Boutique distributor Juno Films has picked up North American distribution rights to the Irish-language feature “Róise and Frank,” (“Mo Ghrá Buan”), the company confirmed on Friday.
Written and directed by Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy, the drama tells the story of an imaginative widow, played by Irish actress Bríd Ní Neachtain, who decides that a stray dog she befriends is the reincarnation of her deceased husband Frank.
As time passes, Róise slowly begins to open herself back up to the outside world and reconnect to friends and family. Her canine companion starts to coach the local junior high school’s hurling team with great success for the team and its players, under Frank’s guidance.
“Róise and Frank” is a charming and delightful film that highlights the power of family ties, of hope, and of love,” said Juno Films CEO, Elizabeth Sheldon. “
It brings a warm touch to the universal...
Written and directed by Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy, the drama tells the story of an imaginative widow, played by Irish actress Bríd Ní Neachtain, who decides that a stray dog she befriends is the reincarnation of her deceased husband Frank.
As time passes, Róise slowly begins to open herself back up to the outside world and reconnect to friends and family. Her canine companion starts to coach the local junior high school’s hurling team with great success for the team and its players, under Frank’s guidance.
“Róise and Frank” is a charming and delightful film that highlights the power of family ties, of hope, and of love,” said Juno Films CEO, Elizabeth Sheldon. “
It brings a warm touch to the universal...
- 9/23/2022
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Juno Films has acquired rights to the experimental drama The Same Storm, from writer-director Peter Hedges (Ben Is Back), for distribution in the U.S., Canada and the UK. The film will open at the Quad Cinema in NYC and the Laemmle Santa Monica on October 14.
Filmed during the Covid pandemic using cell phones and laptops, The Same Storm invites viewers into the lives of 24 characters as they navigate the spring and summer of 2020. With lockdowns, the Black Lives Matter movement and the looming 2020 election as key backdrops, the film explores the importance of human connection, family and love during a time when all of that seemed out of reach.
Two-time Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker (Colin in Black & White), two-time Oscar nominee Elaine May (Crisis in Six Scenes), Emmy nominee Moses Ingram (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Independent Spirit Award nominee...
Filmed during the Covid pandemic using cell phones and laptops, The Same Storm invites viewers into the lives of 24 characters as they navigate the spring and summer of 2020. With lockdowns, the Black Lives Matter movement and the looming 2020 election as key backdrops, the film explores the importance of human connection, family and love during a time when all of that seemed out of reach.
Two-time Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker (Colin in Black & White), two-time Oscar nominee Elaine May (Crisis in Six Scenes), Emmy nominee Moses Ingram (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Independent Spirit Award nominee...
- 8/24/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
We Are Living Things Trailer — Antonio Tibaldi‘s We Are Living Things (2021) movie trailer has been released by Juno Films. The We Are Living Things trailer stars Jorge Antonio Guerrero and Xingchen Lyu. Crew Àlex Lora and Antonio Tibaldi wrote the screenplay for We Are Living Things. Plot Synopsis We Are Living Things‘ plot synopsis: “After a [...]
Continue reading: We Are Living Things (2021) Movie Trailer: Two Undocumented Residents in Search of Alien Life are forced to Run from the Law...
Continue reading: We Are Living Things (2021) Movie Trailer: Two Undocumented Residents in Search of Alien Life are forced to Run from the Law...
- 7/22/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
"Why are you following me?" "I think I know you from... somewhere." Juno Films has debuted an official trailer for an indie drama titled We Are Living Things, the latest film from Australian filmmaker Antonio Tibaldi who's telling a story about immigrants in America. This first premiered at last year's Deauville Film Festival, and it also played at the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival earlier this yea. Two immigrants living on the fringes of American society hit the road in search of the truth about a shared UFO abduction and to escape the law. The film stars Jorge Antonio Guerrero (also seen in Roma) and Xingchen Lyu as the undocumented immigrants living in New York City who meet by chance and discover a mutual passion for searching for intelligent life in the universe. An "out of time" fable with a sci-fi element, the film touches on the current national and global controversies over migration,...
- 7/21/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Deauville American Film Festival has unveiled the competition lineup of its 2021 edition, which includes Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” and Michael Sarnoski’s “Pig.”
