Plot: The true story of an actress (Anna Kendrick) who, in the seventies, went on The Dating Game and was matched with Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), who was later revealed to be a serial killer that may have murdered up to 130 women.
Review: The story behind Woman of the Hour is pretty wild, even as far as true crime goes. While the movie takes several significant liberties with her story, a young actress named Cheryl Bradshaw really did go on The Dating Game in 1978 and chose serial killer Rodney Alcala as her match. While the premise is thin, as there wasn’t much to Bradshaw’s interactions with Alcala beyond the show, Anna Kendrick, who makes her directorial debut from a Black List script by Ian MacAllister McDonald, has put together a chilling film.
Much of the film enters around Alcala’s murder spree, focusing on the young women he...
Review: The story behind Woman of the Hour is pretty wild, even as far as true crime goes. While the movie takes several significant liberties with her story, a young actress named Cheryl Bradshaw really did go on The Dating Game in 1978 and chose serial killer Rodney Alcala as her match. While the premise is thin, as there wasn’t much to Bradshaw’s interactions with Alcala beyond the show, Anna Kendrick, who makes her directorial debut from a Black List script by Ian MacAllister McDonald, has put together a chilling film.
Much of the film enters around Alcala’s murder spree, focusing on the young women he...
- 9/14/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
This year's Toronto International Film Festival was filled with actors turned directors, which is always a big gamble. Not every actor-filmmaker is a Jordan Peele or a Clint Eastwood, and just because you spend a lot of time on set watching the director and the crew do their job doesn't mean you have a vision. Interestingly enough, the best and most confidently made of these movies at the festival was not some prestige drama, but "Woman of the Hour," a thriller and the directorial debut of Anna Kendrick.
Even if the script suffers from some issues — mostly framing and structure — Kendrick has a clear vision for the film, a terrifying stranger-than-fiction retelling of the time a serial rapist and killer went on national TV and participated in a dating show. With some interesting visuals, tense set pieces, and fantastic performances by Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto, who plays the killer, Rodney Alcala,...
Even if the script suffers from some issues — mostly framing and structure — Kendrick has a clear vision for the film, a terrifying stranger-than-fiction retelling of the time a serial rapist and killer went on national TV and participated in a dating show. With some interesting visuals, tense set pieces, and fantastic performances by Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto, who plays the killer, Rodney Alcala,...
- 9/13/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
Last year, Anna Kendrick starred in Mary Nighy’s disquieting drama of abuse Alice, Darling. The actress played a woman undone by her partner’s psychological manipulations, pulling from her own experiences in an abusive relationship to shape the character. Her performance — sensitive, gripping — sustained the film’s atmosphere of dread.
In Woman of the Hour, Kendrick builds on the work she started in Alice, Darling — but now she is also behind the camera for this unnerving dramatization of serial killer Rodney Alcala’s appearance on a dating game show while in the midst of his murder spree. Woman of the Hour, which premiered at TIFF before its Netflix acquisition, is an ambitious attempt to subvert true-crime genre expectations by giving voice to the survivors and victims of Alcala’s rampage.
The film experiments with time jumps and perspective shifts to create an impressionistic portrait of the murders. Its action kicks off in 1977 with Rodney,...
In Woman of the Hour, Kendrick builds on the work she started in Alice, Darling — but now she is also behind the camera for this unnerving dramatization of serial killer Rodney Alcala’s appearance on a dating game show while in the midst of his murder spree. Woman of the Hour, which premiered at TIFF before its Netflix acquisition, is an ambitious attempt to subvert true-crime genre expectations by giving voice to the survivors and victims of Alcala’s rampage.
The film experiments with time jumps and perspective shifts to create an impressionistic portrait of the murders. Its action kicks off in 1977 with Rodney,...
- 9/12/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The logline of a serial killer and rapist taking part in a television dating game show sounds like a high-concept pitch so fabricated it couldn’t possibly be founded in any veracity. Yet, in 1979, Rodney Alcala––whose victims are believed to be as many as 130––was a bachelor on The Dating Game. For her directorial debut, Anna Kendrick expands the 30 minutes of airtime into an inquiry of misogyny and the everyday silencing of women, exploring both Alcala’s shocking murders and the story of a fledging actress hoping for a big break. With a careful threading of humor and horror, it’s an ambitious, slightly strained gamble that Kendrick mostly manages with a formally precise vision and script that doesn’t rely on platitudes.
A photographer and film enthusiast who studied under Roman Polanski at NYU and throws out references to Days of Heaven, Alcala woos victims by cajoling them...
A photographer and film enthusiast who studied under Roman Polanski at NYU and throws out references to Days of Heaven, Alcala woos victims by cajoling them...
- 9/10/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
On a rainy night in a rundown Detroit neighborhood, Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives at her Airbnb rental only to find the abode double booked and Keith(Bill Skarsgård) already nestled comfortably inside. That’s about all Barbarian’s refreshingly cryptic trailer gives you, along with a few glimpses of the subterranean terror that awaits. So, that’s all I’m going to give away about the plot as well, other than to say that whatever you expect from Barbarian after its first act is most decidedly not what you’re in store for. With the movie in theaters, cinematographer Zach Kuperstein spoke to Filmmaker about recreating […]
The post Fincher Upstairs, Raimi Downstairs: Dp Zach Kuperstein on Barbarian first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Fincher Upstairs, Raimi Downstairs: Dp Zach Kuperstein on Barbarian first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 9/22/2022
- by Matt Mulcahey
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
One of the many striking elements of writer-director Zach Cregger’s horror film “Barbarian” is its sense of place; the decaying Detroit neighborhood in which most of the movie is set creates as much eerie dread as the Bates Motel in “Psycho” or the icy research station in “The Thing.” What makes the specifically American location all the more impressive is the fact that it’s not a location at all but a set, and one that’s not even in the Western Hemisphere — working with a local art department, Cregger and director of photography Zach Kuperstein transformed an empty Bulgarian farm into an entire run-down subdivision.
