Let's jump back in time to a little over 16 years ago. It's the summer of 1998 and if you hit a gay bar or club in the continental United States, you could not miss Stars on 54's dance remake of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind." It was simply everywhere. The track was the promotional single for "54," a movie that promised a sexy look at the infamous New York City nightclub Studio 54 but couldn't ultimately live up to the marketing hype surrounding its release. The Miramax production was generating a ton of publicity because of its subject matter (one of the most legendary clubs of all-time), young up-and-coming stars such as Ryan Phillippe and Salma Hayek, the participation of Neve Campbell, who was coming off four straight hits (the first two "Screams," "The Craft" and "Wild Things"). Most buzzworthy of all, it was the first dramatic role for...
- 2/6/2015
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
Spotlight Pictures has picked up international sales to Sundance 2012 entry Price Check.
Parker Posey stars opposite Eric Mabius in the tale of a beleaguered family man who works for a demanding boss.
Michael Walker directed the comedy from his screenplay. Dolly Hall produced and negotiated the deal with Carlos Rincon of Spotlight Pictures.
IFC Films distributed Price Check in North America last November and released on DVD in March.
Parker Posey stars opposite Eric Mabius in the tale of a beleaguered family man who works for a demanding boss.
Michael Walker directed the comedy from his screenplay. Dolly Hall produced and negotiated the deal with Carlos Rincon of Spotlight Pictures.
IFC Films distributed Price Check in North America last November and released on DVD in March.
- 6/18/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
At the First Time Fest, accomplished filmmakers came to teach and advocate new filmmakers how to get their film made and how to make their film popular. As part of the How They Did It Panel Series, the “We Need A Bigger Boat-Producing Independent Cinema” panel had producers speak about the struggles they had not only making their first films, but also the films they’re working on right now.
Guests of the Producers Panel were Josh Astrachan, who produced Gosford’s Park, as well as Rose Ganguzza, whose latest and widely distributed film was Margin Call. Jonathan Grey was in attendance as well, having produced not only Margin Call but Machete as well recently. Dolly Hall, who produced 54, was there as well, with Bob Salerno talking about Arbitrage and Tim Perell, who produced The Rebound. The six producers spoke about their work as producers and how they had their films made with major problems,...
Guests of the Producers Panel were Josh Astrachan, who produced Gosford’s Park, as well as Rose Ganguzza, whose latest and widely distributed film was Margin Call. Jonathan Grey was in attendance as well, having produced not only Margin Call but Machete as well recently. Dolly Hall, who produced 54, was there as well, with Bob Salerno talking about Arbitrage and Tim Perell, who produced The Rebound. The six producers spoke about their work as producers and how they had their films made with major problems,...
- 3/25/2013
- by Catherina Gioino
- Nerdly
While gearing up for the release of the Parker Posey starring indie comedy "Price Check" this week, filmmaker Michael Walker also celebrates the forming of a new production company with producer collaborator Dolly Hall. The new banner, dubbed Fog Cutter Films, has begun casting and will start shooting its first film "The Revolution of Jenny Speck," a psychological thriller about the numbing effects of pop culture. Hall has over 20 producing credits to her name, with titles including Lisa Cholodenko's "High Art," Gary Winnick's "Tadpole," and Griffin Dunne's "Lisa Piscard is Famous," and Walker is the writer and director of the Jeff Daniels starrer "Chasing Sheep," "Price Check," and the forthcoming "The Maid's Room." The two have collaborated on the last two.
- 11/15/2012
- by Eric Mattina
- Indiewire
Producer Dolly Hall and filmmaker Michael Walker announced today they have formed a narrative feature company, Fog Cutter Films. Their first project will be The Revolution of Jenny Speck to shoot in 2013 in New York. Barden Schnee Casting is currently casting the film. A psychological thriller, The Revolution of Jenny Speck revolves around Jenny Speck, a recent hire as the .teen editor. at a women.s magazine. When Jenny discovers that the magazine is part of a global conspiracy of thought control, she joins .Bruce Willis. in his fight against the innocuous, mind-numbing effects of pop culture. Hall and Walker have collaborated on two previous films, Price Check starring Parker Posey and Eric Mabius to be released by IFC Films this month, and the upcoming feature The...