Under the leadership of artistic director Bruno Barde, the festival’s competition will also showcase Pascual Sisto’s John and the Hole,” David Bruckner’s “The Night House,” Justin Chon’s “Blue Bayou,” Josef Kubota Wladyka’s “Catch The Fair One,” Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure,” Wes Hurley’s “Potato Dreams of America,” Tim Sutton’s “The Last Son,” Lauren Hadaway’s “The Novice,” Antonio Tibaldi’s “We Are Living Things,” and Alana Waksman’s “We Burn Like This.”
Several films in the Deauville roster world premiered at Cannes, notably the competition title “Red Rocket,” about a former porn star who moves back to Texas City to get a fresh start and falls back into old habits; and “Blue Bayou,” a heart-wrenching drama with Justin Chon...
Under the leadership of artistic director Bruno Barde, the festival’s competition will also showcase Pascual Sisto’s John and the Hole,” David Bruckner’s “The Night House,” Justin Chon’s “Blue Bayou,” Josef Kubota Wladyka’s “Catch The Fair One,” Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure,” Wes Hurley’s “Potato Dreams of America,” Tim Sutton’s “The Last Son,” Lauren Hadaway’s “The Novice,” Antonio Tibaldi’s “We Are Living Things,” and Alana Waksman’s “We Burn Like This.”
Several films in the Deauville roster world premiered at Cannes, notably the competition title “Red Rocket,” about a former porn star who moves back to Texas City to get a fresh start and falls back into old habits; and “Blue Bayou,” a heart-wrenching drama with Justin Chon...
- 8/10/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Virtual edition of the festival drew 3,000 accredited pass-holders from 45 countries.
Derek Tsang’s China-set youth drama Better Days won the top prize, the Golden Mulberry, at the conclusion of Italy’s Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Udine, which took place as a virtual event (June 26-July 4).
The film, which also won eight prizes including best film at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, also won Feff’s Black Mulberry Award, selected by Shogun pass-holders.
Feff’s Silver Mulberry went to Malaysian director Layla Ji’s debut film Victim(s), while the Crystal Mulberry went to Taiwanese filmmaker Liao Ming-yi’s I-Weirdo,...
Derek Tsang’s China-set youth drama Better Days won the top prize, the Golden Mulberry, at the conclusion of Italy’s Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Udine, which took place as a virtual event (June 26-July 4).
The film, which also won eight prizes including best film at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, also won Feff’s Black Mulberry Award, selected by Shogun pass-holders.
Feff’s Silver Mulberry went to Malaysian director Layla Ji’s debut film Victim(s), while the Crystal Mulberry went to Taiwanese filmmaker Liao Ming-yi’s I-Weirdo,...
- 7/6/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Wip initiative will run simultaneously with the Haf main programme (August 26-28) and Filmart Online (August 26-29).
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) has announced the 22 projects, including ten narrative features and 12 documentaries, which have been selected for the Work-in-Progress (Wip) section of this year’s Haf.
The Wip initiative will run simultaneously with the Haf main programme (August 26-28) and Filmart Online (August 26-29). Both events were postponed from March due to the Covid-19 pandemic and were recently forced to move online as travel restrictions are still in place across the region and in Hong Kong.
Haf will...
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) has announced the 22 projects, including ten narrative features and 12 documentaries, which have been selected for the Work-in-Progress (Wip) section of this year’s Haf.
The Wip initiative will run simultaneously with the Haf main programme (August 26-28) and Filmart Online (August 26-29). Both events were postponed from March due to the Covid-19 pandemic and were recently forced to move online as travel restrictions are still in place across the region and in Hong Kong.
Haf will...
- 6/23/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
King Hu’s The Fate of Lee Khan has been restored.
The Aki Kaurismäki series is still running.
Prints of Rio Bravo and Cronenberg’s Spider screen on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Bam
The largest-ever Us retrospective of one of our greatest filmmakers continues with “Claire Denis: Strange Desire.”
Japan Society
“The Other Japanese New Wave,...
Metrograph
King Hu’s The Fate of Lee Khan has been restored.
The Aki Kaurismäki series is still running.