Before Kuperstein came on board, the production had chosen to shoot at Bulgaria’s Sofia Studio Complex, with the intent of using the “American Town” section of the backlot. When Kuperstein and Cregger started looking at videos and maps of the streets, however,...
Before Kuperstein came on board, the production had chosen to shoot at Bulgaria’s Sofia Studio Complex, with the intent of using the “American Town” section of the backlot. When Kuperstein and Cregger started looking at videos and maps of the streets, however,...
- 9/9/2022
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Maya Singer and Rebecca Hall in Morgan Spector and Maya Singer’s Mother!!, a Tribeca Film Festival highlight
Three highlights of the 20th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival With/In program of shorts (with music by Mark Adler) are Jonathan Cake’s life-affirming Touching, starring Julianne Nicholson, Iggy Cake, Phoebe Cake, and Jonathan; Bart Freundlich’s Intersection, starring Julianne Moore, Talia Balsam, and Don Cheadle, and Morgan Spector and Maya Singer’s Mother!!, starring Rebecca Hall, Maya Singer, and Morgan Spector.
During my conversation with Maya Singer, who is also the screenwriter of Mother!!, we spoke about how Bong Joon-ho’s Mother and Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! inspired the title Mother!!, formative fantasies, such as Madonna in Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan and Anne of Green Gables, consulting cinematographer Zach Kuperstein, and the work of Batsheva Hay.
Anne-Katrin Titze with Maya Singer on the title: “I was like,...
Three highlights of the 20th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival With/In program of shorts (with music by Mark Adler) are Jonathan Cake’s life-affirming Touching, starring Julianne Nicholson, Iggy Cake, Phoebe Cake, and Jonathan; Bart Freundlich’s Intersection, starring Julianne Moore, Talia Balsam, and Don Cheadle, and Morgan Spector and Maya Singer’s Mother!!, starring Rebecca Hall, Maya Singer, and Morgan Spector.
During my conversation with Maya Singer, who is also the screenwriter of Mother!!, we spoke about how Bong Joon-ho’s Mother and Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! inspired the title Mother!!, formative fantasies, such as Madonna in Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan and Anne of Green Gables, consulting cinematographer Zach Kuperstein, and the work of Batsheva Hay.
Anne-Katrin Titze with Maya Singer on the title: “I was like,...
- 7/3/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
“Paper Spiders” opens on a dynamic played out in countless American coming-of-age stories, as bright-eyed high school senior Melanie (Stefania Lavie Owen) and her doting single mother Dawn (Lili Taylor) tour the USC college campus on which the former has her heart set. As Melanie gawps in wonder, Dawn surveys the place with a critical eye, asking neurotic, embarrassing mom questions about campus security and the like: California is, after all, practically a whole country away from their Erie Canal, and she’s not quite ready for her only child to fly that far from the nest. What parent can’t relate? Yet as Inon Shampanier’s heartfelt, honestly acted domestic drama unfolds, this needy mother-daughter bond turns less familiar and more frightening. It’s not the teen’s lack of protection anyone need fear once left to her own devices, but that of her increasingly irrational parent.
For Dawn,...
For Dawn,...
- 5/25/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
When filmmakers set out to tell stories about declining mental health it becomes something of a high wire act to engage an audience without exploiting the subject matter or plunging into melodrama. Without the tabloid lure of a famous life at its core, and in less careful hands, Paper Spiders was in danger of falling into the safety net of broken woman tropes we have seen too many time before.
Instead, co-writers Inon Shampanier (who also directs) and Natalie Shampanier have crafted a small but poignant and authentic look at the impact of psychosis, elevated by the powerful performances of Lili Taylor and Stefania Lavie Owen, and shaded by their real experiences. The Shampaniers were inspired by Natalie’s mother’s own struggle with persecutory delusional disorder.
Melanie (Stefania Lavie Owen) and her mum Dawn (Lili Taylor) share a close bond – drawn tighter by the sudden death of Mel’s...
Instead, co-writers Inon Shampanier (who also directs) and Natalie Shampanier have crafted a small but poignant and authentic look at the impact of psychosis, elevated by the powerful performances of Lili Taylor and Stefania Lavie Owen, and shaded by their real experiences. The Shampaniers were inspired by Natalie’s mother’s own struggle with persecutory delusional disorder.
Melanie (Stefania Lavie Owen) and her mum Dawn (Lili Taylor) share a close bond – drawn tighter by the sudden death of Mel’s...
- 5/4/2021
- by Emily Breen
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
They are called shomers, folks who sit by a recently deceased family member or loved one, often in shifts, to watch over the body before burial. It’s a centuries-old Jewish tradition, designed to keep the soul of the dead safe from harm. Should a relative be unwilling or unable to perform this duty, it’s possible to pay a professional to sub in. It’s an honor and a calling, though there are some pitfalls in the shomer-for-hire business one needs to be aware of. The likelihood of extreme...