- 11/15/2012
- Comingsoon.net
Deals are still closing for Sundance 2012 films. IFC Films announced Tuesday that it has locked down all North American rights to writer-director Michael Walker’s comedy “Price Check.” The specialty distributor will release the film on VOD October 11 and in theaters November 16. Parker Posey, Eric Mabius, Annie Parisse, Josh Pais, Cheyenne Jackson and Edward Herrmann star in the story of a family man working at a supermarket chain who gets an unexpected boost from a new manager who pushes him up the corporate ladder. Dolly Hall produced. Read More: Parker Posey on 'Price Check,' Sundance and the State of Independent Film “Michael Walker has made a thoughtful and impressive film featuring a return to the screen by Parker Posey that is a gift to her fans and one of her most hilarious, nuanced performances,” said Sundance Selects/IFC Films president Jonathan Sehring. "We're also happy to be working with our long time friend.
- 9/25/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
The Price Check comedy starring Parker Posey and Eric Mabius has gone to IFC who have picked up North American distribution rights. Pic will be sent to theaters on November 16th, enjoying a VOD release a month before that on October 11th, reports Variety. The film which was produced by Dolly Hall, made its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and co-stars Josh Pais as well as Cheyenne Jackson, Annie Parisse and Edward Hermann. In Price Check, Mabius plays a family man who's submerged in debt and ends up taking a job in the pricing department of a middling supermarket chain. When his new boss sets him on the path of an executive position, he rises to the challenge, but the new duties keep him away from his family. At the same time, they're enamored by each other and this creates tension in the work place and at home.
- 9/25/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The Price Check comedy starring Parker Posey and Eric Mabius has gone to IFC who have picked up North American distribution rights. Pic will be sent to theaters on November 16th, enjoying a VOD release a month before that on October 11th, reports Variety. The film which was produced by Dolly Hall, made its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and co-stars Josh Pais as well as Cheyenne Jackson, Annie Parisse and Edward Hermann. In Price Check, Mabius plays a family man who's submerged in debt and ends up taking a job in the pricing department of a middling supermarket chain. When his new boss sets him on the path of an executive position, he rises to the challenge, but the new duties keep him away from his family. At the same time, they're enamored by each other and this creates tension in the work place and at home.
- 9/25/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Features from Natalie Portman, Barry Sonnenfeld and Randall Wallace highlight the seven-film debut slate from Essential Pictures.
The new production outfit is a sister to sales/financing company Essential Entertainment. Although funded by separate pools of equity, the two share mutual investors and employees: Ee co-founder Jim Kohlberg is Ep's chairman/CEO, and exec Neil Kaplan is president/COO.
Ep is aiming to develop, package, finance and produce two to three films a year in the $10 million-$40 million range, then sell them via Ee, which Kohlberg continues to run with co-founder Jere Haufstater. The slate includes:
-- The Natalie Portman starrer "Isabella V," an adaptation of John Richardson's 2003 blog-formatted Esquire article about an heiress on the run from her family. Dan Gordon ("The Hurricane") wrote the thriller script, to be produced in conjunction with Brightlight Pictures and Handsome Charlie Films.
-- "Outlander," based on Diana Gabaldon's 1992 best-seller about a...
The new production outfit is a sister to sales/financing company Essential Entertainment. Although funded by separate pools of equity, the two share mutual investors and employees: Ee co-founder Jim Kohlberg is Ep's chairman/CEO, and exec Neil Kaplan is president/COO.
Ep is aiming to develop, package, finance and produce two to three films a year in the $10 million-$40 million range, then sell them via Ee, which Kohlberg continues to run with co-founder Jere Haufstater. The slate includes:
-- The Natalie Portman starrer "Isabella V," an adaptation of John Richardson's 2003 blog-formatted Esquire article about an heiress on the run from her family. Dan Gordon ("The Hurricane") wrote the thriller script, to be produced in conjunction with Brightlight Pictures and Handsome Charlie Films.
-- "Outlander," based on Diana Gabaldon's 1992 best-seller about a...
- 10/28/2008
- by By Gregg Goldstein
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A limited Paramount Classics release, "Just a Kiss" is just another early-21st century comedy about sex and relationships, but it's one that's entertainingly dark without resorting to shopworn situations and characters. The directing debut of actor-producer Fisher Stevens ("Pinero"), "Kiss" bowed Stateside in June at the Seattle International Film Festival and should find favor over the long haul with adult moviegoers and home cineastes.
Boasting crackling lead performances by Marisa Tomei and Kyra Sedgwick, the well-executed, fanciful premise includes a nifty device in which the imagery is frequently altered by rotomation (the technique used in "Waking Life") to highlight moments of passion and pain.
