Exclusive: Doppelgänger Releasing, the genre-focused label of Music Box Films, has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Crumb Catcher, the debut feature from Chris Skotchdopole.
Crumb Catcher debuted at Fantastic Fest, before going on to play Woodstock Film Festival and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Ensemble and the Gold Audience Award.
The film was written and directed by Skotchdople and was produced by indie vet Larry Fessenden, alongside Brian Devine, Chadd Harbold, Bonnie Timmermann, and James W. Skotchdopole. Doppelgänger Releasing will open Crumb Catcher in theaters later this year, with a home entertainment release to follow.
Pic is led by Rigo Garay and Ella Rae Peck, with Lorraine Farris and John Speredakos rounding out the cast. Synopsis reads: After blacking out on his wedding night, Shane (Garay) and his wife (Peck) head to a remote estate for their honeymoon. That night, there’s...
Crumb Catcher debuted at Fantastic Fest, before going on to play Woodstock Film Festival and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Ensemble and the Gold Audience Award.
The film was written and directed by Skotchdople and was produced by indie vet Larry Fessenden, alongside Brian Devine, Chadd Harbold, Bonnie Timmermann, and James W. Skotchdopole. Doppelgänger Releasing will open Crumb Catcher in theaters later this year, with a home entertainment release to follow.
Pic is led by Rigo Garay and Ella Rae Peck, with Lorraine Farris and John Speredakos rounding out the cast. Synopsis reads: After blacking out on his wedding night, Shane (Garay) and his wife (Peck) head to a remote estate for their honeymoon. That night, there’s...
- 3/21/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Submarine Entertainment is picking up worldwide sales rights on Chris Skotchdopole’s feature directorial debut “Crumb Catcher.” The move comes just ahead of the darkly comic thriller’s Fantastic Fest world premiere.
Skotchdopole wrote, directed, edited, and produced the movie and Submarine Entertainment, a notable sales and production company, will launch sales out of the festival, which runs from Sept. 21 to Sept. 28 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas. “Crumb Catcher” was described by Fantastic Fest programmer Anna Bogutskaya as a “chamber piece that melds extreme anxiety with the worst salesmanship imaginable.” The film follows a newlywed couple held captive by an entrepreneur desperate to finance his outlandish invention with a blackmail plot.
With ten years of experience working with Glass Eye Pix, the New York independent genre production outfit led by horror auteur Larry Fessenden, Skotchdopole has amassed numerous credits on several films, including working as the cinematographer on Fessenden’s “Depraved,...
Skotchdopole wrote, directed, edited, and produced the movie and Submarine Entertainment, a notable sales and production company, will launch sales out of the festival, which runs from Sept. 21 to Sept. 28 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas. “Crumb Catcher” was described by Fantastic Fest programmer Anna Bogutskaya as a “chamber piece that melds extreme anxiety with the worst salesmanship imaginable.” The film follows a newlywed couple held captive by an entrepreneur desperate to finance his outlandish invention with a blackmail plot.
With ten years of experience working with Glass Eye Pix, the New York independent genre production outfit led by horror auteur Larry Fessenden, Skotchdopole has amassed numerous credits on several films, including working as the cinematographer on Fessenden’s “Depraved,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Dominick Montiglio, who was at the center of one of the most vicious mafia crews in history, is telling his mob story.
Montiglio is telling the story of his involvement in the notorious DeMeo Crew, part of the Gambino crime family who became some of New York’s most dangerous hitmen, in eight-part audio series Mafia Tapes from Investigation Discovery (ID).
After spending years trying to escape his birthright and returning from serving in Vietnam, Dominick Montiglio finally succumbs and joins his family’s “business”— the American Cosa Nostra. His job? Keep an eye on the DeMeo Crew. When things go south, Dominick must choose between his oath of loyalty to the Mafia and his own survival.
Mafia Tapes is hosted by Celia Aniskovich, who has worked on TV series including Netflix’s How to Fix a Drug Scandal and Fear City: New York vs the Mafia as well...
Montiglio is telling the story of his involvement in the notorious DeMeo Crew, part of the Gambino crime family who became some of New York’s most dangerous hitmen, in eight-part audio series Mafia Tapes from Investigation Discovery (ID).