Prints of Rio Bravo and Cronenberg’s Spider screen on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Bam
The largest-ever Us retrospective of one of our greatest filmmakers continues with “Claire Denis: Strange Desire.”
Japan Society
“The Other Japanese New Wave,...
- 4/5/2019
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Thy Father’S Chair No Permits Produktions Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Àlex Lora, Antonio Tibaldi, Cast: Abraham, Shraga, Hanan Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 3/23/18 Opens: In Theaters Oct. 13, 2017. Available on VOD March 30, 2018. When you really dislike a film, perhaps the worst insult you can throw its way is that “it’s […]
The post Thy Father’s Chair Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Thy Father’s Chair Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 3/26/2018
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Summer 1993 — Catalonia, Spain
So cathartic was Summer 1993 that my personal psyche will be marked by it forever. Why this story, about a six year old girl who quietly and slowly comes to terms with the death of her mother and how the process, invisible to anyone watching, culminates in a sudden crescendo of emotion moved me to tears, is what you must find out on your own.
No one knows the emotions of another person unless communication, self-knowledge and compassion work in favor of knowing. Yes tears and laughter mean a lot but without tears and laughter, there are thousands of feelings not communicated which result in actions whose meaning is unknown. And for children who have no words for their feelings or why they act as they do, adults can only surmise and intuit if they are able.
A child of six has no way of knowing death; children are fearless,...
So cathartic was Summer 1993 that my personal psyche will be marked by it forever. Why this story, about a six year old girl who quietly and slowly comes to terms with the death of her mother and how the process, invisible to anyone watching, culminates in a sudden crescendo of emotion moved me to tears, is what you must find out on your own.
No one knows the emotions of another person unless communication, self-knowledge and compassion work in favor of knowing. Yes tears and laughter mean a lot but without tears and laughter, there are thousands of feelings not communicated which result in actions whose meaning is unknown. And for children who have no words for their feelings or why they act as they do, adults can only surmise and intuit if they are able.
A child of six has no way of knowing death; children are fearless,...
- 12/5/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
George Gittoes. Snow Monkey and Bill Guttentag and Michael Ware.s Only the Dead will screen at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa).
Filmed in Afghanistan in 2014 when foreign forces leave and an internal power struggle begins, Snow Monkey will screen in official competition at the festival which runs November 18-29.
Produced by Lizzette Atkins and Gittoes, the final film in his What the World Needs Now! trilogy premiered at Miff this year and followed the lives of those living in the Yellow House at Jalalabad, a collective of artists, film makers and social revolutionaries as they again face the threat of a Taliban-ruled society. It was funded through Screen Australia's Signature Documentary program.
Only the Dead, which follows Ware, an Australian journalist for CNN and Time Magazine as he journeys through the deepest recesses of the Iraq War, will unspool in the Best of Fests section. Patrick McDonald produced with Ware.
Filmed in Afghanistan in 2014 when foreign forces leave and an internal power struggle begins, Snow Monkey will screen in official competition at the festival which runs November 18-29.
Produced by Lizzette Atkins and Gittoes, the final film in his What the World Needs Now! trilogy premiered at Miff this year and followed the lives of those living in the Yellow House at Jalalabad, a collective of artists, film makers and social revolutionaries as they again face the threat of a Taliban-ruled society. It was funded through Screen Australia's Signature Documentary program.
Only the Dead, which follows Ware, an Australian journalist for CNN and Time Magazine as he journeys through the deepest recesses of the Iraq War, will unspool in the Best of Fests section. Patrick McDonald produced with Ware.
- 10/13/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
George Gittoes’s Snow Monkey (pictured) and Nick Read’s Bolshoi Babylon among the 15 titles in competition.
The 28th Idfa (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) has unveiled its line-up, including its main competition.
The festival, which runs Nov 18-29, will comprise 319 titles (from 3,425 submissions), 78 of which receive their world premieres at Idfa. A total of 50 Dutch productions are included in the program, spread across the various strands.
A total of 15 films will compete in the Idfa Competition for Feature-Length Documentary, including Tom Fassaert’s A Family Affair, which opens the festival on Nov 18.