There's a fair bit of magic wafting through Patrick Breen's screenplay from his own play that revolves around the collision courses of seven New Yorkers when the non-monogamous ways of commercial director Dag (Ron Eldard) lead to a breakup with his girlfriend, Halley (Sedgwick), and a falling-out with best friend, Peter (Breen).
At a bowling alley where Dag and Peter come to heads over mutual love interest Rebecca (Marley Shelton), aggressive Paula (Tomei) zeros in on Peter, who portrays a costumed character on local TV commercials. But to get her man, she first goes to work on Dag.
Eventually, Peter ends up on a plane and hitting it off with vampy Colleen (Sarita Choudhury). She, in turn, is married to Andre (Taye Diggs), who is yet another beau of Rebecca's. In a whimsical way, mild-mannered hunk Andre finds the right chemistry with sultry Halley.
Along with some priceless dialogue and several lovemaking sequences worthy of these lusty characters, "Kiss" nimbly gets away with killing off a few of them in melodramtic flourishes and then faking out audiences one last time in the finale. Shot on digital video and transferred to 35mm, the film has a strong visual scheme, and Stevens' vibrant creative instincts are the difference between this and countless other flicks about guys and dolls.
JUST A KISS
Paramount Classics
GreeneStreet Films
Credits:
Director: Fisher Stevens
Screenwriter: Patrick Breen
Producer: Matthew H. Rowland
Executive producers: Tim Williams, Dolly Hall, John Penotti, Bradley Yonover
Director of photography: Terry Stacey
Production designer: Happy Massee
Editor: Gary Levy
Costume designer: Arjun Bhasin
Music: Sean Dinsmore
Casting: Avy Kaufman
Cast:
Paula: Marisa Tomei
Halley: Kyra Sedgwick
Andre: Taye Diggs
Dag: Ron Eldard
Rebecca: Marley Shelton
Colleen: Sarita Choudhury
Peter: Patrick Breen
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Boasting crackling lead performances by Marisa Tomei and Kyra Sedgwick, the well-executed, fanciful premise includes a nifty device in which the imagery is frequently altered by rotomation (the technique used in "Waking Life") to highlight moments of passion and pain.
There's a fair bit of magic wafting through Patrick Breen's screenplay from his own play that revolves around the collision courses of seven New Yorkers when the non-monogamous ways of commercial director Dag (Ron Eldard) lead to a breakup with his girlfriend, Halley (Sedgwick), and a falling-out with best friend, Peter (Breen).
At a bowling alley where Dag and Peter come to heads over mutual love interest Rebecca (Marley Shelton), aggressive Paula (Tomei) zeros in on Peter, who portrays a costumed character on local TV commercials. But to get her man, she first goes to work on Dag.
Eventually, Peter ends up on a plane and hitting it off with vampy Colleen (Sarita Choudhury). She, in turn, is married to Andre (Taye Diggs), who is yet another beau of Rebecca's. In a whimsical way, mild-mannered hunk Andre finds the right chemistry with sultry Halley.
Along with some priceless dialogue and several lovemaking sequences worthy of these lusty characters, "Kiss" nimbly gets away with killing off a few of them in melodramtic flourishes and then faking out audiences one last time in the finale. Shot on digital video and transferred to 35mm, the film has a strong visual scheme, and Stevens' vibrant creative instincts are the difference between this and countless other flicks about guys and dolls.
JUST A KISS
Paramount Classics
GreeneStreet Films
Credits:
Director: Fisher Stevens
Screenwriter: Patrick Breen
Producer: Matthew H. Rowland
Executive producers: Tim Williams, Dolly Hall, John Penotti, Bradley Yonover
Director of photography: Terry Stacey
Production designer: Happy Massee
Editor: Gary Levy
Costume designer: Arjun Bhasin
Music: Sean Dinsmore
Casting: Avy Kaufman
Cast:
Paula: Marisa Tomei
Halley: Kyra Sedgwick
Andre: Taye Diggs
Dag: Ron Eldard
Rebecca: Marley Shelton
Colleen: Sarita Choudhury
Peter: Patrick Breen
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 9/26/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Entertaining but superficial, "54" is a cinematic salute to the heyday of sex, drugs and disco in party-till-you-drop Manhattan circa 1979-80, with loose narrative spun around the colorful characters who worked at and indulged themselves in the wildly famous Studio 54.
