Jim Sheridan (plus In America)

[Pubrick]

u may remember him as the director of such films as My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, and The Boxer.

well tonite i saw his new one In America, tho i think it's also being called "East of Harlem". it hasn't been released yet, but it's been in festivals like toronto/sundance and such.. how come no one's mentioned it? it's very good.



starring Samantha Morton in a rare speaking role, Paddy Considine (u may know him as roisin's partner in the moloko video Familiar Feelings, as well as in the new Coldplay video), and two little girls who are sisters in real life Emma and Sarah Bolger (6yrs, & 10yrs respectively) giving the most outstanding performances by young'ns in a long time. an irish immigrant family after the death of their youngest son Frankie, it's clearly sheridan's most personal film, co-written with his daughter.



wisely told from the older girl's POV.. it maintains a magical raw energy throughout. sumtimes scary in the way that adults can seem like monsters, and often uplifting. djimon honsou, i almost forgot, is awesome in it too.

sum might find it not depressing enuff, i'd say ur not feeling its spirit. it lies within the kids. u can see in their eyes a deep alien-like awareness of the ghostly void they exist in. the little one gives out as much as she is receiving, while the older one quietly reacts, like Zhivago the poet.  2 scenes in particular showcase this essence: the scene where the older girl sings Desperado in a cowgirl costume, and after they watch ET (sheridan moved to the US in '82) where the little girl is sad because ET had to go back "home".. a waitress explains to her that home is a good thing, "ET's own heaven", and the girl says "no, it's not" without fully understanding what she means.

as an immigrant, i appreciate the veracity of this film and the painfully heartfelt way it (and the family) deals with its demons. if their loss had been due to violence*, this would be even closer to home. i feel deja vu just writing this.

anyway, talk about sheridan and be lookin out for this film if it ever gets released.

*sheridan could have easily gone in this direction, but with The Boxer he finished his series of irish political films, pointedly that film was more about love than anything else..

edited to add pics and jazz shit up like dat

[MacGuffin]

"My Left Foot" is an amazing movie. Wonderful mother/son relationship. I cry everytime I see him write his mother's name with the chalk. