Controversy Surrounds Third-Trimester Abortions in 'After Tiller'
A good documentary is one that doesn't leave you as soon as the lights come up; you get in your car to go home with an unsettling feeling of what you just watched still lingering.
Expect to feel this way with After Tiller, the controversial documentary from directing duo, Martha Shane and Lana Wilson. After Tiller profiles the four remaining American doctors who perform third-trimester abortions, and their daily struggle with the public scrutiny they face.
The women Shane and Wilson profile who are seeking out these late-term abortions are not the “16 and pregnant,” careless girls you may expect. Most of them are women who desperately want to have a family, who are mentally ready to become parents, yet discover their unborn child has birth deformations that would severely affect their quality of life or ability to sustain life at all. Bones that won’t bend and lungs that will never work on their own are just some of the futures these unborn children would face, and while every child deserves a chance to live, what is life if you’re bound to machinery from a hospital bed from birth?
No matter what side of the fence you sit on, After Tiller does a great job of providing insight and compassion for the other side.
After Tiller paints an incredibly emotional picture of women struggling with the biggest and most painful decision of their lives, as well as how extremely difficult this job is for the doctors that perform the abortions. From their perspective, these doctors believe that if they are not able to safely help women perform abortions, some women may become desperate and try to do it on their own. In this sense, the filmmakers are very fair with their representation of abortion; there is no clear "left" or "right" views forced into the audience's mind.
What was most captivating to me was the day-to-day life the doctors lead; when they walk out of their office, they expect to be assassinated. They receive death threats in the middle of the night. They're constantly living in fear for their lives, yet they continue to go to work every morning, truly believing that they are helping women who need them.
No matter what side of the fence you sit on, After Tiller does a great job of providing insight and compassion for the other side. You may not leave the theater with a different view, but that's not the point. A good film is one that starts a conversation and provokes thought, and After Tiller is certainly one of those films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf3rETOO62s
Catalina Film Festival: Kate Bosworth and 'Big Sur'
Day 2 of the Catalina Film Fest was all about the independent drama, Big Sur. We talked to director Michael Polish and actress Kate Bosworth, who recently got married after meeting on the set, about the adaptation from novel to film. Plus, Michael lets us in on a couple of "Michael Polish" surprises. We also chatted with Jean-Marc Barr, who plays Jack Kerouac, about his admiration for his character.
Big Sur opens in theaters on November 1st.
'Best Man Down': Catalina Film Fest, Day 1
The Catalina Film Festival kicked off last week and Cinemacy was in the front row, covering the highlights of the independent festival. We catch Patricia Arquette who was receiving the "Catalina Career Tribute Award," which highlighted her most memorable roles in Hollywood. We also talk with Ted Koland, director of the independent dramedy Best Man Down, starring Justin Long (Accepted) and Jess Weixler (Teeth). Best Man Down is a film about one newlywed couple's last-minute decision to cancel their honeymoon in order to make funeral arrangements for their best man, who unexpectedly dies after their wedding ceremony.
Best Man Down opens in theaters October 3rd.
Director Bryan Fogel & Ivan Sergei Talk 'Jewtopia'
Bryan Fogel and Ivan Sergei seem like best friends, I walk into the interview room and I’m immediately greeted with great energy and Max the dog, sleeping in the corner. “Jewtopia” is Fogel’s feature film as a director; his past credits include playwright, producer and author. Ivan Sergei, while not quite a household name, is soon to launch into celebrity-dom. He plays Christian O’Connell (although his name is oddly missing from the IMDB page), the love-struck gentile who pretends to be Jewish to win the attention of Alison Marks, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt.
CINEMACY: What took 8 years to finally come to this point? How was that possible?
BRYAN FOGEL: Uh, 8 years! Haha. This is something I wanted to do so badly and for me, creatively, I felt like I couldn’t move on until I got this film made. And I fought like hell to get it made.
IVAN SERGEI: Yeah, it was a play…
FOGEL: And the play and the movie are so, so different [but] the concept and the comedy is similar. I think when your will is strong enough you can get something done and that was certainly the case here.
CINEMACY: And it took you less than a month to actually shoot?
SERGEI: Yeah, 21 days.
CINEMACY: So was it like, every single day you were filming something?
SERGEI: Yeah but all the actors are really professional, they all know what they’re doing. They came to work knowing what they wanted to do… and that’s where the real fun things happened.
FOGEL: [Especially] knowing that there wasn’t going to be a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor. When I went into the edit, my director’s cut of the film was like, 97 minutes! I knew that what I was shooting was going to be in the movie…haha.
CINEMACY: Silly question, was the catering kosher?
FOGEL: No, haha. I think if you see the film, this is not a…
SERGEI: Kosher film
FOGEL: Kosher film by any stretch of the imagination.
CINEMACY: I wrote a note here, I kind of pictured it as like the new “Tyler Perry movie for Jews.” I thought it was pretty funny and such a great ensemble cast, what was the table read like for both of you?
FOGEL: The table read was the first time that I heard the movie… and everyone was just cracking up.
SERGEI: Yeah I’ve always said that Jamie-Lynn Sigler stole the table read by far, she was awesome.
CINEMACY: Bryan, what was it about Ivan that made you cast him as your leading man?
FOGEL: Ivan was just the best for the role; it really came down to that. And once I saw him with Joel [David Moore], they played so well off of each other and they looked good on camera together, it all meshed.
SERGEI: It was a compliment too, there are a lot of great people in [the film] and I’m sure it would have been great to get a big name in that role, and they probably could’ve gotten one too, so it was really a compliment for me to get it.
FOGEL: That process of when I want something and have passion towards something rather than somebody sitting on the sidelines, and Ivan, being so involved and me knowing how much he liked the film and how much he wanted to do it, on top of me thinking he was incredible, was what pushed it over the edge for me.
CINEMACY: What was it like working with Jennifer Love Hewitt?
SERGEI: I actually did “Party of 5” with her way back when… She’s an awesome girl, she’s maybe what you think she is and maybe she’s not what you think she is from her characters. We had really good chemistry; it was a lot of fun to work with her.
CINEMACY: Going into [the film], did you have any reservations about possibly offending anyone?
FOGEL: That’s been the core of “Jewtopia” along the way, if it’s not offending some people I’m not doing a good job. I think comedy in general, you either love comedy or you’re the person who gets offended by comedy. With “Jewtopia” it’s either people are like, ‘this is the funniest thing in the world’ because it’s so offensive, or ‘oh my God, this is so offensive, how could somebody do this,’ and I’m happy when people have that reaction cause that means it’s striking a chord.
Jewtopia is in theaters September 20th.
Jon Lovitz on 'Jewtopia'
Jon Lovitz is one of the best-known comedians in the universe… well, according to his cats and his About Me biography. Lovitz stars as Dennis Lipschitz in the upcoming film “Jewtopia” and not only is his comedic timing and delivery spot on; he steals every scene he’s in. Yesterday I got the chance to talk to Jon one on one and from the moment I walked in the room and saw him sitting on the couch, cross-legged and petting his Pug-Chihuahua hybrid, I knew this was going to be an awesome interview.
CINEMACY: Oh, I have a pug at home. His name is Preston and he’s like 30 pounds so… yeah, he’s kinda big.
LOVITZ: Haha.
CINEMACY: The film was really funny; I’m curious how that initial table read went with all these comedians? Bryan [Director] and he said that you were surprised by Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
LOVITZ: Oh God yeah, Jamie-Lynn Sigler! I met her in the movie, I knew her from “The Sopranos” but she was like a kid. We were all blown away by how hysterically funny she was, and I don’t mean like “good, ” I mean, I said to her, ‘you could be a great comedian-actor, why don’t you have a sitcom?’
CINEMACY: Yeah, the whole cast is full of top-notch comedians.