A Miramax release starring rising heartthrobs Ryan Phillippe and Neve Campbell, with Mike Myers in a terrific supporting role as real-life club owner Steve Rubell, "54" is both nostalgic and revisionist. Essentially a backstage melodrama depicting talented unknowns making good in the big city, writer-director Mark Christopher's feature debut will find an appreciative audience.
Phillippe plays fictional busboy-cum-famester Shane O'Shea, a stud from Jersey with not much on his mind but girls and good times. A newspaper article about Studio 54 catches his eye, and he talks his palooka friends into crossing the river. The rest is up to fate as Shane impresses Rubell on first sight, but the golden-aired young Adonis has to remove his shirt and get ready for anything.
Heavy on narration and breezily paced, the scenario more or less sticks with Shane, though friendly co-workers Anita (Salma Hayek) and Greg (Breckin Meyer) also become emblematic of the wannabe-famous hordes drawn to Rubell's hedonistic glambakes. She's a coat-check girl who wants to be a singer and gets her chance. He's a budding entrepreneur who takes advantage of the no-rules policies regarding money skimming and drug pushing.
Shane's rise to fame starts with a spontaneous lovemaking session in the balcony with Rubell confidant Billie (Sela Ward) and reaches its zenith when he's made a bartender and club insider. In sexy fashion spreads and called upon by Rubell to escort the likes of Princess Grace, Shane has money, cars and women, but his heart belongs to soap opera actress Julie Black (Campbell).
Also from Jersey, with some of her innocence intact, Julie attends the club to further her career; Shane is still caught by surprise when their true romance is fleeting. Inevitably, the buoyant mood is chipped away and serious developments ensue. The IRS investigates the club's shoddy business practices, and Rubell defiantly goes down with the ship.
With the help of prosthetics and extensive makeup, Myers is simply marvelous as drowsy-eyed raconteur Rubell. But he's not on-screen enough to help the movie overcome the more pedestrian aspects of Christopher's sentimental romance and drama. The packed soundtrack is no let-down for disco fans, and the parade of cameos includes Lauren Hutton, Michael York, Ron Jeremy, Elio Fiorucci and Thelma Houston.
54
Miramax Films
A Redeemable Features/Dollface/FilmColony production
Credits: Writer-director: Mark Christopher; Producers: Richard N. Gladstein, Dolly Hall, Ira Deutchman; Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Bobby Cohen, Don Carmody; Director of photography: Alexander Gruszynski; Production designer: Kevin Thompson; Editor: Lee Percy; Costume designer: Ellen Lutter; Music: Marco Beltrami; Casting: Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kenny Barden. Cast: Shane O'Shea: Ryan Phillippe; Anita: Salma Hayek; Julie Black: Neve Campbell; Steve Rubell: Mike Myers; Billie Auster: Sela Ward; Greg Randazzo: Breckin Meyer. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 93 minutes...
A Miramax release starring rising heartthrobs Ryan Phillippe and Neve Campbell, with Mike Myers in a terrific supporting role as real-life club owner Steve Rubell, "54" is both nostalgic and revisionist. Essentially a backstage melodrama depicting talented unknowns making good in the big city, writer-director Mark Christopher's feature debut will find an appreciative audience.
Phillippe plays fictional busboy-cum-famester Shane O'Shea, a stud from Jersey with not much on his mind but girls and good times. A newspaper article about Studio 54 catches his eye, and he talks his palooka friends into crossing the river. The rest is up to fate as Shane impresses Rubell on first sight, but the golden-aired young Adonis has to remove his shirt and get ready for anything.
Heavy on narration and breezily paced, the scenario more or less sticks with Shane, though friendly co-workers Anita (Salma Hayek) and Greg (Breckin Meyer) also become emblematic of the wannabe-famous hordes drawn to Rubell's hedonistic glambakes. She's a coat-check girl who wants to be a singer and gets her chance. He's a budding entrepreneur who takes advantage of the no-rules policies regarding money skimming and drug pushing.
Shane's rise to fame starts with a spontaneous lovemaking session in the balcony with Rubell confidant Billie (Sela Ward) and reaches its zenith when he's made a bartender and club insider. In sexy fashion spreads and called upon by Rubell to escort the likes of Princess Grace, Shane has money, cars and women, but his heart belongs to soap opera actress Julie Black (Campbell).