After spending years trying to escape his birthright and returning from serving in Vietnam, Dominick Montiglio finally succumbs and joins his family’s “business”— the American Cosa Nostra. His job? Keep an eye on the DeMeo Crew. When things go south, Dominick must choose between his oath of loyalty to the Mafia and his own survival.
Mafia Tapes is hosted by Celia Aniskovich, who has worked on TV series including Netflix’s How to Fix a Drug Scandal and Fear City: New York vs the Mafia as well...
- 1/10/2022
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Moviegoers not far removed from the isolating strains of lockdown may find The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 strikes a chord. Distributor Bleecker Street and director Joshua Zeman hope so as the doc, a shift from the helmer’s true crime roots, opens in 75 theaters.
Digital release is set for July 16.
The film is a cinematic quest for the 52 Hertz Whale, which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other of its species. The whale, discovered in 1989, became a global sensation over the past three decades — including songs about it by British indie rock band Amber Run and K-pop’s BTS.
Zeman, who said he had childhood ambitions to be a marine biologist and loved Jacques Cousteau, was floored by the story and spent ten years trying to make the...
Digital release is set for July 16.
The film is a cinematic quest for the 52 Hertz Whale, which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other of its species. The whale, discovered in 1989, became a global sensation over the past three decades — including songs about it by British indie rock band Amber Run and K-pop’s BTS.
Zeman, who said he had childhood ambitions to be a marine biologist and loved Jacques Cousteau, was floored by the story and spent ten years trying to make the...
- 7/9/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Bleecker Street has secured North American rights to “The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52,” a new documentary from Joshua Zeman. The film will be released in theaters on July 9.
The documentary centers on the “52 Hertz Whale,” which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other whale.
“The team of scientists and filmmakers take the audience on a wild search for this mysterious creature,” said Andrew Karpen, CEO of Bleecker Street. “They follow in the steps of the great intrepid explorers searching for nature’s wonders, but also a greater understanding of man’s place in the world and what we must do to ensure its survival.”
Bleecker Street recently released the “The World to Come,” a historical romance with Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby, as well as the Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci drama “Supernova” and the Julia Garner drama “The Assistant.
The documentary centers on the “52 Hertz Whale,” which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other whale.
“The team of scientists and filmmakers take the audience on a wild search for this mysterious creature,” said Andrew Karpen, CEO of Bleecker Street. “They follow in the steps of the great intrepid explorers searching for nature’s wonders, but also a greater understanding of man’s place in the world and what we must do to ensure its survival.”
Bleecker Street recently released the “The World to Come,” a historical romance with Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby, as well as the Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci drama “Supernova” and the Julia Garner drama “The Assistant.
- 3/16/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Bleecker Street has taken North American rights to Joshua Zeman’s documentary, The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52.
A theatrical release is set for July 9 followed by VOD.
The docu follows the quest to find the 52 Hertz Whale, which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other whale.
The pick-up deal was brokered between Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy of Bleecker Street with CAA Media Finance and Evan Krauss of Eisner, Llp on behalf of the filmmakers.
“The team of scientists and filmmakers take the audience on a wild search for this mysterious creature,” said Andrew Karpen, CEO of Bleecker Street in a statement. “They follow in the steps of the great intrepid explorers searching for nature’s wonders, but also a greater understanding of man’s place in the world and what we must do to ensure its survival.
A theatrical release is set for July 9 followed by VOD.
The docu follows the quest to find the 52 Hertz Whale, which scientists believe has spent its entire life in solitude calling out at a frequency that is different from any other whale.
The pick-up deal was brokered between Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy of Bleecker Street with CAA Media Finance and Evan Krauss of Eisner, Llp on behalf of the filmmakers.
“The team of scientists and filmmakers take the audience on a wild search for this mysterious creature,” said Andrew Karpen, CEO of Bleecker Street in a statement. “They follow in the steps of the great intrepid explorers searching for nature’s wonders, but also a greater understanding of man’s place in the world and what we must do to ensure its survival.
