storm (1997). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Skeet Ulrich, Tobey Maguire, (more)
A family is torn between their need to air out their dirty laundry and their habit of sweeping things under the rug in this emotional drama. Hal (Roy Scheider) and Lena (Blythe Danner) are a successful but emotionally frosty New England couple whose four adult children are coming home for Thanksgiving. Strapping Jake (Michael Vartan) brings along his new girlfriend Margaret (Hope Davis), but while her affection for him is obvious, he's not sure how he feels about her. Mia (Julianne Moore), an alternately reserved and sexually ravenous art gallery worker, also brings her current lover, the nervous and unstable Elliot (Brian Kerwin). Leigh (Laurel Holloman) seems happier and better adjusted than her siblings, but she still hasn't resolved her long-standing rivalry with Mia. And Warren (Noah Wyle), who hasn't seen his parents for three years, has a bitter grudge against his father and hasn't been able to get his former girlfriend Daphne (Arija Bareikis) out of his mind. Co-star Noah Wyle also served as associate producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arija Bareikis, Noah Wyle, (more)
Set on Thanksgiving weekend of 1973, The Ice Storm looks into the lives of a wealthy Connecticut family who are calm and civil on the outside, but whose lives are quietly falling into chaos. Sixteen-year-old Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) is home for the holidays from prep school; he'd just as soon have stayed at school, given the usual level of tension around the house and his desire to win the affections of Casey (Katie Holmes), a girl living in Manhattan. His 14-year-old sister, Wendy (Christina Ricci), is already a hardened cynic obsessed with the ongoing Watergate investigation, and she has begun acting out sexually with a neighbor boy, Mikey (Elijah Wood). Apparently, this runs in the family: Wendy's father, Ben (Kevin Kline), is having an affair with Mikey's mother, Janey (Sigourney Weaver), though Ben sees a future in the relationship and Janey does not. Elena (Joan Allen), Ben's wife, knows something is wrong with her marriage and her life, but she has no idea what she should do about it. As the teenagers surreptitiously experiment with drugs and alcohol, and the adults drift into mate-swapping, a dangerous blanket of freezing rain begins to cover New Canaan. The Ice Storm was adapted from the acclaimed novel by Rick Moody. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, (more)
This is the second film by actor/director Ed Burns, his first being The Brothers McMullen. The two Fitzpatrick brothers, Mickey (Ed Burns) and Francis (Mike McGlone), would appear to have little in common, as the older is a rather volatile cab driver, the younger is a very settled stockbroker. Just prior to the time of the film, Mickey, after a whirlwind romance, married Hope (Maxine Bahns), one of his passengers. Francis has been married to his lifelong sweetheart (Jennifer Aniston) for some time. However, they are both very competitive about Heather (Cameron Diaz), an old flame of Mickey's. Mickey, who was once her fiance, left her when he found out she was sleeping with someone else. At the time of the story, Heather just happens to become a passenger in Mickey's cab, and they decide to finish exchanging belongings left over from their break-up. When Heather gives Francis (her current lover) the watch Mickey just returned to her, complications multiply. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Aniston, Maxine Bahns, (more)
A Manhattan woman struggles with loneliness in the face of her best friend's imminent marriage in this well-received independent comedy from first-time writer-director Nicole Holofcener. Amelia (Catherine Keener) feels isolated because her friend Laura (Anne Heche) has been devoting all her time to preparing for her upcoming wedding. Desperate, she resorts to the unthinkable: dating the nerdy, Fangoria-obsessed clerk at her local video store (Kevin Corrigan). This discouraging encounter, along with some awkward conversations with her former boyfriend, leave her even more depressed and jealous of Laura's good fortune. However, Laura soon reveals that she is having her own doubts about her future. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Keener, Anne Heche, (more)
Shot on weekends over an eight-month period with practically no budget, writer/director/producer/actor Edward Burns' first feature is a family drama centering on the tumultuous love lives of three small-town, Irish-American brothers. Burns stars as Barry, the middle child who finds himself needing a place to stay and moves in with big brother Jack (Jack Mulcahy). Despite being seemingly happily married to Molly (Connie Britton), Jack gives in to temptation and begins having a sexual affair. All the while, devout-Catholic baby brother Patrick (Mike McGlone) faces an ongoing struggle to deal with the religious leanings of the women in his life. The Brothers McMullen premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, where it was at the center of a fierce bidding war. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Mulcahy, Mike McGlone, (more)
Todd Haynes presents a revisionist take on the paranoia thriller with this story of a Southern California housewife who suddenly falls victim to an inexplicable, apparently incurable illness. Carol White (Julianne Moore) lives with her husband and son in suburban comfort until she collapses one day, for no apparent reason. Her condition worsens in the weeks that follow, as she suffers from coughing fits, exhaustion, and spontaneous nose bleeds, triggered by sources as disparate as car exhaust, cologne, and the sun. Failing to find any medical explanation for her maladies, her doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who suggests that her physical ailments are psychosomatic -- a theory echoed by her callous and increasingly frustrated husband. At her wits' end, Carol withdraws to an expensive New Age retreat for sufferers of "20th century disease," where the community's guru (Peter Friedman) champions a dubious regimen of diet, climate control, introspection, and self-love. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julianne Moore, Peter Friedman, (more)
A gay New Yorker stages a marriage of convenience with a young woman to satisfy his traditional Taiwanese family, but the wedding becomes a major inconvenience when his parents fly in for the ceremony. Director Ang Lee came to international prominence with this warm-hearted comedy, which centers on the farcical confusion that emerges from this deception. Gao Wai Tung (Winston Chao) has never shared the truth about his sexuality with his family, and hopes to disguise his long-term relationship with his lover Simon by marrying Wei-Wei, a young artist who's only it for the green card. But Wai Tung's parents refuse to let him off the hook easily, showing up to plan a massive wedding banquet. Indeed, much of the film's comedy springs from the contrast between the sheer lavishness of the parents' plans and the sham nature of the wedding. Naturally, the titular party spins out of control, leading to a series of events that threatens all of Wai Tung's relationships. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winston Chao, May Chin, (more)
Alexandre Rockwell's quirky autobiographical comedy stars Steve Buscemi as Adolpho Rollo, a would-be screenwriter who is obsessed with getting his 500-page script "Unconditional Surrender" produced. Desperate for money, he places an ad for financial backing, which is answered by con man Joe (Seymour Cassel). The film was shot in color, but was released theatrically in black & white. Both verisions eventually made their way to home video release. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Buscemi, Seymour Cassel, (more)