Also from Jersey, with some of her innocence intact, Julie attends the club to further her career; Shane is still caught by surprise when their true romance is fleeting. Inevitably, the buoyant mood is chipped away and serious developments ensue. The IRS investigates the club's shoddy business practices, and Rubell defiantly goes down with the ship.
With the help of prosthetics and extensive makeup, Myers is simply marvelous as drowsy-eyed raconteur Rubell. But he's not on-screen enough to help the movie overcome the more pedestrian aspects of Christopher's sentimental romance and drama. The packed soundtrack is no let-down for disco fans, and the parade of cameos includes Lauren Hutton, Michael York, Ron Jeremy, Elio Fiorucci and Thelma Houston.
54
Miramax Films
A Redeemable Features/Dollface/FilmColony production
Credits: Writer-director: Mark Christopher; Producers: Richard N. Gladstein, Dolly Hall, Ira Deutchman; Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Bobby Cohen, Don Carmody; Director of photography: Alexander Gruszynski; Production designer: Kevin Thompson; Editor: Lee Percy; Costume designer: Ellen Lutter; Music: Marco Beltrami; Casting: Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kenny Barden. Cast: Shane O'Shea: Ryan Phillippe; Anita: Salma Hayek; Julie Black: Neve Campbell; Steve Rubell: Mike Myers; Billie Auster: Sela Ward; Greg Randazzo: Breckin Meyer. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 93 minutes...
- 8/25/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"High Art" is a sharp, pointillistic portrait of the relationship between two young women. An entry in the Directors Fortnight category at the Cannes International Film Festival, it also won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
An erotic love story as well as a sharp look at conflicted ambition and desire, this October Films release is a sparse but ultimately entrancing story of two very different women who, quite remarkably, lift each other out of psychological and professional doldrums.
Set in the tony and murky environs of the professional photography world, the narrative pairs an innocent with a jaded elder. In this case, the former is a young magazine editor (Radha Mitchell) who is transfixed by her neighbor, a faded photographer (Ally Sheedy) who has turned her back on her "art" and has wallowed in years of sexual manipulation and isolation.
Filmmaker Lisa Cholodenko has chiseled a hard yet bracing story on how the neophyte editor is able to change her own life and put the dissipated photographer's weary and druggy existence back on a regenerative track.
Featuring a wonderfully stringy performance by Sheedy as the disillusioned photographer, the film is a smart and inspiring look at how two very different people can give each other sustenance. It's also a zingy satire of the arts scene with some acerbic slants on the "business" of producing art.
HIGH ART
October Films
Writer-director: Lisa Cholodenko
Producers: Dolly Hall,
Jeff Levy-Hinte, Susan A. Stover
Associate producer: Lori E. Sked
Director of photography: Tami Reiker
Editor: Amy E. Duddleston
Production designer: Bernhard Blythe
Casting: Billy Hopkins,
Suzanne Smith, Kerry Barden
Original music: Shudder to Think
Cast:
Lucy Berliner: Ally Sheedy
Syd: Radha Mitchell
Greta: Patricia Clarkson
James: Gabriel Mann
Arnie: Bill Sage
Dominique: Anh Duong
Running time -- 101 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
An erotic love story as well as a sharp look at conflicted ambition and desire, this October Films release is a sparse but ultimately entrancing story of two very different women who, quite remarkably, lift each other out of psychological and professional doldrums.
Set in the tony and murky environs of the professional photography world, the narrative pairs an innocent with a jaded elder. In this case, the former is a young magazine editor (Radha Mitchell) who is transfixed by her neighbor, a faded photographer (Ally Sheedy) who has turned her back on her "art" and has wallowed in years of sexual manipulation and isolation.
Filmmaker Lisa Cholodenko has chiseled a hard yet bracing story on how the neophyte editor is able to change her own life and put the dissipated photographer's weary and druggy existence back on a regenerative track.
Featuring a wonderfully stringy performance by Sheedy as the disillusioned photographer, the film is a smart and inspiring look at how two very different people can give each other sustenance. It's also a zingy satire of the arts scene with some acerbic slants on the "business" of producing art.