The jury, made up of Laurent Bécue-Renard (France), Mahamat Saleh Haroun (Chad), Hanna Polak (Poland), Jonathan Rosenbaum (USA) and Barbara Visser (the Netherlands) will present the Vpro Idfa Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, a cash prize of €12,500 ($14,000) and the Idfa Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary worth €2,500 ($2,800).
The titles include (synopses provided by Idfa):
Bolshoi Babylon by Nick Read (Russia / UK)
A revealing...
The 28th Idfa (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) has unveiled its line-up, including its main competition.
The festival, which runs Nov 18-29, will comprise 319 titles (from 3,425 submissions), 78 of which receive their world premieres at Idfa. A total of 50 Dutch productions are included in the program, spread across the various strands.
A total of 15 films will compete in the Idfa Competition for Feature-Length Documentary, including Tom Fassaert’s A Family Affair, which opens the festival on Nov 18.
The jury, made up of Laurent Bécue-Renard (France), Mahamat Saleh Haroun (Chad), Hanna Polak (Poland), Jonathan Rosenbaum (USA) and Barbara Visser (the Netherlands) will present the Vpro Idfa Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, a cash prize of €12,500 ($14,000) and the Idfa Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary worth €2,500 ($2,800).
The titles include (synopses provided by Idfa):
Bolshoi Babylon by Nick Read (Russia / UK)
A revealing...
- 10/9/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...
- 7/22/2015
- by admin
- IONCINEMA.com
Oscar-nominated UK director Tanel Toom and Estonian documentary maker Jaak Kilmi are among 22 film-makers with film projects in the fifth edition of the When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production forum (Jan 18-20).
Estonian-born Toom, who was nominated for The Confession (his graduation film from the UK’s Nfts), will be in Trieste with his fiction feature debut, the sci-fi thriller Gateway 6, to be produced by Matt Wilkinson and Ben Pullen’s Stigma Films, while Latvian producer Antra Gaile of Mistrus Media will be pitching Kilmi’s People From Nowhere.
A total of 10 documentaries and 12 fiction feature projects from 13 countries were selected from a record 285 submissions, including 57 from Italy, 38 from the UK, 19 from Canada, 15 from Ireland, 13 from the Us, and 143 from Eastern Europe.
Since Wemw’s 2015 edition has a focus on English-speaking countries, the line-up includes:
veteran Canadian film-maker Anne Henderson’s documentary project Missing Persona;
the Us-Italian co-production The Oldest Man Alive by Antonio Tibaldi, to be produced...
Estonian-born Toom, who was nominated for The Confession (his graduation film from the UK’s Nfts), will be in Trieste with his fiction feature debut, the sci-fi thriller Gateway 6, to be produced by Matt Wilkinson and Ben Pullen’s Stigma Films, while Latvian producer Antra Gaile of Mistrus Media will be pitching Kilmi’s People From Nowhere.
A total of 10 documentaries and 12 fiction feature projects from 13 countries were selected from a record 285 submissions, including 57 from Italy, 38 from the UK, 19 from Canada, 15 from Ireland, 13 from the Us, and 143 from Eastern Europe.
Since Wemw’s 2015 edition has a focus on English-speaking countries, the line-up includes:
veteran Canadian film-maker Anne Henderson’s documentary project Missing Persona;
the Us-Italian co-production The Oldest Man Alive by Antonio Tibaldi, to be produced...
- 1/5/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The odds of having your short film included in this year’s Sundance Film Festival are .008 percent. Out of the 66 short film line-up (selected among 8,161 submissions) we find actress Rose McGowan move behind the camera for her directing debut (Dawn), we have Ain’t Them Bodies Saints producer Toby Halbrooks shovel out Dig (see pic above) and Todd Rohal (The Guatemalan Handshake) returns to the fest in between features with Rat Pack Rat. Filmmaker Magazine New Faces of Independent Film director Dean Fleischer-Camp rolls up his shirt sleeves with Catherine, Matthew Lessner returns to Park City with the helping hand Chapel Perilous while The Strange Ones (’11 accepted short) co-helmer Christopher Radcliff won’t be making a dissappearing act with Jonathan’s Chest. Finally docu feature-film helmer Lucy Walker moves into The Lion’s Mouth Opens. I’ll of course be covering several of these – look out for our coverage.
Here...
Here...