- 2/25/2021
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Stars: Dave Davis, Fred Melamed, Ronald Cohen, Lynn Cohen, Menashe Lustig, Malky Goldman | Written and Directed by Keith Thomas
The debut feature from writer-director Keith Thomas, engaging and atmospheric horror The Vigil centres on Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis), a young man who has recently joined a self-help group for Jews struggling to adjust after leaving a tight-knit Orthodox community. In addition to processing a deeply traumatic event, Yakov is also struggling financially, so when his former rabbi Reb Shulem (Menashe Lustig) offers him $400 to sit as shomer and watch over the body of a recently deceased Holocaust survivor (Ronald Cohen), he is more or less forced to accept.
As The Vigil explains up front with captions, being a shomer means protecting the recently deceased person from evil spirits or demons. Unfortunately, Mr Litvak had spent most of his life being haunted by a Mazzik (similar to a Dybbuk), so Yakov...
The debut feature from writer-director Keith Thomas, engaging and atmospheric horror The Vigil centres on Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis), a young man who has recently joined a self-help group for Jews struggling to adjust after leaving a tight-knit Orthodox community. In addition to processing a deeply traumatic event, Yakov is also struggling financially, so when his former rabbi Reb Shulem (Menashe Lustig) offers him $400 to sit as shomer and watch over the body of a recently deceased Holocaust survivor (Ronald Cohen), he is more or less forced to accept.
As The Vigil explains up front with captions, being a shomer means protecting the recently deceased person from evil spirits or demons. Unfortunately, Mr Litvak had spent most of his life being haunted by a Mazzik (similar to a Dybbuk), so Yakov...
- 12/24/2020
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
Before helming the upcoming new adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter, Keith Thomas directed The Vigil, which has been acquired by IFC Midnight and is slated for a February 26th, 2021 release.
You can read the press release with full details below, and in case you missed it, read Lindsay Traves' previous interview with Thomas.
From the Press Release: New York, NY - IFC Midnight announced today that it is acquiring U.S. rights to writer-director Keith Thomas’ feature debut, The Vigil, a supernatural horror film with a Hasidic Jewish twist. The Vigil stars Dave Davis (Bomb City), Malky Goldman (Unorthodox), Menashe Lustig (Menashe), Fred Melamed (A Serious Man), and Lynn Cohen (Munich). Producing is Raphael Margules and J.D. Lifshitz of BoulderLight Pictures alongside Adam Margules (Menashe). Additional notable credits within the filmmaking team include editor Brett W. Bachman, composer Michael Yezerski (The Devil’S Candy), and cinematographer Zach Kuperstein.
IFC Films and BoulderLight,...
You can read the press release with full details below, and in case you missed it, read Lindsay Traves' previous interview with Thomas.
From the Press Release: New York, NY - IFC Midnight announced today that it is acquiring U.S. rights to writer-director Keith Thomas’ feature debut, The Vigil, a supernatural horror film with a Hasidic Jewish twist. The Vigil stars Dave Davis (Bomb City), Malky Goldman (Unorthodox), Menashe Lustig (Menashe), Fred Melamed (A Serious Man), and Lynn Cohen (Munich). Producing is Raphael Margules and J.D. Lifshitz of BoulderLight Pictures alongside Adam Margules (Menashe). Additional notable credits within the filmmaking team include editor Brett W. Bachman, composer Michael Yezerski (The Devil’S Candy), and cinematographer Zach Kuperstein.
IFC Films and BoulderLight,...
- 10/7/2020
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
By Daniel Eagan
Actors from Sammo Hung to Sylvia Chang have tackled the problems Asian immigrants face in the US and Canada. “Model,” aka “Anchor Baby,” takes a narrowly focused approach to the issue. In her debut feature, director Ran Jing shows how bias and bureaucracy can thwart even those positioned on professional fast tracks.
Lu Shi (Yuxian Shang), a Chinese immigrant in New York City, is at the end of her rope. Trained as an architect, she washes dishes in a restaurant to get by, living on leftovers and fending off eviction notices. When she finally lands an interview with the prestigious Greyson firm, she learns she needs a valid visa to accept the entry-level position.
“Are you an athlete?” asks the discount immigration attorney she consults for help. “Can you get married?” Lu’s options are so limited that when she learns about a “medical parole” visa exception,...
Actors from Sammo Hung to Sylvia Chang have tackled the problems Asian immigrants face in the US and Canada. “Model,” aka “Anchor Baby,” takes a narrowly focused approach to the issue. In her debut feature, director Ran Jing shows how bias and bureaucracy can thwart even those positioned on professional fast tracks.
Lu Shi (Yuxian Shang), a Chinese immigrant in New York City, is at the end of her rope. Trained as an architect, she washes dishes in a restaurant to get by, living on leftovers and fending off eviction notices. When she finally lands an interview with the prestigious Greyson firm, she learns she needs a valid visa to accept the entry-level position.
“Are you an athlete?” asks the discount immigration attorney she consults for help. “Can you get married?” Lu’s options are so limited that when she learns about a “medical parole” visa exception,...
- 10/1/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
Exclusive: Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Sanaa Lathan, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper, Alessandro Nivola, Emily Mortimer, Rosie Perez and Debra Winger are among the all-star cast of innovative feature With/In, a made-at-home anthology film revolving around themes of confinement and isolation.
Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray’s newly rebranded Maven Screen Media (American Honey) is in production on the two-hour feature, which is a collection of short films made during lockdown by a slew of top actors and directors. Scroll down for the full list of participants.
The project was initiated when Maven and Emmy-winning writer-producer Margaret Nagle (Boardwalk Empire) asked actor-director families and friends to come up with stories about life stuck inside. Storylines include a couple stuck together after a one night stand, kids scheming to run away from their paranoid dad, a divorced couple isolating together for the sake of their dog, and a widow dealing with her grief.
Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray’s newly rebranded Maven Screen Media (American Honey) is in production on the two-hour feature, which is a collection of short films made during lockdown by a slew of top actors and directors. Scroll down for the full list of participants.
The project was initiated when Maven and Emmy-winning writer-producer Margaret Nagle (Boardwalk Empire) asked actor-director families and friends to come up with stories about life stuck inside. Storylines include a couple stuck together after a one night stand, kids scheming to run away from their paranoid dad, a divorced couple isolating together for the sake of their dog, and a widow dealing with her grief.
- 7/30/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Stars: Dave Davis, Fred Melamed, Ronald Cohen, Lynn Cohen, Menashe Lustig, Malky Goldman | Written and Directed by Keith Thomas
The debut feature from writer-director Keith Thomas, engaging and atmospheric horror The Vigil centres on Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis), a young man who has recently joined a self-help group for Jews struggling to adjust after leaving a tight-knit Orthodox community. In addition to processing a deeply traumatic event, Yakov is also struggling financially, so when his former rabbi Reb Shulem (Menashe Lustig) offers him $400 to sit as shomer and watch over the body of a recently deceased Holocaust survivor (Ronald Cohen), he is more or less forced to accept.
As The Vigil explains up front with captions, being a shomer means protecting the recently deceased person from evil spirits or demons. Unfortunately, Mr Litvak had spent most of his life being haunted by a Mazzik (similar to a Dybbuk), so Yakov...
The debut feature from writer-director Keith Thomas, engaging and atmospheric horror The Vigil centres on Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis), a young man who has recently joined a self-help group for Jews struggling to adjust after leaving a tight-knit Orthodox community. In addition to processing a deeply traumatic event, Yakov is also struggling financially, so when his former rabbi Reb Shulem (Menashe Lustig) offers him $400 to sit as shomer and watch over the body of a recently deceased Holocaust survivor (Ronald Cohen), he is more or less forced to accept.
As The Vigil explains up front with captions, being a shomer means protecting the recently deceased person from evil spirits or demons. Unfortunately, Mr Litvak had spent most of his life being haunted by a Mazzik (similar to a Dybbuk), so Yakov...
- 7/24/2020
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
In Michael Covino’s The Climb, best friends Kyle (Kyle Marvin) and Mike (Michael Covino) embark on a bike ride in the south of France to celebrate Kyle’s impending marriage to a French woman. In the process, Mike admits to having slept with Kyle’s fiancée, causing an understandable riff in their friendship. Presented as one long take, Dp Zach Kuperstein divulges the intricacies of the unorthodox process of filming The Climb. 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? Kuperstein: […]...
- 1/25/2020
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In Michael Covino’s The Climb, best friends Kyle (Kyle Marvin) and Mike (Michael Covino) embark on a bike ride in the south of France to celebrate Kyle’s impending marriage to a French woman. In the process, Mike admits to having slept with Kyle’s fiancée, causing an understandable riff in their friendship. Presented as one long take, Dp Zach Kuperstein divulges the intricacies of the unorthodox process of filming The Climb. 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? Kuperstein: […]...
- 1/25/2020
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Tiff Midnight Madness breakout has already scored deals in key European territories.
Elle Driver has acquired international sales rights to Us director Keith Thomas’s buzzed-about supernatural horror The Vigil, revolving around the Jewish custom of shemira, or watching over the corpse of a recently deceased person ahead of their burial.
Under the seven-figure deal, the Paris-based company is selling the world aside from the Us, which is being handled by CAA Media Finance.
Elle Driver has already scored deals in the key European territories of Spain (Vertigo), France (Wild Bunch Distribution), Italy (Bim) and Germany (Wild Bunch Germany).
The...
Elle Driver has acquired international sales rights to Us director Keith Thomas’s buzzed-about supernatural horror The Vigil, revolving around the Jewish custom of shemira, or watching over the corpse of a recently deceased person ahead of their burial.
Under the seven-figure deal, the Paris-based company is selling the world aside from the Us, which is being handled by CAA Media Finance.
Elle Driver has already scored deals in the key European territories of Spain (Vertigo), France (Wild Bunch Distribution), Italy (Bim) and Germany (Wild Bunch Germany).
The...
- 10/25/2019
- by 1100380¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Jewish superstition has been riddled with dybbuks and golems for centuries, but horror movies haven’t wised up to it nearly enough. “The Vigil” is proof that bible-thumping priests and haunted convents can’t have all the spooky fun. In director Keith Thomas’s eerie first feature “The Vigil,” a young man estranged from the Orthodox Jewish community of Borough Park, Brooklyn, agrees to fulfill the duties of a “shomer,” the ritualistic practice of looking after a dead body over the course of one night. Desperate for rent money, he agrees, unwittingly signing up for a long night with a possessed corpse.
The ensuing mayhem relies on the usual preponderance of jump scares, but Thomas combines those moments with aplomb and surprising thematic depth. Set almost exclusively within the confines of the shadowy home, . And if “Conjuring” owner Warner Bros. doesn’t ingest its lore, Thomas has ample potential for...
The ensuing mayhem relies on the usual preponderance of jump scares, but Thomas combines those moments with aplomb and surprising thematic depth. Set almost exclusively within the confines of the shadowy home, . And if “Conjuring” owner Warner Bros. doesn’t ingest its lore, Thomas has ample potential for...
- 9/12/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
In The Climb–as occasionally in life–friendship can be an uphill struggle at the best of times. So how about the worst?
