Starrring director Mark Webber and his real family, this touching tale shows him escaping his sickbed on touching imaginary quests with his son
This film is a charming family affair. Director Mark Webber stars with his wife Teresa Palmer and their son Bodhi, in a magical realist story that feels at once awe-inspiring and intimate. A dying father struggles to communicate to his young son about matters of life and death and, through storytelling, the parents concoct a fantastical tale of a Viking father-and-son duo who go on adventures and encounter mysterious creatures, all while wearing enormous fur coats.
The film ingeniously alternates between a cramped hospital room and the vast, lush imaginary world where the father is no longer confined to his sickbed but instead roams around with his son on heroic quests. Patrice Lucien Cochet’s cinematography is especially inspiring in the Viking portion: the sombre grey sky,...
This film is a charming family affair. Director Mark Webber stars with his wife Teresa Palmer and their son Bodhi, in a magical realist story that feels at once awe-inspiring and intimate. A dying father struggles to communicate to his young son about matters of life and death and, through storytelling, the parents concoct a fantastical tale of a Viking father-and-son duo who go on adventures and encounter mysterious creatures, all while wearing enormous fur coats.
The film ingeniously alternates between a cramped hospital room and the vast, lush imaginary world where the father is no longer confined to his sickbed but instead roams around with his son on heroic quests. Patrice Lucien Cochet’s cinematography is especially inspiring in the Viking portion: the sombre grey sky,...
- 6/28/2021
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
You can almost envision a conventional rendering of Mark Webber’s enchanting “The Place of No Words,” the writer-director’s fifth and most ambitiously scoped feature. In that scenario, the magical journey through which a three-year-old grapples with his father’s terminal illness — something he is too young to make sense of in real-world terms — would be adorned with vivid colors and on-the-nose emotions aimed at tear ducts. Conceived through a personal lens, “The Place of No Words” thankfully takes the completely opposite approach. While occasionally wearisome in its fragmented structure (and limited in its commercial appeal), Webber’s film navigates the vast notion of grief gently and with seriousness.
With its modest intentions, “The Place of No Words” loosely brings to mind David Lowery’s similarly experimental “A Ghost Story,” in a good way — which is to say, those who are patient with its deliberate shapelessness will be eventually...
With its modest intentions, “The Place of No Words” loosely brings to mind David Lowery’s similarly experimental “A Ghost Story,” in a good way — which is to say, those who are patient with its deliberate shapelessness will be eventually...
- 4/27/2019
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance regular Patrice Cochet has served as Dp on four films at the festival since 2002: Better Luck Tomorrow, The End of Love, The Good Life and, as of this year, Joshy. Cochet speaks below about the perils of lighting improv, DPing on little prep and shooting on the Alexa. In addition to Joshy, the prolific Cochet has at least six other films set for release in 2016. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Cochet: Joshy was a film that Producers […]...
- 1/30/2016
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Sundance regular Patrice Cochet has served as Dp on four films at the festival since 2002: Better Luck Tomorrow, The End of Love, The Good Life and, as of this year, Joshy. Cochet speaks below about the perils of lighting improv, DPing on little prep and shooting on the Alexa. In addition to Joshy, the prolific Cochet has at least six other films set for release in 2016. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Cochet: Joshy was a film that Producers […]...
- 1/30/2016
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Not that it is shrouded in mystery, but Mark Webber has a distinct way of working that might be regarded Cassavetes-like for his realism and making his narratives into true family affairs – we only need to reference The End of Love (Sundance ’12) as a prime example. And speaking of family, Webber reteams with cinematographer Patrice Lucien Cochet and here partners up with Teresa Palmer – the actress and actor are attached at the limb in more than just a creative manner. Filming commenced on The Ever After in Australia earlier in the year and apparently moved from Los Angeles and New York in July and August, which means a rough cut could have been submitted. Webber, Palmer, pint-sized Phoebe Tonkin, Jaime King, Rosario Dawson, Melissa Leo, Joshua Leonard, Tahyna Tozzi, Kid Cudi and Tom Bower are part of the film’s make-up and Before Midnight was such a hit last year...
