Two mothers, grieving over their dead teenage sons, bond and then begin to wonder if the other's son wasn't responsible for their child's death in "Torn," a modest, emotionally lacking melodrama built around big themes and hot-button issues.
Mahnoor Baloch is Maryam, Pakistani by birth, American by choice. She and her husband Ali (Faran Tahir of "Star Trek" and "Elysium") have plunged into the American dream. He runs a Pakistani restaurant, she's a real estate agent. They're renovating their suburban California split-level and planning for the future.
But a message on their answering machine -- "I'm going over to the mall" -- upends their world completely. They think nothing of son Walter's words until they turn on the TV news. The mall's food court has blown up.
In the quietly heartbreaking aftermath of police coming to deliver the awful news, Walter's name added to an impromptu shrine of flowers and photos at the mall,...
Mahnoor Baloch is Maryam, Pakistani by birth, American by choice. She and her husband Ali (Faran Tahir of "Star Trek" and "Elysium") have plunged into the American dream. He runs a Pakistani restaurant, she's a real estate agent. They're renovating their suburban California split-level and planning for the future.
But a message on their answering machine -- "I'm going over to the mall" -- upends their world completely. They think nothing of son Walter's words until they turn on the TV news. The mall's food court has blown up.
In the quietly heartbreaking aftermath of police coming to deliver the awful news, Walter's name added to an impromptu shrine of flowers and photos at the mall,...
- 10/25/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Multicultural wish-fulfillment narratives are common in American indies, particularly post–9-11. The best, like 2007's The Visitor, keep the maudlin hand-holding to a minimum and allow the complexities of human interaction to do the heavy lifting. Jeremiah Birnbaum's Torn does just that, so when the inevitable camaraderie between unlikely characters develops, it actually feels possible. Maryam (Mahnoor Baloch), a Muslim American, and Lea (Dendrie Taylor), a stereotypically blue-collar Caucasian, meet after an explosion at the local mall has killed their teenage sons. Singularly shared experience quickly bonds the two, until the impending investigation into whether Maryam's mosque-attending son harbored anti-American sentiment ignites an unfortunate blame game. The h...
- 10/16/2013
- Village Voice
What is the true face for terrorism?
Fog City Pictures released the trailer for the indie drama “Torn.”
Here’s the synopsis:
An unexpected bond forms between two women when their sons are killed in an explosion at a local shopping mall. When the police find evidence of a bomb, one of the sons becomes the prime suspect, threatening the two mothers’ new friendship and forcing them to question how well they knew their own children. Torn is a powerful dramatic journey that invites each of us to confront our own perceptions of the world and one another.
The drama stars Mahnoor Baloch, Dendrie Taylor, Faran Tahir, Sharon Washington, Patrick St. Esprit and John Heard. It’s directed by Jeremiah Birnbaum.
The film will be released in New York City on October 18 and in various California cities on October 25. Check https://www.facebook.com/tornthefilm for the exact release details.
Fog City Pictures released the trailer for the indie drama “Torn.”
Here’s the synopsis:
An unexpected bond forms between two women when their sons are killed in an explosion at a local shopping mall. When the police find evidence of a bomb, one of the sons becomes the prime suspect, threatening the two mothers’ new friendship and forcing them to question how well they knew their own children. Torn is a powerful dramatic journey that invites each of us to confront our own perceptions of the world and one another.
The drama stars Mahnoor Baloch, Dendrie Taylor, Faran Tahir, Sharon Washington, Patrick St. Esprit and John Heard. It’s directed by Jeremiah Birnbaum.
The film will be released in New York City on October 18 and in various California cities on October 25. Check https://www.facebook.com/tornthefilm for the exact release details.
- 9/12/2013
- by Gig Patta
- LRMonline.com
Watch the trailer for The FIlm Collective and Brainstorm Media's Torn, starring Mahnoor Baloch, Dendrie Taylor, Faran Tahir, Sharon Washington, Patrick St. Esprit and John Heard. Jeremiah Birnbaum directs the film screenwritten by Michael Richter, with a release date set for October 18th in New York at the Village East Cinemas, then expanding to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and Orange County, California, on October 25th, 2013. An unexpected bond forms between two women when their sons are killed in an explosion at a local shopping mall. When the police find evidence of a bomb, one of the sons becomes the prime suspect, threatening the two mothers’ new friendship and forcing them to question how well they knew their own children.
- 9/11/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
If there is anything we have learned post-9/11 is that the spectre of threat and the presence of fear can arrive from completely unexpected places. The face of terrorism has moved beyond cliché, with those wishing to lash out for whatever reasons coming from backgrounds that are surprisingly diverse. And it's against this backdrop that "Torn" unfolds. Directed by Jeremiah Birnbaum, from a script by Michael Richter, the film stars Mahnoor Baloch, Dendrie Taylor, Faran Tahir, Sharon Washington, Patrick St. Esprit and John Heard and tells the story of Maryam, an upper-middle class Pakistani immigrant and Lea, a working class mother, whose lives collide when both their sons are killed in what seems like an unfortunate gas line explosion at a local shopping mall. But when the investigation into the incident reveals that Maryam's son may have set off a bomb, their worlds are turned upside down. This exclusive trailer...
- 9/3/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
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