- 3/16/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
After announcing its relaunch earlier this month, 1091, which was formally known as The Orchard Film Group, has made its first acquisition, snagging North American distribution rights to the Hannah Pearl Utt-directed Sundance film, Before You Know It. Utt, who made her directorial debut with this feature, also stars opposite Jen Tullock, Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin, Mike Colter, and Alec Baldwin. 1091 is aiming to release the film in theaters sometime during the second half of 2019.
Written by Utt and Tullock, the pic thrusts co-dependent, thirty-something sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera after a long-kept family secret is revealed, taking them on a journey that proves that you really can come of age, at any age.
Mallory Schwartz, Josh Hetzler, and James Brown produced the project. Executive producers are Giri Tharan, Donna and Kevin Gruneich, Eric and Susan Fredston-Hermann, Mary Jane Skalski, Robin Bronk, Tim Daly, and Brian DeVine.
Written by Utt and Tullock, the pic thrusts co-dependent, thirty-something sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera after a long-kept family secret is revealed, taking them on a journey that proves that you really can come of age, at any age.
Mallory Schwartz, Josh Hetzler, and James Brown produced the project. Executive producers are Giri Tharan, Donna and Kevin Gruneich, Eric and Susan Fredston-Hermann, Mary Jane Skalski, Robin Bronk, Tim Daly, and Brian DeVine.
- 4/11/2019
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Hannah Pearl Utt’s feature directorial debut to open theatrically this year.
In the first acquisition announcement since The Orchard film group was rebranded as 1091, the company has picked up North American rights to Sundance entry Before You Know It.
Hannah Pearl Utt’s feature directorial debut stars Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin, Mike Colter and Alec Baldwin alongside Utt and Jen Tullock and premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition in January.
1091 plans a theatrical release in the second half of the year on the story of co-dependent, thirty-something sisters who must deal with a startling family revelation.
Utt and Tullock...
In the first acquisition announcement since The Orchard film group was rebranded as 1091, the company has picked up North American rights to Sundance entry Before You Know It.
Hannah Pearl Utt’s feature directorial debut stars Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin, Mike Colter and Alec Baldwin alongside Utt and Jen Tullock and premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition in January.
1091 plans a theatrical release in the second half of the year on the story of co-dependent, thirty-something sisters who must deal with a startling family revelation.
Utt and Tullock...
- 4/11/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
1091 has acquired the North American distribution rights to the 2019 Sundance comedy “Before You Know It,” the company’s first theatrical pick up under their new name since changing from The Orchard, 1091 announced Thursday.
Hannah Pearl Utt’s feature directorial debut played in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance, and 1091 is planning to release the film in the second half of 2019.
Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin, Mike Colter and Alec Baldwin star in the film alongside Utt and Jen Tullock. “Before You Know It” thrusts co-dependent, thirty-something sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera after they learn that their mother they thought was long dead is alive and starring on a soap opera. Utt and Tullock co-wrote the screenplay.
Also Read: Daniel Stein Named Executive Chairman of 1091, Formerly The Orchard
The film was produced by Mallory Schwartz, Josh Hetzler and James Brown. Executive producers on the film are Giri Tharan,...
Hannah Pearl Utt’s feature directorial debut played in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance, and 1091 is planning to release the film in the second half of 2019.
Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin, Mike Colter and Alec Baldwin star in the film alongside Utt and Jen Tullock. “Before You Know It” thrusts co-dependent, thirty-something sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera after they learn that their mother they thought was long dead is alive and starring on a soap opera. Utt and Tullock co-wrote the screenplay.
Also Read: Daniel Stein Named Executive Chairman of 1091, Formerly The Orchard
The film was produced by Mallory Schwartz, Josh Hetzler and James Brown. Executive producers on the film are Giri Tharan,...
- 4/11/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Sundance Selects has acquired the U.S. rights to Frank Serpico, director Antonino D’Ambrosio’s documentary about the whistle-blowing New York City cop who exposed police corruption in 1971, inspiring the 1973 film Serpico, starring Al Pacino.
The Gigantic Pictures film, which premiered at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, is the first doc to have Serpico’s cooperation and was produced, written and directed by D’Ambrosio, whose most recent film was We’re Still Here: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited, which was broadcast on PBS in 2016. Brooke Devine, Brian Devine and Jason Orans also served as producers, with Brian Devine Sr., Silvija Devine...