Michael Angelo Covino’s auspicious feature debut confronts that topic as a barometer might an oncoming storm. It’s essentially a buddy comedy, although one of the caustic variety, and built to make you squirm just a little, like Judd Apatow put through a filter of something like Festen or Force Majeure. It’s also a debut with the huevos to reach for a kind of auteur status, the sort of film that leaves people talking about things like “cinematic language.”
For better than worse, Covino directs it to within an inch of its life, presenting the modest narrative as a series of meticulously choreographed vignettes; each shot in what appears to be a single take. The first of these is a great two-hander between Covino and his costar/cowriter Kyle Marvin,...
Michael Angelo Covino’s auspicious feature debut confronts that topic as a barometer might an oncoming storm. It’s essentially a buddy comedy, although one of the caustic variety, and built to make you squirm just a little, like Judd Apatow put through a filter of something like Festen or Force Majeure. It’s also a debut with the huevos to reach for a kind of auteur status, the sort of film that leaves people talking about things like “cinematic language.”
For better than worse, Covino directs it to within an inch of its life, presenting the modest narrative as a series of meticulously choreographed vignettes; each shot in what appears to be a single take. The first of these is a great two-hander between Covino and his costar/cowriter Kyle Marvin,...
- 6/6/2019
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
The word “bromance” was a pretty awful one to begin with, but it’s been done a disservice by years of pop-cultural ubiquity. Now tediously hauled out any time two straight men so much as pat each other on the back, it tends to denote palliness more than any particular emotional intimacy. “The Climb,” however, thoughtfully returns to the root of the term: In Michael Angelo Covino’s clever, open-souled debut feature, a long-term friendship between two average guys is given the dramatic shape and structure of a tempestuous love story, rich in conflicts, faultlines and intense feeling that fights any other relationship standing in its way. The men involved wouldn’t describe it this way, of course: Beautifully written and performed by the director and real-life Bff Kyle Marvin, Covino’s film gets precisely the balance of dependency and denial that keeps a bad bromance afloat.
Premiered at Sundance last year,...
Premiered at Sundance last year,...
- 5/17/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The title is born out of Covino’s short film of the same name which screened in Sundance in 2018.
Memento Films International (Mfi) has acquired international sales rights to Us filmmaker Michael Covino’s comedy-drama The Climb ahead of its premiere in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25).
Born out of Covino’s short film of the same name, which screened in Sundance in 2018, the feature revolves around the enduring but tumultuous relationship between best friends Kyle and Mike.
The pair share a life-long close bond but this is shaken to the core when Mike sleeps with Kyle’s fiancée.
Memento Films International (Mfi) has acquired international sales rights to Us filmmaker Michael Covino’s comedy-drama The Climb ahead of its premiere in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25).
Born out of Covino’s short film of the same name, which screened in Sundance in 2018, the feature revolves around the enduring but tumultuous relationship between best friends Kyle and Mike.
The pair share a life-long close bond but this is shaken to the core when Mike sleeps with Kyle’s fiancée.
- 4/24/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The 32nd Independent Spirit Awards took place on Feb. 25 in Los Angeles. Many Oscar contenders — such as “Moonlight” and “Manchester by the Sea” — were nominated alongside smaller titles such as “American Honey” and “Chronic,” making for a truly unpredictable show.
Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Who Will Win and Who Should Win — Critics Survey
The full list of nominees is below, with winners in bold.
Best Feature
“Moonlight”
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
Best Director
Barry Jenkins –”Moonlight”
Andrea Arnold –”American Honey”
Pablo Larraín –”Jackie”
Jeff Nichols –”Loving”
Kelly Reichardt –”Certain Women”
Best Male Lead
Casey Affleck –”Manchester by the Sea” as Lee Chandler
David Harewood –”Free in Deed” as Abe Wilkins
Viggo Mortensen –”Captain Fantastic” as Ben Cash
Jesse Plemons –”Other People” as David Mulcahey
Tim Roth –”Chronic” as David Wilson
Best Female Lead
Isabelle Huppert –”Elle” as Michèle Leblanc
Annette Bening –”20th Century Women” as...
Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Who Will Win and Who Should Win — Critics Survey
The full list of nominees is below, with winners in bold.
Best Feature
“Moonlight”
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
Best Director
Barry Jenkins –”Moonlight”
Andrea Arnold –”American Honey”
Pablo Larraín –”Jackie”
Jeff Nichols –”Loving”
Kelly Reichardt –”Certain Women”
Best Male Lead
Casey Affleck –”Manchester by the Sea” as Lee Chandler
David Harewood –”Free in Deed” as Abe Wilkins
Viggo Mortensen –”Captain Fantastic” as Ben Cash
Jesse Plemons –”Other People” as David Mulcahey
Tim Roth –”Chronic” as David Wilson
Best Female Lead
Isabelle Huppert –”Elle” as Michèle Leblanc
Annette Bening –”20th Century Women” as...
- 2/26/2017
- by William Earl
- Indiewire
A24’s drama – and the distributor itself – enjoyed a huge Saturday afternoon at Film Independent’s 32nd annual Spirit Awards ceremony on the beach in Santa Monica.
Best feature winner Moonlight won six awards and took the plaudits on an afternoon that also sends best director winner Barry Jenkins to Sunday’s Oscars in high spirits and recognised Friday night’s César winner Isabelle Huppert for Elle and Casey Affleck for Manchester By The Sea in the lead acting categories.
Besides best feature and director, Moonlight won screenplay for Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, cinematography for James Laxton, and editing for Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders.