HIGH ART
October Films
Writer-director: Lisa Cholodenko
Producers: Dolly Hall,
Jeff Levy-Hinte, Susan A. Stover
Associate producer: Lori E. Sked
Director of photography: Tami Reiker
Editor: Amy E. Duddleston
Production designer: Bernhard Blythe
Casting: Billy Hopkins,
Suzanne Smith, Kerry Barden
Original music: Shudder to Think
Cast:
Lucy Berliner: Ally Sheedy
Syd: Radha Mitchell
Greta: Patricia Clarkson
James: Gabriel Mann
Arnie: Bill Sage
Dominique: Anh Duong
Running time -- 101 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/11/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tim Blake Nelson's feature, which won a Special Jury Prize at the Seattle Film Festival, is a promising film debut by an actor-playwright who has been doing impressive work in New York theater for several years. Although the director-screenwriter tries a little too hard to render his Gothic tale in overly complex terms, the film boasts excellent performances, an exacting sense of milieu and a compelling emotional grip.
Set in a small Oklahoma town, "Eye of God" uses a nonlinear style to tell its ultimately horrific story. Martha Plimpton stars as Ainsley, a bright-eyed young waitress who has been engaged in a pen-pal relationship with Jack Stillings (Kevin Anderson), a convict who has just been paroled. Jack, who has found religion, says he is a new man, and shortly after he comes to town, he and Ainsley get married. The union begins happily enough, but soon Ainsley discovers that Jack's surface placidity merely covers up an intense need to control every aspect of her existence. When the relationship becomes abusive, she desperately searches for a way out.
Concurrently, the film depicts the investigation by a world-weary local sheriff (Hal Holbrook) to find out exactly what happened to a young boy, Tom Spencer (Nick Stahl), who has been found wandering around in a dazed state and covered in blood. By the finale, the film's separate tales have merged in haunting fashion.
Nelson's choice of a complex narrative style is admirable, but it also saps the story of much of its suspense. He also strains too hard for symbolism, most notably in a scene late in the film involving Ainsley and Tom, where she reveals to him that she has a glass eye. Overall, however, the film is marked by notable intelligence, restraint and sense of detail, and the performances are uniformly excellent. Plimpton has rarely been so appealing, and Anderson, in a role that serves as a sort of doppelganger to his warm-hearted priest on "Nothing Sacred", employs a calm stillness that makes his character all the more menacing.
EYE OF GOD
Castle Hill Prods.
Director-screenplay Tim Blake Nelson
Producers Wendy Ettinger, Michael Nelson
Co-producer Dolly Hall
Director of photography Russell Lee
Music David Van Tieghem
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ainsley Dupree Martha Plimpton
Jack Stillings Kevin Anderson
Sheriff Rogers Hal Holbrook
Tom Spencer Nick Stahl
Dorothy Margo Martindale
Mrs. Spencer Mary Kay Place
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Set in a small Oklahoma town, "Eye of God" uses a nonlinear style to tell its ultimately horrific story. Martha Plimpton stars as Ainsley, a bright-eyed young waitress who has been engaged in a pen-pal relationship with Jack Stillings (Kevin Anderson), a convict who has just been paroled. Jack, who has found religion, says he is a new man, and shortly after he comes to town, he and Ainsley get married. The union begins happily enough, but soon Ainsley discovers that Jack's surface placidity merely covers up an intense need to control every aspect of her existence. When the relationship becomes abusive, she desperately searches for a way out.
Concurrently, the film depicts the investigation by a world-weary local sheriff (Hal Holbrook) to find out exactly what happened to a young boy, Tom Spencer (Nick Stahl), who has been found wandering around in a dazed state and covered in blood. By the finale, the film's separate tales have merged in haunting fashion.
Nelson's choice of a complex narrative style is admirable, but it also saps the story of much of its suspense. He also strains too hard for symbolism, most notably in a scene late in the film involving Ainsley and Tom, where she reveals to him that she has a glass eye. Overall, however, the film is marked by notable intelligence, restraint and sense of detail, and the performances are uniformly excellent. Plimpton has rarely been so appealing, and Anderson, in a role that serves as a sort of doppelganger to his warm-hearted priest on "Nothing Sacred", employs a calm stillness that makes his character all the more menacing.
EYE OF GOD
Castle Hill Prods.
Director-screenplay Tim Blake Nelson
Producers Wendy Ettinger, Michael Nelson
Co-producer Dolly Hall
Director of photography Russell Lee
Music David Van Tieghem
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ainsley Dupree Martha Plimpton
Jack Stillings Kevin Anderson
Sheriff Rogers Hal Holbrook
Tom Spencer Nick Stahl
Dorothy Margo Martindale
Mrs. Spencer Mary Kay Place
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/20/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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