The Gigantic Pictures film, which premiered at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, is the first doc to have Serpico’s cooperation and was produced, written and directed by D’Ambrosio, whose most recent film was We’re Still Here: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited, which was broadcast on PBS in 2016. Brooke Devine, Brian Devine and Jason Orans also served as producers, with Brian Devine Sr., Silvija Devine...
- 5/18/2017
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Both documentaries focus on 1970s stories.
Film Sales Company president Andrew Herwitz has boarded worldwide sales on two features ahead of their world premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Ellen Goldfarb’s pop culture documentary Dare To Be Different explores Wlir, the independent Us radio station that exposed Americans to the likes of U2, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, and The Clash.
Roger Senders produced the film, which premieres on April 27.
Antonino D’Ambrosio directed Frank Serpico, a documentary about the man behind Sydney Lumet’s iconic film Serpico that starred Al Pacino as the officer who exposed corruption in the NYPD.
The reclusive Serpico discusses his work for the first time in the film and is scheduled to attend the April 23 premiere. Jason Orans produced alongside Brooke Devine, Brian Devine, and Antonino D’Ambrosio.
The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 19-30.
Film Sales Company president Andrew Herwitz has boarded worldwide sales on two features ahead of their world premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Ellen Goldfarb’s pop culture documentary Dare To Be Different explores Wlir, the independent Us radio station that exposed Americans to the likes of U2, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, and The Clash.
Roger Senders produced the film, which premieres on April 27.
Antonino D’Ambrosio directed Frank Serpico, a documentary about the man behind Sydney Lumet’s iconic film Serpico that starred Al Pacino as the officer who exposed corruption in the NYPD.
The reclusive Serpico discusses his work for the first time in the film and is scheduled to attend the April 23 premiere. Jason Orans produced alongside Brooke Devine, Brian Devine, and Antonino D’Ambrosio.
The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 19-30.
- 4/17/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
There's a scene in the original 1976 Heartworn Highways that's become a central heartbeat of the cult film that chronicled Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Young, David Allan Coe and others as they lived, wrote music and filled their lungs with smoke and song in Nashville, Tennessee. Van Zandt is sitting in his wood-paneled kitchen in a denim shirt, plucking "Waiting Around to Die" on a cherry red guitar. His girlfriend sways, but "Uncle" Seymour Washington, a retired blacksmith born to former slaves, just nods as his eyes, circled by tree-rings of wrinkles,...
- 4/22/2015
- Rollingstone.com
- Currently in the fine-tuning the script and financing stages of his Untitled Western period pic, and now in the post Goodbye Solo phase (the theatrical run is in it's final weeks/month with the DVD release coming out this August 25th), Ramin Bahrani will be making a trip out the Venice Film Festival for two reasons: he is one of three members on the international jury for first works, and second, he'll be presenting a short film entitled, Plastic Bag which will premiere as the opening night film of Corto Cortissimo (the short film section). For those lucky enough to be in the city of canals and rubber boots, you might want to circle the date and time of the 7th of September at 17:00 at Sala Perla. The eighteen minute short takes place in a not too distant future, where a Plastic Bag goes on an epic journey
- 8/16/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Gigantic launches new online platform for first-run indie films | News | Screen: "Gigantic launches new online platform for first-run indie films" with comments by Sydney
25 June, 2009 | By Wendy Mitchell
Gigantic Group is launching a full-service “online exhibition venue” for first-run independent films, called Gigantic Digital Cinema.
Gigantic Releasing had been a distribution platform working with digital arm Gigantic Digital. The company already had released (theatrically and online) acclaimed documentary Must Read After My Death.
With today’s announcement, the company will concentrate on online exhibition instead of distribution.
This play on words puts the business on its head, in effect eliminating the line between exhibition and distribution. How smart because in fact that is the stumbling block when everyone says that today's distribution system is broke/ broken. It's because one sees distribution as the feed to exhibition and there are either too many non paying (digital) exhibition platforms or too few...
25 June, 2009 | By Wendy Mitchell
Gigantic Group is launching a full-service “online exhibition venue” for first-run independent films, called Gigantic Digital Cinema.