- 12/10/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Short films can go a long way. Especially when they’re showcased at the Sundance Film Festival. The festival’s Shorts program, which was announced today, has a tradition of identifying remarkable filmmakers as well as introducing stories that ultimately make it to the big-screen as features. For example, David O. Russell brought his first film, a short titled Bingo Inferno to Sundance in 1987, while Half Nelson, which earned Ryan Gosling his first Oscar nomination, grew out of Ryan Fleck’s 2004 Sundance short titled, Gowanus, Brooklyn. “If you look back at the directors who got their start by having a short at Sundance,...
- 12/10/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The Tribeca Film Institute today announced the four projects that will receive financial and creative support from the Tfi Sloan Filmmaker Fund. A total of $140,000 in funds will be awarded and recognized at this year's Tribeca Film Festival (April 17-28). The winning films are: Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo's "2030," Eugene Ramos' "Newton's Laws of Emotion," Antonio Tibaldi's "Oldest Man Alive" and Musa Syeed's "The Doctor." The projects all integrate science and technology-oriented themes and characters into their storylines.Jury members included actors Clark Middleton ("Kill Bill: Vol. II," "Sin City"), Ron Livingston ("Office Space," "Band of Brothers"), Dean Winters (“Oz,” “30 Rock,” “Rescue Me”), Helen Fisher, PhD, biological anthropologist; and John Quackenbusch, Harvard professor of computational biology and bioinformatics.Here are the official synopses for the winning projects:2030In a near future Vietnam where seawater has buried a large part of the land and cultivation...
- 4/4/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
There's a small Italian island in between Sicily and Africa that, for years, has served as a stepping stone for African immigrants looking for a brighter future. Recently, a large film production took to this haven in order to tell a fictional account of these people -- though, as it turns out, the migrants play second fiddle to a white character who leads the narrative. Camera in tow, Antonio Tibaldi documents the behind-the-scenes riff raffs, shooting both the African extras and the local townspeople as they display their respective frustrations with the grandiose movie attempting to tell their story. "[s]comparse" has plenty of intelligent, great ideas -- for example, the movie shoot is treated like an unwanted foreigner by the natives, opening up plenty of interesting layers -- but is brought down by its conventional, repetitive structure.
Before "Big Hollywood” settles in, Tibaldi takes us through the quiet town to...
Before "Big Hollywood” settles in, Tibaldi takes us through the quiet town to...
- 6/9/2012
- by Christopher Bell
- The Playlist
NEW YORK -Director Antonio Tibaldi, who in his last picture, "Little Boy Blue", demonstrated a penchant for both vivid atmospherics and overbaked narratives, provides a similarly uneven mixture in his latest effort.
A beautiful looking film with a strong performance by Christina Applegate, "Claudine's Return", set on a picturesque island off the coast of Georgia, is ultimately undone by its narrative obliqueness. It recently served as the closing night film at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Applegate, in a strong departure from her television roles, plays the title character, an unstable young woman who works as a motel maid by day and stripper by night. The other central character is Stefano (Stefano Dionisi), a young Italian drifter who takes a job as the motel's handyman. The pair are soon romantically involved, but Claudine, who is bisexual, keeps her emotional distance.
The pair embark on a road trip in which Claudine's already fragile emotional state becomes increasingly undone, as she confronts the events of her past, including the early death of her only sibling. Stefano, very much in love, becomes more and more frustrated as he watches Claudine spiral downward into self- destruction.
The screenplay, by Tibaldi and Heidi Hall, is deliberately vague as to the characters' motivations, and generally seems more interested in providing colorful incidents - the pair have a lengthy encounter with a cockatoo, for instance - and depicting the sleepy and somewhat seedy atmosphere of its setting. The general themes of loneliness and emotional unraveling are not handled in a particularly original fashion, and the film is affecting only in isolated moments.
Still, the director demonstrates a strong visual sense and a definite ability to provide a vivid ambiance. Although at times one becomes too aware of his efforts, such as with his use of different film speeds, there is no denying his technical skills. Both lead actors deliver strong performances, with Applegate providing a textured and subtle characterization of a disturbed woman and Dionisi registering as a smoldering and sexy presence. Valerie Perrine also shows up for a brief and wordless cameo.