The film started the ceremony as joint frontrunner with American Honey on six nominations and converted all six, including the previously announced Robert Altman Award. American Honey went away empty-handed.
It was a triumphant afternoon for A24, which made its first financing foray on Moonlight and also distributed Robert Eggers’s first...
Best feature winner Moonlight won six awards and took the plaudits on an afternoon that also sends best director winner Barry Jenkins to Sunday’s Oscars in high spirits and recognised Friday night’s César winner Isabelle Huppert for Elle and Casey Affleck for Manchester By The Sea in the lead acting categories.
Besides best feature and director, Moonlight won screenplay for Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, cinematography for James Laxton, and editing for Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders.
The film started the ceremony as joint frontrunner with American Honey on six nominations and converted all six, including the previously announced Robert Altman Award. American Honey went away empty-handed.
It was a triumphant afternoon for A24, which made its first financing foray on Moonlight and also distributed Robert Eggers’s first...
- 2/26/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The 32nd annual Independent Spirit Awards, sponsored by Perrier-Jouët, kicked off Saturday at the Santa Monica Pier in California, honoring the best independent films of 2016.
Oscar contenders like Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight are both nominated for awards, alongside smaller films like American Honey and Chronic, making Saturday's awards ceremony truly anyone's game.
Related: Final Oscars Predictions 2017: Here's Who Should Win and Who Will Win the Biggest Awards!
Check back for updates to see who wins big.
Best Feature
American Honey
Chronic
Jackie
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Best Director
Andrea Arnold –American Honey
Barry Jenkins –Moonlight
Pablo Larraín –Jackie
Jeff Nichols –Loving
Kelly Reichardt –Certain Women
Best Male Lead
Casey Affleck –Manchester by the Sea
David Harewood –Free in Deed
Viggo Mortensen –Captain Fantastic
Jesse Plemons –Other People
Tim Roth –Chronic
Best Female Lead
Annette Bening –20th Century Women
Isabelle Huppert –Elle
Sasha Lane –American Honey
Ruth Negga –Loving
Natalie Portman –Jackie
Best Supporting...
Oscar contenders like Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight are both nominated for awards, alongside smaller films like American Honey and Chronic, making Saturday's awards ceremony truly anyone's game.
Related: Final Oscars Predictions 2017: Here's Who Should Win and Who Will Win the Biggest Awards!
Check back for updates to see who wins big.
Best Feature
American Honey
Chronic
Jackie
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Best Director
Andrea Arnold –American Honey
Barry Jenkins –Moonlight
Pablo Larraín –Jackie
Jeff Nichols –Loving
Kelly Reichardt –Certain Women
Best Male Lead
Casey Affleck –Manchester by the Sea
David Harewood –Free in Deed
Viggo Mortensen –Captain Fantastic
Jesse Plemons –Other People
Tim Roth –Chronic
Best Female Lead
Annette Bening –20th Century Women
Isabelle Huppert –Elle
Sasha Lane –American Honey
Ruth Negga –Loving
Natalie Portman –Jackie
Best Supporting...
- 2/25/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
We learned early last month that Nick Kroll and John Mulaney are co-hosting the Independent Spirit Awards, and now IndieWire can exclusively announce the presenters at this Saturday’s ceremony. Nine actors will be lending their talents to the proceedings: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Kerry Washington, Miles Teller, Samuel L. Jackson, Freida Pinto, Fred Armisen and Amanda Peet.
Read More: Independent Spirit Awards: Nick Kroll and John Mulaney Love Spending Every Waking Hour Together in New Promos
In addition, Gary Clark Jr. is serving as the one-man house band for the ceremony, the Spirit Awards’ 32nd. The awards will be broadcast live on IFC at 5 p.m. Est this Saturday. Full list of nominees below.
Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Nick Kroll and John Mulaney to Co-Host Ceremony
Best Feature:
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
Best Director:
Andrea Arnold, “American Honey”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Pablo Larraín,...
Read More: Independent Spirit Awards: Nick Kroll and John Mulaney Love Spending Every Waking Hour Together in New Promos
In addition, Gary Clark Jr. is serving as the one-man house band for the ceremony, the Spirit Awards’ 32nd. The awards will be broadcast live on IFC at 5 p.m. Est this Saturday. Full list of nominees below.
Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Nick Kroll and John Mulaney to Co-Host Ceremony
Best Feature:
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
Best Director:
Andrea Arnold, “American Honey”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Pablo Larraín,...
- 2/23/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
As the definition of an independent film has shifted with the ever-expanding budget divide in American filmmaking — particularly Hollywood cutting back on its mid-range projects — when it comes time for awards season, it’s often only the highest profile of “indie films” that get recognized. While we do our best to recognize the films that often get unfortunately, a new awards has launched that honors the best of truly independent American cinema, featuring films all under a $1 million budget.
Aptly titled the American Independent Film Awards (aka AIFAs), they were voted on by international film festival programmers, U.S. based film festival programmers, and North American film critics (including yours truly.) “First and foremost, we would like to thank all film producers and distribution companies who helped us identify qualifying films and outline the categories. We’d also like to thank the international and American based film festival programmers, and...
Aptly titled the American Independent Film Awards (aka AIFAs), they were voted on by international film festival programmers, U.S. based film festival programmers, and North American film critics (including yours truly.) “First and foremost, we would like to thank all film producers and distribution companies who helped us identify qualifying films and outline the categories. We’d also like to thank the international and American based film festival programmers, and...