- 11/19/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
To illustrate how long it can take Sundance Film Festival hits to arrive in theaters, look no further than "The End of Love." Mark Webber's second effort as a director premiered to strong reviews at Sundance in 2012, but is only first opening to the general public on Friday, some 14 months later. (The film is also available via on demand services.)
Webber, best known as the lead singer of Scott Pilgrim's band Sex Bob-omb in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," stars in "The End of Love" as "Mark Webber," a struggling actor trying to balance his fledgling career and his role as a single dad. In a twist, "The End of Love" co-stars Webber's actual son, Isaac Love, as his onscreen son. (Isaac's real mother appears in the film in flashbacks as Isaac's onscreen mother.)
"The End of Love" is an early year triumph, a thoughtful indie comedy with moments...
Webber, best known as the lead singer of Scott Pilgrim's band Sex Bob-omb in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," stars in "The End of Love" as "Mark Webber," a struggling actor trying to balance his fledgling career and his role as a single dad. In a twist, "The End of Love" co-stars Webber's actual son, Isaac Love, as his onscreen son. (Isaac's real mother appears in the film in flashbacks as Isaac's onscreen mother.)
"The End of Love" is an early year triumph, a thoughtful indie comedy with moments...
- 2/28/2013
- by Christopher Rosen
- Huffington Post
COMPLETE SXSW 2008 COVERAGE
UPDATED 4:54 p.m. PT March 13
AUSTIN -- Jake Mahaffy's existential, experimental "Wellness" won the best narrative feature jury award at the 2008 South By Southwest Film Festival on Tuesday night.
Awards for documentary grand jury feature and Audience Award for documentary feature went to Daniel Junge for his look at the politics behind a nun's murder with "They Killed Sister Dorothy".
The Audience Award for narrative film went to first-time helmer Mark Webber for "Explicit Ills", a film about poverty and hope in Philadelphia starring Paul Dano and Rosario Dawson. Festival vet Jeremiah Zagar's portrait of his mother and mosaic artist father, "In a Dream", brought home the Emerging Visions Audience Award.
Greg Takoude's "Up With Me", a film written as a collaboration with Harlem teens, took the special jury award for ensemble cast. The documentary special jury award went to "Full Battle Rattle", directed by Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss, about the U.S. Army's urban warfare simulation in the Mojave. "Explicit Ills" also earned a special jury award for Patrice Lucien Cochet's cinematography.
UPDATED 4:54 p.m. PT March 13
AUSTIN -- Jake Mahaffy's existential, experimental "Wellness" won the best narrative feature jury award at the 2008 South By Southwest Film Festival on Tuesday night.
Awards for documentary grand jury feature and Audience Award for documentary feature went to Daniel Junge for his look at the politics behind a nun's murder with "They Killed Sister Dorothy".
The Audience Award for narrative film went to first-time helmer Mark Webber for "Explicit Ills", a film about poverty and hope in Philadelphia starring Paul Dano and Rosario Dawson. Festival vet Jeremiah Zagar's portrait of his mother and mosaic artist father, "In a Dream", brought home the Emerging Visions Audience Award.
Greg Takoude's "Up With Me", a film written as a collaboration with Harlem teens, took the special jury award for ensemble cast. The documentary special jury award went to "Full Battle Rattle", directed by Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss, about the U.S. Army's urban warfare simulation in the Mojave. "Explicit Ills" also earned a special jury award for Patrice Lucien Cochet's cinematography.
- 3/12/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Better Luck Tomorrow".
PARK CITY -- Most people have a skeleton in their closet, but very few have one in their back yard, especially as a teen. A scorching smear of high school life, prismed darkly through Asian-American eyes in Orange County, Calif., "Better Luck Tomorrow" is one of the hottest, most stylish and smartly twisted films to play at Sundance in years.
Asian-American kids are always the silent minority -- and, in this case, four disaffected teen-age dudes do a hostile takedown of their Orange County high school and community. A dramatic in-your-face slam to the stereotypical image of the studious, passive Asian-American student, these guys are a digital-age Billionaire Boys Club/Loeb and Leopold. With a jaunty "Less Than Zero"-type glaze of affluent adolescent life, "Better Luck" provides both a searing satire of modern suburbia and provocative insight into the malignant maturation of generally well-meaning and privileged kids.
