We're back in Greece and Dominique is psyched to be the dark horse in the competition. She says that while she misses her children — who are absolutely adorable — she's doing this for them and hopes to bring home the All Star title.
Wait, I take back my previous statement about the location of the models. Some of the girls are in Greece and Angelea is still stuck on Get A Clue Island. She's so confused about why she keeps getting stuck in the bottom two while Dominique hasn't been there once. She also insists that Dominique is not an All Star. Homegirl needs to get her eyes checked and take a look at their pictures again. She also needs to listen to all of the previous comments from the judges because they keep waiting for her to be great on camera. I'm fed up with her nonstop boasting when she's...
Wait, I take back my previous statement about the location of the models. Some of the girls are in Greece and Angelea is still stuck on Get A Clue Island. She's so confused about why she keeps getting stuck in the bottom two while Dominique hasn't been there once. She also insists that Dominique is not an All Star. Homegirl needs to get her eyes checked and take a look at their pictures again. She also needs to listen to all of the previous comments from the judges because they keep waiting for her to be great on camera. I'm fed up with her nonstop boasting when she's...
- 11/17/2011
- by Mia Jones
- AfterEllen.com
Emerging Pictures
NEW YORK -- Stylistically assured yet thematically muddled, Jason Ruscio's Laura Smiles boasts many intriguing elements but eventually is undone by its general air of derivativeness. This time-shifting tale of a beautiful suburban housewife whose ennui leads her to sexual promiscuity and ultimately something far worse feels similar to far too many films that have explored the terrain.
Petra Wright delivers an excellent performance as Laura, who in the film's opening scene is shown as being an aspiring New York actress happily in love with a handsome young writer (Kip Pardue) who is promptly killed in an accident. Cut to nine years later: Laura has abandoned her artistic aspirations and is instead a suburban housewife and mother, married to insurance executive Mark (Mark Derwin).
It soon becomes clear that the union is a joyless and largely sexless one. As the convoluted, time-shifting narrative slowly reveals, Laura is in the midst of an affair with Mark's best friend, single father Paul (Jonathan Silverman, in a highly affecting turn), and also has seduced a good portion of the male population of her community.
Ruscio well captures the visual banality of his suburban milieu and has crafted an intriguingly enigmatic central character whose true nature we are constantly trying to assess. And many individual scenes register with real power, such as Paul's horrified reaction when Laura attempts to inject a threesome with a supermarket checkout boy into what he considered to be their heartfelt love affair.
But the film could have used much more of the sly and subtle humor that only occasionally pops up, and the would-be shocking denouement feels more like ersatz Hitchcock -- or even worse, ersatz De Palma -- than a meaningful resolution to what has preceded it.
NEW YORK -- Stylistically assured yet thematically muddled, Jason Ruscio's Laura Smiles boasts many intriguing elements but eventually is undone by its general air of derivativeness. This time-shifting tale of a beautiful suburban housewife whose ennui leads her to sexual promiscuity and ultimately something far worse feels similar to far too many films that have explored the terrain.
Petra Wright delivers an excellent performance as Laura, who in the film's opening scene is shown as being an aspiring New York actress happily in love with a handsome young writer (Kip Pardue) who is promptly killed in an accident. Cut to nine years later: Laura has abandoned her artistic aspirations and is instead a suburban housewife and mother, married to insurance executive Mark (Mark Derwin).
It soon becomes clear that the union is a joyless and largely sexless one. As the convoluted, time-shifting narrative slowly reveals, Laura is in the midst of an affair with Mark's best friend, single father Paul (Jonathan Silverman, in a highly affecting turn), and also has seduced a good portion of the male population of her community.
Ruscio well captures the visual banality of his suburban milieu and has crafted an intriguingly enigmatic central character whose true nature we are constantly trying to assess. And many individual scenes register with real power, such as Paul's horrified reaction when Laura attempts to inject a threesome with a supermarket checkout boy into what he considered to be their heartfelt love affair.
But the film could have used much more of the sly and subtle humor that only occasionally pops up, and the would-be shocking denouement feels more like ersatz Hitchcock -- or even worse, ersatz De Palma -- than a meaningful resolution to what has preceded it.
The 2005 Tribeca Film Festival, founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, announced films in four competitive categories Wednesday. The festival, which runs April 19-May 1 in Lower Manhattan, will feature fictional films and documentaries in two categories, dubbed NY, NY Narrative Features and NY, NY Documentary Features. The fictional features, which range from dramas focusing on the effects of 9/11 to slapstick comedy and suburban tales, include: Adam & Steve, directed by Craig Chester; Alchemy, Evan Oppenheimer; Bittersweet Place, Alexandra Brodsky; Conventioneers, Mora Stephens; The F Word, Jed Weintrob; Four Lane Highway, Dylan McCormick; Great New Wonderful, Danny Leiner; Laura Smiles, Jason Ruscio; Life on the Ledge, Lewis Helfer; Love, Vladan Nikolic; Puzzlehead, James Bai; The Reception, John G. Young; Red Doors, Georgia Lee; Rockaway, Mark Street; Satellite, Jeff Winner; and Slingshot, Jay Alaimo.
- 3/10/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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