- 2/20/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Picture Grant Wood's famous painting American Gothic, the one with the stolid farmer and his missus. Now imagine that, were you able to slowly pan down and magically see what was going on just below the frame of this landmark 20th-century artwork, you were to spy a lithe girl sitting at their feet. She's slowly sawing away at the older couple's legs, cutting through sinew and bone, blood pooling around her on the ground. (You don't hear the elderly gent and his anxious-looking spouse screaming, as the young woman has already removed their tongues.
- 12/2/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Ever watch a black and white movie and feel like you can see the color? Even though there’s no spectrum, there are so many tones in between the absence and consumption of color. The Eyes of My Mother does this so well because it feels very natural. The cinematography by Zach Kuperstein is simply stunning, and it’s the first thing I think anyone would tell you about the movie. Nicolas Pesce decided to shoot his debut in this format for what I saw as reflecting the cold tone of the story. So very cold. Make no mistake, this movie is bleak. Be ready.
Mother has had her daughter Francisca be comfortable with death from a young age. One day, a stranger strikes up a conversation with young Francisca on their farm, and his intentions aren’t good. Once grown, Francisca has to deal with the loss of both parents,...
Mother has had her daughter Francisca be comfortable with death from a young age. One day, a stranger strikes up a conversation with young Francisca on their farm, and his intentions aren’t good. Once grown, Francisca has to deal with the loss of both parents,...
- 11/27/2016
- by Mike Hassler
- Destroy the Brain
I'm so glad that Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" is getting lots of love from the Independent Spirit Awards. It is raw, honest, pure! One of my favorite films of the year! I also enjoyed "Jackie" but largely due to Natalie Portman's wonderful performance. Oh, I'm also loving "Manchester by the Sea!" I interviewed the cast at the Toronto International Film Festival, check it out here. Affleck and Hedges received nominations from the film among its many accomplishments. And I love Ruth Negga from "Loving!" She's nominated for Best Female Lead. Check out my interview with the actress where I told her we'll all remember her name by year's end!
Here's the complete list of the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations! We'll find out the winners on Feb. 25!
2017 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
Best Feature:
.American Honey.
.Chronic.
.Jackie.
.Manchester by the Sea.
.Moonlight.
Best Director:
Andrea Arnold, .American Honey.
Barry Jenkins,...
Here's the complete list of the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations! We'll find out the winners on Feb. 25!
2017 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
Best Feature:
.American Honey.
.Chronic.
.Jackie.
.Manchester by the Sea.
.Moonlight.
Best Director:
Andrea Arnold, .American Honey.
Barry Jenkins,...
- 11/23/2016
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The nominees for the 32nd Independent Spirit Awards have been announced and the competition is looking fierce.
Moonlight, which tells the story of a gay African-American boy growing up in poor Miami, and the road-trip love story American Honey starring Shia Labeouf are tied for the lead with six nods, including best feature and best director for Jenkins and Arnold.
Other Best Feature nominees include Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie, and Casey Affleck’s New England-based family drama Manchester by the Sea. Those films, along with Michel Franco’s Chronic, earned five nominations in all.
Other...
Moonlight, which tells the story of a gay African-American boy growing up in poor Miami, and the road-trip love story American Honey starring Shia Labeouf are tied for the lead with six nods, including best feature and best director for Jenkins and Arnold.
Other Best Feature nominees include Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie, and Casey Affleck’s New England-based family drama Manchester by the Sea. Those films, along with Michel Franco’s Chronic, earned five nominations in all.
Other...
- 11/22/2016
- by m34miller
- PEOPLE.com
Jenny Slate and Edgar Ramírez announced the 2017 Independent Spirit Award nominations live from the W Hollywood this morning, with “American Honey,” “Jackie,” “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight” all doing especially well for themselves — each film was nominated for Best Feature, Director and several other awards. The ceremony itself will air on IFC on February 25. Here’s the full list of nominees:
Read More: Here’s How the Independent Spirit Awards Will Impact the Oscar Race: Analysis
Best Feature:
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
Best Director:
Andrea Arnold, “American Honey”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Pablo Larraín, “Jackie”
Jeff Nichols, “Loving”
Kelly Reichardt, “Certain Women”
Best First Feature:
“The Childhood of a Leader”
“The Fits”
“Other People”
“Swiss Army Man”
“The Witch”
Best Female Lead:
Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Sasha Lane, “American Honey”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Best Male Lead:
Casey Affleck,...
Read More: Here’s How the Independent Spirit Awards Will Impact the Oscar Race: Analysis
Best Feature:
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
Best Director:
Andrea Arnold, “American Honey”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Pablo Larraín, “Jackie”
Jeff Nichols, “Loving”
Kelly Reichardt, “Certain Women”
Best First Feature:
“The Childhood of a Leader”
“The Fits”
“Other People”
“Swiss Army Man”
“The Witch”
Best Female Lead:
Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Sasha Lane, “American Honey”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Best Male Lead:
Casey Affleck,...
- 11/22/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
One of the most buzzed about indie horror movies of the second half of 2016 is Nicolas Pesce's The Eyes of my Mother. Since making its debut at Sundance earlier this year, Pesce's movie has continued to stun audiences at festivals both across the Us and internationally and with a theatrical release on the horizon, a new marketing campaign is mounting steam.
Pesce's debut, shot in stark black and white by Zach Kuperstein, stars relative newcomer Kika Magalhaes, in her first leading role, as Francisca, "a young, lonely woman is consumed by her deepest and darkest desires after tragedy strikes her quiet country life."
The trailers suggest that Francisca's mother taught her to deal with death in an unorthodox manner and now the woman seems obsessed with death and may be willin [Continued ...]...