CLAUDINE'S RETURN
Alliance Independent Films
A Jazz Pictures production
Director:Antonio Tibaldi
Screenplay:Antonio Tibaldi, Heidi Hall
Producer:Amedeo Ursini, Patricia Foulkrod
Director of photography:Luca Bigazzi
Editor:Janice Keuhnelian
Production designer:Bryce Perrin
Composer:Michel Colombier
Color/stereo
Cast:
Claudine Van Doozen:Christina Applegate
Stefano:Stefano Dionisi
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A beautiful looking film with a strong performance by Christina Applegate, "Claudine's Return", set on a picturesque island off the coast of Georgia, is ultimately undone by its narrative obliqueness. It recently served as the closing night film at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Applegate, in a strong departure from her television roles, plays the title character, an unstable young woman who works as a motel maid by day and stripper by night. The other central character is Stefano (Stefano Dionisi), a young Italian drifter who takes a job as the motel's handyman. The pair are soon romantically involved, but Claudine, who is bisexual, keeps her emotional distance.
The pair embark on a road trip in which Claudine's already fragile emotional state becomes increasingly undone, as she confronts the events of her past, including the early death of her only sibling. Stefano, very much in love, becomes more and more frustrated as he watches Claudine spiral downward into self- destruction.
The screenplay, by Tibaldi and Heidi Hall, is deliberately vague as to the characters' motivations, and generally seems more interested in providing colorful incidents - the pair have a lengthy encounter with a cockatoo, for instance - and depicting the sleepy and somewhat seedy atmosphere of its setting. The general themes of loneliness and emotional unraveling are not handled in a particularly original fashion, and the film is affecting only in isolated moments.
Still, the director demonstrates a strong visual sense and a definite ability to provide a vivid ambiance. Although at times one becomes too aware of his efforts, such as with his use of different film speeds, there is no denying his technical skills. Both lead actors deliver strong performances, with Applegate providing a textured and subtle characterization of a disturbed woman and Dionisi registering as a smoldering and sexy presence. Valerie Perrine also shows up for a brief and wordless cameo.
CLAUDINE'S RETURN
Alliance Independent Films
A Jazz Pictures production
Director:Antonio Tibaldi
Screenplay:Antonio Tibaldi, Heidi Hall
Producer:Amedeo Ursini, Patricia Foulkrod
Director of photography:Luca Bigazzi
Editor:Janice Keuhnelian
Production designer:Bryce Perrin
Composer:Michel Colombier
Color/stereo
Cast:
Claudine Van Doozen:Christina Applegate
Stefano:Stefano Dionisi
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
With his torso buffed and tanned and his hair clipped and dyed Nazi blond, John Savage is a convincing icon of brutality in "Little Boy Blue", a garish and sordid melodrama of abuse, incest and revenge set in dusty rural Texas.
The Savage character, Ray West, doesn't just have a short fuse, he seems to have no fuse at all. The second anything ticks him off, Ray's fury accelerates from zero straight to 60. Ray's behavior is too blunt and predictable to be deeply scary.
A central miscalculation is the way the character of Ray's oldest son Jimmy Ryan Phillippe) has been conceived. There's nothing in his personality as we see it to indicate that he's a product of grotesque abuse. For a kid who's been forced to make love to the maddeningly passive woman he believes to be his mother (Nastassja Kinski, as sinuous as ever) while his dad watches and gratifies himself, he's a remarkably alert and sweet-souled lad; sad and angry, perhaps, but otherwise unscarred.
Phillippe's performance is impressive, but the portrayal doesn't make a lick of sense in the overall context of the movie. Jimmy's sensitivity and his stubborn sense of duty are really just givens in "Little Boy Blue". Without them, his heroic decision to turn down a sports scholarship to stick around and protect his younger brothers (Devon Michael and Adam Burke) would be all but inexplicable. Jimmy's been arbitrarily dropped into a hellish situation that in real life could never give rise to anyone remotely like him.
"Little Boy Blue" is supposed to be a thriller, a dirt-road noir; Jim Thompson with a snootful of crystal meth. But director Antonio Tibaldi isn't a clear or a crafty enough storyteller to pull it off. Some crucial nuggets of information are withheld strategically to set up the big surprises. (Ray's past does finally catch up with him, and then Shirley Knight wades in as a gunslinging matronly avenger.) When even basic facts are so confusingly presented that its hard to tell which obscurities are intended and which are inadvertent, we're too busy scratching our heads to register much suspense.