Subversively charming, this gang of four operates largely unchallenged because they excel: At their core is Ben Parry Shen), an Ivy League candidate who learns a new word a day, plans to score 1,600 on his SATs and volunteers for every club and do-gooder organization. In addition, through compulsive free-throw practice, he manages to make the basketball team and becomes known, much to his surprise and displeasure, as the team's token Asian-American.
Ben's cohorts are a scruffy bunch, including the smoothly political Daric (Roger Fan), the trigger-happy Virgil (Jason Tobin) and the laconic Han (Sung Kang). There's also the rich kid, Steve John Cho), whose insouciant style and hard-ass manner, of course, manage to snare pretty cheerleader Stephanie Karin Anna Cheung). From scamming, trashing and drugging to bigger and uglier things, The Four Lads soon find themselves in way over their heads.
At its most high-spirited, "Better Luck" is anarchically fun as the four guys trounce the school's convention and, in the process, garner an outlandish reputation -- as members of the Chinese Mafia. But through the touchstone character of Ben, we're increasingly unsettled by the out-of-control character and moral turpitude of their high jinks.
Ripped with a very unsettling ending, "Better Luck" will unnerve many. But its story progression is consistent with its hard-edged look at modern society, family and morals.
Filmmaker Justin Lin's expressive storytelling fits his darkly ironic theme, and the performances are nicely fleshed-out and edgy. As high-achiever Ben, Shen shows the torment of a guy with a lot of smarts but not many values. Adding flavor and craziness is Tobin as Virgil, while Fan is aptly slick as the manipulative Daric. Cheung's saucy, effervescent turn as the fetching cheerleader also rubs smartly against the grain of expectation.
Technical credits are scorchingly good, especially cinematographer Patrice Lucien Cochet's deadly satirical compositions and music supervisor Ernesto M. Foronda's searingly hormonal selections.
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW
Cinetic Media
Producers: Julie Asato, Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin
Director-editor: Justin Lin
Screenwriters: Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin, Fabian Marquez
Executive producers: Gustavo Spoliansky,
Michael Manshel
Associate producers: Steve Herr, Sung Kang
Director of photography: Patrice Lucien Cochet
Casting: Donna Tina Charles
Music supervisor: Ernesto M. Foronda
Sound mixer: Curtis X. Choy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ben: Parry Shen
Virgil: Jason Tobin
Han: Sung Kang
Daric: Roger Fan
Steve: John Cho
Stephanie: Karin Anna Cheung
Biology teacher: Jerry Mathers
Basketball coach: Kenwood Jung
Running time -- 101 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- Most people have a skeleton in their closet, but very few have one in their back yard, especially as a teen. A scorching smear of high school life, prismed darkly through Asian-American eyes in Orange County, Calif., "Better Luck Tomorrow" is one of the hottest, most stylish and smartly twisted films to play at Sundance in years.
Asian-American kids are always the silent minority -- and, in this case, four disaffected teen-age dudes do a hostile takedown of their Orange County high school and community. A dramatic in-your-face slam to the stereotypical image of the studious, passive Asian-American student, these guys are a digital-age Billionaire Boys Club/Loeb and Leopold. With a jaunty "Less Than Zero"-type glaze of affluent adolescent life, "Better Luck" provides both a searing satire of modern suburbia and provocative insight into the malignant maturation of generally well-meaning and privileged kids.
Subversively charming, this gang of four operates largely unchallenged because they excel: At their core is Ben Parry Shen), an Ivy League candidate who learns a new word a day, plans to score 1,600 on his SATs and volunteers for every club and do-gooder organization. In addition, through compulsive free-throw practice, he manages to make the basketball team and becomes known, much to his surprise and displeasure, as the team's token Asian-American.
Ben's cohorts are a scruffy bunch, including the smoothly political Daric (Roger Fan), the trigger-happy Virgil (Jason Tobin) and the laconic Han (Sung Kang). There's also the rich kid, Steve John Cho), whose insouciant style and hard-ass manner, of course, manage to snare pretty cheerleader Stephanie Karin Anna Cheung). From scamming, trashing and drugging to bigger and uglier things, The Four Lads soon find themselves in way over their heads.