Gigantic Releasing had been a distribution platform working with digital arm Gigantic Digital. The company already had released (theatrically and online) acclaimed documentary Must Read After My Death.
With today’s announcement, the company will concentrate on online exhibition instead of distribution.
This play on words puts the business on its head, in effect eliminating the line between exhibition and distribution. How smart because in fact that is the stumbling block when everyone says that today's distribution system is broke/ broken. It's because one sees distribution as the feed to exhibition and there are either too many non paying (digital) exhibition platforms or too few...
- 6/25/2009
- by Sydney@SydneysBuzz.com (Sydney)
- Sydney's Buzz
PARK CITY -- Who said there are no second acts in American lives? Veteran indie executive Jeff Lipsky returns to Sundance on the other side of the aisle as writer-director with his beautifully executed and provocative second feature, "Flannel Pajamas". A thoughtful dissection of the courtship and marriage of two ultimately mismatched New Yorkers, film is destined to be a conversation piece among sophisticated couples. Pic should have a healthy run in art houses and a long afterlife on cable and DVD.
What starts out seeming like a poor man's Woody Allen morphs into something closer to an American version of "Scenes From a Marriage". Stuart (Jason Kirk) and Nicole (Julianne Nicholson) meet on a blind date at a hip Manhattan dinner and magic happens. Pretty soon it's picnics in the park and hot sex on the floor of his high rise. Their mutual need and attraction makes for instant chemistry, but Lipsky lingers a bit too long introducing characters in that first scene instead of getting down to business.
All at once, we meet Stuart's mentally unstable but charismatic brother Jordan (Jamie Harrold, resembling a young, manic Jim Carrey) and Nicole's best friend Tess (Chelsea Altman), whom Stuart takes an instant dislike to and proclaims evil.
Nicole, an adorable freckle-faced Catholic girl, is the kind of woman who comes with a lot of baggage, which she dutifully unpacks as the film unfolds. Stuart, an attentive Jewish guy who makes s a living inventing fictionalized sales pitches for Broadway shows, starts out glib and becomes more vulnerable and likable as the film progresses. Kirk and Nicholson are utterly convincing as the ill-fated couple and give the proceedings a total sense of realism.
The lengthy courtship and honeymoon period could benefit from some judicious trimming in the early going, but things really get interesting once the relationship hits the skids. The first signs of trouble in paradise occur are on a trip to Missoula, Montana where they go to spend the Christmas holidays with Nicole's five siblings and divorced parents. Stuart inexplicably gets the chilliest of welcomes from Nicole's artist mother Elizabeth (Rebecca Schull).
The warning signs, of course, are there, and Lipsky does a good job planting the seeds of discord. When two people are so desperate for contact they find reasons to fall in love. For Stuart, he says he wants to protect someone, and Nicole is the one he's chosen. For Nicole, she's trying to rewrite a devastating family history that she keeps buried. Not a good formula for success in marriage.
Lipsky cleverly peppers his script with some stunning surprises that literally made the Sundance audience gasp. The first involves Stuart's harsh attempt to control what he considers the potential corrupting influence of Tess's promiscuity on his wife. The other, a classic confrontation between husband and mother-in-law, is a scene of hair- raising power as Elizabeth totally lays her cards on the table about why she hates him so much. The pathology in the family runs even deeper than he thought. In addition to being beautifully played by Schull, Lipsky's writing here is razor sharp.
Since the film has been created by a man, with presumably some autobiographical elements, it's not surprising that the story is told more from Stuart's perspective and he ultimately emerges as the more sympathetic and sane person. Because of that, this could be one of those films that sharply divide male and female audiences and make for spirited late night discussions.
Given the film's limited budget (reported to be less than a million dollars) and the lightening fast shoot, film is a remarkable achievement for a sophomore director. Paul Hsu's subtle piano score handles highly emotional moments with great restraint. And other tech credits are strong enough to deliver Lipsky's achingly romantic vision of love in a time of cynicism.