LITTLE BOY BLUE
Castle Hill
Director: Antonio Tibaldi
Producer: Amedeo Ursini
Screenplay: Michael Boston
Executive producer: Virginia Giritlian
Director of photography: Ron Hagen
Editors: Antonio Tibaldi, Tobin Taylor
Music: Stuart Copeland
Production designer: John Frick
Costume designer: April Ferry
Color
Cast:
Ray West: John Savage
Jimmy West: Ryan Phillippe
Kate West: Nastassja Kinski
Doris Knight: Shirley Knight
Nate Carr: Tyrin Turner
Traci Conner: Jenny Lewis
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The Savage character, Ray West, doesn't just have a short fuse, he seems to have no fuse at all. The second anything ticks him off, Ray's fury accelerates from zero straight to 60. Ray's behavior is too blunt and predictable to be deeply scary.
A central miscalculation is the way the character of Ray's oldest son Jimmy Ryan Phillippe) has been conceived. There's nothing in his personality as we see it to indicate that he's a product of grotesque abuse. For a kid who's been forced to make love to the maddeningly passive woman he believes to be his mother (Nastassja Kinski, as sinuous as ever) while his dad watches and gratifies himself, he's a remarkably alert and sweet-souled lad; sad and angry, perhaps, but otherwise unscarred.
Phillippe's performance is impressive, but the portrayal doesn't make a lick of sense in the overall context of the movie. Jimmy's sensitivity and his stubborn sense of duty are really just givens in "Little Boy Blue". Without them, his heroic decision to turn down a sports scholarship to stick around and protect his younger brothers (Devon Michael and Adam Burke) would be all but inexplicable. Jimmy's been arbitrarily dropped into a hellish situation that in real life could never give rise to anyone remotely like him.
"Little Boy Blue" is supposed to be a thriller, a dirt-road noir; Jim Thompson with a snootful of crystal meth. But director Antonio Tibaldi isn't a clear or a crafty enough storyteller to pull it off. Some crucial nuggets of information are withheld strategically to set up the big surprises. (Ray's past does finally catch up with him, and then Shirley Knight wades in as a gunslinging matronly avenger.) When even basic facts are so confusingly presented that its hard to tell which obscurities are intended and which are inadvertent, we're too busy scratching our heads to register much suspense.
LITTLE BOY BLUE
Castle Hill
Director: Antonio Tibaldi
Producer: Amedeo Ursini
Screenplay: Michael Boston
Executive producer: Virginia Giritlian
Director of photography: Ron Hagen
Editors: Antonio Tibaldi, Tobin Taylor
Music: Stuart Copeland
Production designer: John Frick
Costume designer: April Ferry
Color
Cast:
Ray West: John Savage
Jimmy West: Ryan Phillippe
Kate West: Nastassja Kinski
Doris Knight: Shirley Knight
Nate Carr: Tyrin Turner
Traci Conner: Jenny Lewis
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/28/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. -- At the beginning of Antonio Tibaldi's feature, a 19-year-old man is having passionate foreplay with his half-naked, beautiful young girlfriend.
Just as things are starting to happen, he begs off, apologizing, and says, "I guess I'm just not ready yet". We immediately know that this film will be not be usual fare -- and also that it has lost more than a little credibility.
"Little Boy Lost", which had its U.S. premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival, is a solemn and lugubrious treatment of wildly overbaked and melodramatic material. Containing or hinting at such plot elements as incest, kidnapping, murder, a very large catfish, burial alive and someone getting killed by cracking their head after slipping on their own urine, the lurid story is something that James M. Cain might perhaps have been able to pull off, but no one else. It makes "Tobacco Road" look like "Masterpiece Theatre".
The aforementioned young man is Jimmy Ryan Phillippe), who lives, along with his two much-younger brothers, with his probably-psychotic Father Ray (John Savage) and Ray's beautiful wife Kate (Nastassja Kinski) in a desolate trailer home in Texas. Ray, whose war wounds have rendered him impotent, forces Jimmy and Kate to have sex for his own gratification; it is only Jimmy's concern for his siblings that prevents him from fleeing.