At its most high-spirited, "Better Luck" is anarchically fun as the four guys trounce the school's convention and, in the process, garner an outlandish reputation -- as members of the Chinese Mafia. But through the touchstone character of Ben, we're increasingly unsettled by the out-of-control character and moral turpitude of their high jinks.
Ripped with a very unsettling ending, "Better Luck" will unnerve many. But its story progression is consistent with its hard-edged look at modern society, family and morals.
Filmmaker Justin Lin's expressive storytelling fits his darkly ironic theme, and the performances are nicely fleshed-out and edgy. As high-achiever Ben, Shen shows the torment of a guy with a lot of smarts but not many values. Adding flavor and craziness is Tobin as Virgil, while Fan is aptly slick as the manipulative Daric. Cheung's saucy, effervescent turn as the fetching cheerleader also rubs smartly against the grain of expectation.
Technical credits are scorchingly good, especially cinematographer Patrice Lucien Cochet's deadly satirical compositions and music supervisor Ernesto M. Foronda's searingly hormonal selections.
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW
Cinetic Media
Producers: Julie Asato, Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin
Director-editor: Justin Lin
Screenwriters: Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin, Fabian Marquez
Executive producers: Gustavo Spoliansky,
Michael Manshel
Associate producers: Steve Herr, Sung Kang
Director of photography: Patrice Lucien Cochet
Casting: Donna Tina Charles
Music supervisor: Ernesto M. Foronda
Sound mixer: Curtis X. Choy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ben: Parry Shen
Virgil: Jason Tobin
Han: Sung Kang
Daric: Roger Fan
Steve: John Cho
Stephanie: Karin Anna Cheung
Biology teacher: Jerry Mathers
Basketball coach: Kenwood Jung
Running time -- 101 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/11/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Most people have a skeleton in their closet, but very few have one in their back yard, especially as a teen. A scorching smear of high school life, prismed darkly through Asian-American eyes in Orange County, Calif., "Better Luck Tomorrow" is one of the hottest, most stylish and smartly twisted films to play at Sundance in years.
Asian-American kids are always the silent minority -- and, in this case, four disaffected teen-age dudes do a hostile takedown of their Orange County high school and community. A dramatic in-your-face slam to the stereotypical image of the studious, passive Asian-American student, these guys are a digital-age Billionaire Boys Club/Loeb and Leopold. With a jaunty "Less Than Zero"-type glaze of affluent adolescent life, "Better Luck" provides both a searing satire of modern suburbia and provocative insight into the malignant maturation of generally well-meaning and privileged kids.
Subversively charming, this gang of four operates largely unchallenged because they excel: At their core is Ben Parry Shen), an Ivy League candidate who learns a new word a day, plans to score 1,600 on his SATs and volunteers for every club and do-gooder organization. In addition, through compulsive free-throw practice, he manages to make the basketball team and becomes known, much to his surprise and displeasure, as the team's token Asian-American.
Ben's cohorts are a scruffy bunch, including the smoothly political Daric (Roger Fan), the trigger-happy Virgil (Jason Tobin) and the laconic Han (Sung Kang). There's also the rich kid, Steve John Cho), whose insouciant style and hard-ass manner, of course, manage to snare pretty cheerleader Stephanie Karin Anna Cheung). From scamming, trashing and drugging to bigger and uglier things, The Four Lads soon find themselves in way over their heads.
At its most high-spirited, "Better Luck" is anarchically fun as the four guys trounce the school's convention and, in the process, garner an outlandish reputation -- as members of the Chinese Mafia. But through the touchstone character of Ben, we're increasingly unsettled by the out-of-control character and moral turpitude of their high jinks.
Ripped with a very unsettling ending, "Better Luck" will unnerve many. But its story progression is consistent with its hard-edged look at modern society, family and morals.
Filmmaker Justin Lin's expressive storytelling fits his darkly ironic theme, and the performances are nicely fleshed-out and edgy. As high-achiever Ben, Shen shows the torment of a guy with a lot of smarts but not many values. Adding flavor and craziness is Tobin as Virgil, while Fan is aptly slick as the manipulative Daric. Cheung's saucy, effervescent turn as the fetching cheerleader also rubs smartly against the grain of expectation.