LOVITZ: Yeah, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t expect anything and I definitely didn’t expect that!
CINEMACY: When did you first become attached to the project?
LOVITZ: My manager called me and told me ‘they’re doing a movie version of this play that I saw and the play was hysterical. You should be in this.’ So I met with Bryan and I said to [him], look, I think it’s really funny but I don’t want to play a stereotypical Jewish person that you see other actors do in movies. You want to play [the character] funny and neurotic but in a way that people really are.
CINEMACY: Not a caricature…
LOVITZ: Right, not like [Jewish tone] “What are ya talkin’ about, what do ya mean…”
CINEMACY: I’m sure Bryan loved having you give your input into the character. Did you have any reservations going into this movie, because it is “making fun” lightheartedly of the Jewish culture?
LOVITZ: No because I’m a stand-up comedian and I make fun of myself… I think part of Jewish culture is their humor and also their ability to make fun of themselves and laugh at their mistakes. That’s how my whole family was.
CINEMACY: Has your family seen the film?
LOVITZ: No, not yet.
CINEMACY: Are you excited to show them?
LOVITZ: Yeah, parts of it I acted a lot like my own father.
CINEMACY: Is there any medium that more satisfying to you? Either stand up comedy or film acting?
LOVITZ: When you perform live the people can laugh and it's fun but when you're doing a movie, you have to wait for "action" and until they say “cut” then they might laugh afterward. Or the director goes, ‘oh that was funny.’ But you really want to hear a lot of people laughing, that’s what I love about comedy, making people laugh.
CINEMACY: Yeah…
LOVITZ: And hearing it, that’s very satisfying.
'Enough Said' Offers a Fine Performance From the Late James Gandolfini
There has been a lot of hype surrounding the latest indie film from director Nicole Holofcener (Friends With Money), and rightfully so.
Enough Said is not just a refreshing comedic love story, it’s also the second to last film starring James Gandolfini before his unexpected passing in June.
Enough Said tells the story of Eva, a divorcée played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Seinfeld”), who’s been unlucky in love. She meets Albert (Gandolfini), a fellow divorcée at a party and isn’t initially interested, but, in the following days, hesitantly agrees to go on a date with him. It’s at the same party where Eva also meets Marianne, played by Catherine Keener (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), an interesting woman who instantaneously befriends Eva. The humor comes into play when Eva discovers that Marianne is Albert’s ex-wife, and thus, she finds herself at a crossroads as to which relationship to pursue, friendship or love.
It is emotional to see Gandolfini as a romantic lead; he does such justice to the role that it’s a shame he could not continue to play these types of characters.
The on-screen chemistry between the characters is what makes this film so worthwhile, with dialogue that is both conversational and organic from these veteran actors. Gandolfini plays the gentle giant compared to the wisecracking, pint-sized Louis-Dreyfus, and while the pair may seem like an unlikely couple, their chemistry is undeniable. It is emotional to see Gandolfini as a romantic lead; he does such justice to the role that it’s a shame he could not continue to play these types of characters.
If I had one complaint, it would only be the predictability of Eva’s conflict, however, the film is so captivating that the audience is willing to embrace the suspension of disbelief. On a personal note, it is also pretty heart wrenching to see Eva poke fun of Albert’s weight like calling him “Fat Albert,” a not-so-subtle reminder of Gandolfini’s untimely death.
Enough Said is definitely a directorial success for Holofcener. A perfectly cast ensemble, including Toni Collette, Ben Falcone, and newcomer Tavi Gevinson round out this indie comedy that’s sure to leave you satisfied.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R09EnVNGnio
'Touchy Feely': This Dramedy Has the Markings of Indie Success
The dysfunctional family has been portrayed in many different ways in film and TV, but none so quite like this.
Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married) reunites with director Lynn Shelton (Your Sister's Sister) for the "self-improved" comedy Touchy Feely. DeWitt plays Abby, a free-spirited massage therapist who, for mysterious reasons, is suddenly unable to make bodily contact with her customers without freaking out.
