There’s a story that Willie Pep, the protagonist of Robert Kolodny’s feature debut The Featherweight, likes to tell. It’s about a match with a kid, who, so awed by the boxing champion, asks for an autograph. The request flummoxes Willie. “I say, ‘Kid, get away from me, we’re boxing tonight. What are people going to think?’” The crowd came to see a fight, he reminds the junior. They need to put on a show.
As Willie (played by James Madio) talks about this moment, he gesticulates and pulls his audience — a small group of friends — to play supporting roles. It’s clear why the boxer likes to recount this tale. Nostalgia tempts him. It directs his moods, prompts his long monologues and drives Willie, at age 42, to stage a comeback.
The Featherweight is a fictionalized account of the real-life two-time featherweight champion’s attempts to get back in the ring.
As Willie (played by James Madio) talks about this moment, he gesticulates and pulls his audience — a small group of friends — to play supporting roles. It’s clear why the boxer likes to recount this tale. Nostalgia tempts him. It directs his moods, prompts his long monologues and drives Willie, at age 42, to stage a comeback.
The Featherweight is a fictionalized account of the real-life two-time featherweight champion’s attempts to get back in the ring.
- 9/3/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When it comes to the multi-faceted role of filmmaker it seems that rejection is an ever-present bedfellow. Be that rejection of your elevator pitch even before your idea has had the chance to take its first breath or the rejection of access to the essential funds and resources needed to make a great idea into a cinematic reality. Even when you’ve managed to traverse those often insurmountable hurdles, you still have to contend with the rejection of the inscrutable gatekeepers who are keeping your masterpiece from the audiences that would clearly love it they only had the opportunity to watch. New York-based filmmaker Ryan Schnackenberg’s latest short The Screener takes these all too familiar experiences of rejection and imagines what would occur if they could be questioned, not from behind the safe remove of a screen, but in the harsh light of a face to face confrontation. It...
- 4/7/2023
- by Sarah Smith
- Directors Notes
Dn last caught up with Director Beck Kitsis for her brilliant horror short The Three Men You Meet at Night, which took a subversive look at male abuse and how intentions can be just as deadly as actions. She returns to our pages today alongside partner Chris McNabb to premiere Valentine, a new short they’ve co-directed that also explores the intimate difficulty of human relationships, this time on a personal level between a couple. Valentine follows partners Corey and Mia who find themselves re-evaluating the state of their relationship when Corey begins to explore their gender and identity. It’s a tender, honest and important look at the value of their exchanges and is performed beautifully by Jacob Tobia and Sadie Scott. Watch it below, after which we speak with the filmmakers about the personal nature of their short, how they sought to portray trans experiences in a new light,...
- 2/14/2023
- by James Maitre
- Directors Notes
Stars: Yumiko Shaku, Carolina Bartczak, Julian Richings, Vlasta Vrana, Mark Gibson, Bailey Thain, Kathleen Fee | Written by Derrick Adams, Francesco Giannini, Adam Kolodny | Directed by Francesco Giannini
Often, the best movies tell a very simple story but they tell that story extremely well and Hall, featured at both Frightfest and Blood in the Snow festivals, is no different. From the very start we see a group of people in a hotel hallway, struggling with a debilitating sickness that seems to have spread through them all, each trying to escape the horror of it.
Like I say, this is all in the opening scene so where does it go from there? Well maybe unsurprisingly the movie goes back in time to show us some of the stories about why people are in the hotel and the issues they are having there. The locations don’t stray away from the hotel though...
Often, the best movies tell a very simple story but they tell that story extremely well and Hall, featured at both Frightfest and Blood in the Snow festivals, is no different. From the very start we see a group of people in a hotel hallway, struggling with a debilitating sickness that seems to have spread through them all, each trying to escape the horror of it.
Like I say, this is all in the opening scene so where does it go from there? Well maybe unsurprisingly the movie goes back in time to show us some of the stories about why people are in the hotel and the issues they are having there. The locations don’t stray away from the hotel though...
- 9/17/2021
- by Alain Elliott
- Nerdly
Michelle Zauner has released her latest Japanese Breakfast single, “Savage Good Boy,” along with a self-directed music video featuring The Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli.
“‘Savage Good Boy’ came from a headline I read about billionaires buying bunkers,” Zauner said. “I was interested in examining that specific type of villainy, and I found myself adopting the perspective of a rich man coaxing a young woman to come live with him underground, attempting to rationalize his almost impossible share of greed and miserliness.”
She continued: “I knew I wanted the music video...
“‘Savage Good Boy’ came from a headline I read about billionaires buying bunkers,” Zauner said. “I was interested in examining that specific type of villainy, and I found myself adopting the perspective of a rich man coaxing a young woman to come live with him underground, attempting to rationalize his almost impossible share of greed and miserliness.”
She continued: “I knew I wanted the music video...
- 5/19/2021
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Soccer Mommy, a.k.a. Sophie Allison, has revealed a video for “Crawling in My Skin,” off her latest album Color Theory.
Directed by Adam Kolodny, the clip opens with a quarter moon hanging in the sky as Allison plays the guitar across saturated, grainy shots. “Seein’ black/Seep through the cracks,” she sings. “Pourin’ out of the walls/I watch it creep and crawl.”
“I’m excited to put out this video for ‘Crawling in My Skin’ right at the end of spooky season,” Allison said in a statement.
Directed by Adam Kolodny, the clip opens with a quarter moon hanging in the sky as Allison plays the guitar across saturated, grainy shots. “Seein’ black/Seep through the cracks,” she sings. “Pourin’ out of the walls/I watch it creep and crawl.”
“I’m excited to put out this video for ‘Crawling in My Skin’ right at the end of spooky season,” Allison said in a statement.
- 10/30/2020
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
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