Technical credits are scorchingly good, especially cinematographer Patrice Lucien Cochet's deadly satirical compositions and music supervisor Ernesto M. Foronda's searingly hormonal selections.
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW
Cinetic Media
Producers: Julie Asato, Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin
Director-editor: Justin Lin
Screenwriters: Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin, Fabian Marquez
Executive producers: Gustavo Spoliansky,
Michael Manshel
Associate producers: Steve Herr, Sung Kang
Director of photography: Patrice Lucien Cochet
Casting: Donna Tina Charles
Music supervisor: Ernesto M. Foronda
Sound mixer: Curtis X. Choy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ben: Parry Shen
Virgil: Jason Tobin
Han: Sung Kang
Daric: Roger Fan
Steve: John Cho
Stephanie: Karin Anna Cheung
Biology teacher: Jerry Mathers
Basketball coach: Kenwood Jung
Running time -- 101 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Asian-American kids are always the silent minority -- and, in this case, four disaffected teen-age dudes do a hostile takedown of their Orange County high school and community. A dramatic in-your-face slam to the stereotypical image of the studious, passive Asian-American student, these guys are a digital-age Billionaire Boys Club/Loeb and Leopold. With a jaunty "Less Than Zero"-type glaze of affluent adolescent life, "Better Luck" provides both a searing satire of modern suburbia and provocative insight into the malignant maturation of generally well-meaning and privileged kids.
Subversively charming, this gang of four operates largely unchallenged because they excel: At their core is Ben Parry Shen), an Ivy League candidate who learns a new word a day, plans to score 1,600 on his SATs and volunteers for every club and do-gooder organization. In addition, through compulsive free-throw practice, he manages to make the basketball team and becomes known, much to his surprise and displeasure, as the team's token Asian-American.
Ben's cohorts are a scruffy bunch, including the smoothly political Daric (Roger Fan), the trigger-happy Virgil (Jason Tobin) and the laconic Han (Sung Kang). There's also the rich kid, Steve John Cho), whose insouciant style and hard-ass manner, of course, manage to snare pretty cheerleader Stephanie Karin Anna Cheung). From scamming, trashing and drugging to bigger and uglier things, The Four Lads soon find themselves in way over their heads.
At its most high-spirited, "Better Luck" is anarchically fun as the four guys trounce the school's convention and, in the process, garner an outlandish reputation -- as members of the Chinese Mafia. But through the touchstone character of Ben, we're increasingly unsettled by the out-of-control character and moral turpitude of their high jinks.
Ripped with a very unsettling ending, "Better Luck" will unnerve many. But its story progression is consistent with its hard-edged look at modern society, family and morals.
Filmmaker Justin Lin's expressive storytelling fits his darkly ironic theme, and the performances are nicely fleshed-out and edgy. As high-achiever Ben, Shen shows the torment of a guy with a lot of smarts but not many values. Adding flavor and craziness is Tobin as Virgil, while Fan is aptly slick as the manipulative Daric. Cheung's saucy, effervescent turn as the fetching cheerleader also rubs smartly against the grain of expectation.
Technical credits are scorchingly good, especially cinematographer Patrice Lucien Cochet's deadly satirical compositions and music supervisor Ernesto M. Foronda's searingly hormonal selections.
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW
Cinetic Media
Producers: Julie Asato, Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin
Director-editor: Justin Lin
Screenwriters: Ernesto M. Foronda,
Justin Lin, Fabian Marquez
Executive producers: Gustavo Spoliansky,
Michael Manshel
Associate producers: Steve Herr, Sung Kang
Director of photography: Patrice Lucien Cochet
Casting: Donna Tina Charles
Music supervisor: Ernesto M. Foronda
Sound mixer: Curtis X. Choy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ben: Parry Shen
Virgil: Jason Tobin
Han: Sung Kang
Daric: Roger Fan
Steve: John Cho
Stephanie: Karin Anna Cheung
Biology teacher: Jerry Mathers
Basketball coach: Kenwood Jung
Running time -- 101 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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