Another major plot development revolves around the appearance of an outlandishly dressed middle-aged woman (Shirley Knight) who shows up in the desolate town with a wild story to tell. It seems that years ago a young hitchhiker, a Vietnam vet, killed her husband and kidnapped her infant child. She has spent the better part of 20 years tracking him down, and the revenge she intends to extract involves a very large shotgun.
It is to be hoped that Italian director Tibaldi's experiences in America have been less extreme than all this. In any case, he treats the material with the utmost seriousness, removing any possibility that anything here might have been tongue-in-cheek. The result is that the film comes off as utterly ludicrous, despite a technical and visual proficiency and the emotionally committed performances by the largely excellent cast.
John Savage, certainly, delivers the kind of intense work that would make Robert DeNiro proud, while Kinski and Phillippe are utterly sympathetic and credible as his long-suffering victims. Best of all is Shirley Knight, who approaches her juicy role with the kind of lip-smacking gusto that suggests that she alone realized the inherent silliness of what was going on around her.
LITTLE BOY LOST
Jazz Pictures Inc.
Director: Antonio Tibaldi
Screenplay: Michael Boston
Producer: Amedeo Ursini
Executive producer: Virginia Giritlian
Cinematography: Ron Hagen
Editors: Antonio Tibaldi, Tobin Taylor
Music: Stewart Copeland
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy West: Ryan Phillippe
Kate: Nastassja Kinski
Ray West: John Savage
Traci: Jenny Lewis
Running time -- 107 minutes...
Just as things are starting to happen, he begs off, apologizing, and says, "I guess I'm just not ready yet". We immediately know that this film will be not be usual fare -- and also that it has lost more than a little credibility.
"Little Boy Lost", which had its U.S. premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival, is a solemn and lugubrious treatment of wildly overbaked and melodramatic material. Containing or hinting at such plot elements as incest, kidnapping, murder, a very large catfish, burial alive and someone getting killed by cracking their head after slipping on their own urine, the lurid story is something that James M. Cain might perhaps have been able to pull off, but no one else. It makes "Tobacco Road" look like "Masterpiece Theatre".
The aforementioned young man is Jimmy Ryan Phillippe), who lives, along with his two much-younger brothers, with his probably-psychotic Father Ray (John Savage) and Ray's beautiful wife Kate (Nastassja Kinski) in a desolate trailer home in Texas. Ray, whose war wounds have rendered him impotent, forces Jimmy and Kate to have sex for his own gratification; it is only Jimmy's concern for his siblings that prevents him from fleeing.
Another major plot development revolves around the appearance of an outlandishly dressed middle-aged woman (Shirley Knight) who shows up in the desolate town with a wild story to tell. It seems that years ago a young hitchhiker, a Vietnam vet, killed her husband and kidnapped her infant child. She has spent the better part of 20 years tracking him down, and the revenge she intends to extract involves a very large shotgun.
It is to be hoped that Italian director Tibaldi's experiences in America have been less extreme than all this. In any case, he treats the material with the utmost seriousness, removing any possibility that anything here might have been tongue-in-cheek. The result is that the film comes off as utterly ludicrous, despite a technical and visual proficiency and the emotionally committed performances by the largely excellent cast.
John Savage, certainly, delivers the kind of intense work that would make Robert DeNiro proud, while Kinski and Phillippe are utterly sympathetic and credible as his long-suffering victims. Best of all is Shirley Knight, who approaches her juicy role with the kind of lip-smacking gusto that suggests that she alone realized the inherent silliness of what was going on around her.
LITTLE BOY LOST
Jazz Pictures Inc.
Director: Antonio Tibaldi
Screenplay: Michael Boston
Producer: Amedeo Ursini
Executive producer: Virginia Giritlian
Cinematography: Ron Hagen
Editors: Antonio Tibaldi, Tobin Taylor
Music: Stewart Copeland
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy West: Ryan Phillippe
Kate: Nastassja Kinski
Ray West: John Savage
Traci: Jenny Lewis
Running time -- 107 minutes...
- 11/3/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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