This dramedy has all of the markings to find indie success; not only does it have an experienced director of the genre at the helm, but also touts a great ensemble cast, familiar with this territory. Blockbuster babe and indie darling Ellen Page (Inception) takes on the role of Jenny, a depressed small town girl working as a dental assistant to her uptight, germaphobe father Paul, played by Josh Pais (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), who is also Abby's brother. The relationships between these characters are tested when a sudden transformation occurs and alters both their personal and professional lives.
Dreamy camera work, in true Shelton fashion, adds to the film's unique concept of reality.
The once awkward, struggling dentist Paul is miraculously given the power of the healing touch; every patient he sees is suddenly cured of his or her toothaches and cavities. Though the transformation is at first overwhelming, he soon embraces his new gift, changing his life for the better. However, things don't go so well for Abby. A once sought after massage therapist, Abby finds herself quitting her job over her newfound sudden fear of human contact. This phobia also disrupts her relationship with her boyfriend, Jesse, played by Scoot McNairy (Argo), who himself finds comfort in hanging out with Abby's niece Jenny.
Dreamy camera work, in true Shelton fashion, adds to the film's unique concept of reality. In one scene, Jenny and Jesse head to a club to check out a friend's band, and the juxtaposition of the film's slow and emotional acoustic guitar soundtrack with the visual of the upbeat and grungy rock and roll club is executed perfectly.
The only off-putting quirk was the overabundant use of the "ummm" sound. Being the type of film Shelton makes, Touchy Feely allows for the occasional stutter, but at times it seems like the actors are trying to remember their lines on the spot rather than consciously making an acting choice, a possible flaw for the mumblecore genre on the whole.
With a run time of exactly 90 minutes, Touchy Feely is delivered in a neatly perfect package; solid direction from Lynn Shelton makes this one of her top films to date. The chemistry the actors have amongst each other is completely natural, which may be due to their offscreen relationships; Rosemarie DeWitt acts alongside her real-life husband Ron Livingston. So, if you're looking for a film that's part surreal, part emotional, and completely charming, check out Touchy Feely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on1F9g89rBI
'Red Obsession' is a Love Letter to Wine Enthusiasts
If the first word you associate “Chateau” with is “Marmont,” then close the TMZ tab on your computer and embrace some culture by watching Red Obsession.
The documentary, narrated by Russell Crowe, is not so much a history lesson as it is a glimpse into the wonderful world of wine. Directing duo Warwick Ross and David Roach explore the unique history and traditions of our culture's Red Obsession and the result is a film that's bound to pique the interest of any wine enthusiast.
One could make the assumption that this documentary is arrogant, or dismiss these “wine critics” as snobby and privileged, however, the film strikes a good balance between history and politics, all the while keeping true to its artistic integrity. The Bordeaux wine is described like a work of art, lasting only for a moment in time, until the cork gets pulled. This colorful imagery is a compliment to the beautiful sweeping and aerial shots of the vineyards and Chateaus by directors of photography Lee Pulbrook and Steve Arnold.
The film strikes a good balance between history and politics, all the while keeping true to its artistic integrity.
One of the many interesting facts to take away from this documentary is that China is predicted to be the biggest producer of wine in the coming years, no longer the South of France. To cope with the increasing product demand, China is now planting over 20,000 acres of vineyards every year.
Red Obsession captures the acute attention to detail any good documentary needs; high-definition shots of laborers harvesting the vineyards and actually turning the freshly picked grapes into a bottle of Bordeaux are fascinating processes to watch. What’s just as interesting, however, is the grower’s connection to the wine.
The key ingredient that makes a “great” wine is the same ingredient that makes a great film: love. “It’s the human factor,” explains one grower, “you need love.” Through Red Obsession, it is evident that Ross and Roach are extremely in tune with what their target audience, aka wine enthusiasts, would want to see. Rumor has it, even Robert De Niro called the film “wonderful.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL326WZCPSQ