Pesce's debut, shot in stark black and white by Zach Kuperstein, stars relative newcomer Kika Magalhaes, in her first leading role, as Francisca, "a young, lonely woman is consumed by her deepest and darkest desires after tragedy strikes her quiet country life."
The trailers suggest that Francisca's mother taught her to deal with death in an unorthodox manner and now the woman seems obsessed with death and may be willin [Continued ...]...
- 10/31/2016
- QuietEarth.us
Like an intoxicating fever dream, writer/director Nicolas Pesce’s The Eyes of My Mother is unlike any film I’ve seen in quite some time, akin to a nightmare you just can’t quite shake off. Breathtakingly shot in black and white, Pesce’s unsettling character study is as heartbreaking as it is depraved, making for an experience that will stay with you long after its gut-wrenching finale.
The Eyes of My Mother starts off innocently enough, introducing a young Francisca (Olivia Bond) as she picks flowers and roams the remote farm she shares with her mother (Diana Agostini) and father (Paul Nazak). There’s a gentleness to Francisca’s world, where she picks flowers and observes nature, but there’s also a bluntness to it as well, as her mother is a former veterinarian who teaches her daughter some of her methods (including decapitating a cow), making for...
The Eyes of My Mother starts off innocently enough, introducing a young Francisca (Olivia Bond) as she picks flowers and roams the remote farm she shares with her mother (Diana Agostini) and father (Paul Nazak). There’s a gentleness to Francisca’s world, where she picks flowers and observes nature, but there’s also a bluntness to it as well, as her mother is a former veterinarian who teaches her daughter some of her methods (including decapitating a cow), making for...
- 8/2/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Here is where I go off-book for my final Sundance review. The film is Nicolas Pesce‘s frightening The Eyes of My Mother, and I am not its target audience. This was not a pleasant experience for me. In fact, it took a lot to stay in the theater for the full 77-minute running time.
The plot concerns young Francisca (Olivia Bond), who watches her mother murdered at the hands of a psychopath and then becomes complicit with her father (Paul Nazak) in enacting a painful, tortuous amount of vengeance on the man responsible. Francisca, years later (Kika Magalhaes), has lost her father but still has the man, chained in the barn, and literally eating from the palm of her hand. Solitude serves as the fuel for Francisca’s own fractured psychosis, the film revealing itself to be an extended nightmare filmed in beautiful, disconcerting black-and-white by Zach Kuperstein. Magalhaes...
The plot concerns young Francisca (Olivia Bond), who watches her mother murdered at the hands of a psychopath and then becomes complicit with her father (Paul Nazak) in enacting a painful, tortuous amount of vengeance on the man responsible. Francisca, years later (Kika Magalhaes), has lost her father but still has the man, chained in the barn, and literally eating from the palm of her hand. Solitude serves as the fuel for Francisca’s own fractured psychosis, the film revealing itself to be an extended nightmare filmed in beautiful, disconcerting black-and-white by Zach Kuperstein. Magalhaes...
- 2/1/2016
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
And Soon the Darkness: Pesce’s Debut a Superbly Stylized Nightmare
If Portugal were the portal to some Lynchian netherworld of dreams deferred, it would look something like Nicolas Pesce’s sumptuously grotesque directorial debut, The Eyes of My Mother. A striking palette of black and white cinematography from Zach Kuperstein recalls the scarred, destitute lives from the ruins of Arturo Ripstein’s filmography, a macabre yet uncharacteristically sound portrait of psychological unraveling. We all know the kind of potent degeneration to be fashioned on isolated farmhouses where dysfunctional children are paired with musings of surgical practices, as seen in films from Haneke or even last year’s Goodnight Mommy. Pesce, who previously directed multiple music videos, as well as assistant editor on Josh Mond’s James White (2015), debuts a spectacularly gruesome calling card which may deconstruct the notion of the physical lens through which living beings observe the world,...
If Portugal were the portal to some Lynchian netherworld of dreams deferred, it would look something like Nicolas Pesce’s sumptuously grotesque directorial debut, The Eyes of My Mother. A striking palette of black and white cinematography from Zach Kuperstein recalls the scarred, destitute lives from the ruins of Arturo Ripstein’s filmography, a macabre yet uncharacteristically sound portrait of psychological unraveling. We all know the kind of potent degeneration to be fashioned on isolated farmhouses where dysfunctional children are paired with musings of surgical practices, as seen in films from Haneke or even last year’s Goodnight Mommy. Pesce, who previously directed multiple music videos, as well as assistant editor on Josh Mond’s James White (2015), debuts a spectacularly gruesome calling card which may deconstruct the notion of the physical lens through which living beings observe the world,...
- 1/23/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress -- at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: is this a movie you'd want to see? Tell us in the comments. 5 Doctors Tweetable Logline: A self-centered hypochondriac returns home to visit his five childhood doctors in one day without seeing any of his friends or family. Elevator Pitch: Spencer, a self-centered hypochondriac, returns to his quaint hometown to visit his five childhood doctors in a single day, avoiding everyone from his past except for Jay, his hapless former best friend, whom he ropes into driving him around. Matt Porter & Max Azulay, Directors/Writers Phil Primason, Co-writer/Executive Producer Joe Greco, Producer Aaron Kogan, Executive Producer Josh Rabinowitz & Ayesha Rokadia, Co-producers Joanna Naugle, Editor Zach Kuperstein, Cinematographer About the Film: Max, Phil and I have been making films together since high school as Dial Tone.
- 3/26/2015
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
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