FLANNEL PAJAMAS
Gigantic Pictures
Credits:
Director Jeff Lipsky
Writer: Lipsky
Producers: Jonathan Gray, Brian Devine, Jason Orans
Executive producer: Simon Channing-Williams
Director of photography: Martina Radwan
Production designer: Len X. Clayton
Music: Paul Hsu
Costume designer: Amy Bradshaw
Editor: Sara Corrigan.
Cast:
Stuart Sawyer: Justin Kirk
Nicole Reilly: Julianne Nicholson
Elizabeth: Rebecca Schull
Jordan: Jamie Harrold
Tess: Chelsea Altman
Bill: Tom Bower
Megan: Stephanie Roth Haberle
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 124 minutes...
What starts out seeming like a poor man's Woody Allen morphs into something closer to an American version of "Scenes From a Marriage". Stuart (Jason Kirk) and Nicole (Julianne Nicholson) meet on a blind date at a hip Manhattan dinner and magic happens. Pretty soon it's picnics in the park and hot sex on the floor of his high rise. Their mutual need and attraction makes for instant chemistry, but Lipsky lingers a bit too long introducing characters in that first scene instead of getting down to business.
All at once, we meet Stuart's mentally unstable but charismatic brother Jordan (Jamie Harrold, resembling a young, manic Jim Carrey) and Nicole's best friend Tess (Chelsea Altman), whom Stuart takes an instant dislike to and proclaims evil.
Nicole, an adorable freckle-faced Catholic girl, is the kind of woman who comes with a lot of baggage, which she dutifully unpacks as the film unfolds. Stuart, an attentive Jewish guy who makes s a living inventing fictionalized sales pitches for Broadway shows, starts out glib and becomes more vulnerable and likable as the film progresses. Kirk and Nicholson are utterly convincing as the ill-fated couple and give the proceedings a total sense of realism.
The lengthy courtship and honeymoon period could benefit from some judicious trimming in the early going, but things really get interesting once the relationship hits the skids. The first signs of trouble in paradise occur are on a trip to Missoula, Montana where they go to spend the Christmas holidays with Nicole's five siblings and divorced parents. Stuart inexplicably gets the chilliest of welcomes from Nicole's artist mother Elizabeth (Rebecca Schull).
The warning signs, of course, are there, and Lipsky does a good job planting the seeds of discord. When two people are so desperate for contact they find reasons to fall in love. For Stuart, he says he wants to protect someone, and Nicole is the one he's chosen. For Nicole, she's trying to rewrite a devastating family history that she keeps buried. Not a good formula for success in marriage.
Lipsky cleverly peppers his script with some stunning surprises that literally made the Sundance audience gasp. The first involves Stuart's harsh attempt to control what he considers the potential corrupting influence of Tess's promiscuity on his wife. The other, a classic confrontation between husband and mother-in-law, is a scene of hair- raising power as Elizabeth totally lays her cards on the table about why she hates him so much. The pathology in the family runs even deeper than he thought. In addition to being beautifully played by Schull, Lipsky's writing here is razor sharp.
Since the film has been created by a man, with presumably some autobiographical elements, it's not surprising that the story is told more from Stuart's perspective and he ultimately emerges as the more sympathetic and sane person. Because of that, this could be one of those films that sharply divide male and female audiences and make for spirited late night discussions.
Given the film's limited budget (reported to be less than a million dollars) and the lightening fast shoot, film is a remarkable achievement for a sophomore director. Paul Hsu's subtle piano score handles highly emotional moments with great restraint. And other tech credits are strong enough to deliver Lipsky's achingly romantic vision of love in a time of cynicism.
FLANNEL PAJAMAS
Gigantic Pictures
Credits:
Director Jeff Lipsky
Writer: Lipsky
Producers: Jonathan Gray, Brian Devine, Jason Orans
Executive producer: Simon Channing-Williams
Director of photography: Martina Radwan
Production designer: Len X. Clayton
Music: Paul Hsu
Costume designer: Amy Bradshaw
Editor: Sara Corrigan.
Cast:
Stuart Sawyer: Justin Kirk
Nicole Reilly: Julianne Nicholson
Elizabeth: Rebecca Schull
Jordan: Jamie Harrold
Tess: Chelsea Altman
Bill: Tom Bower
Megan: Stephanie Roth Haberle
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 124 minutes...
- 1/24/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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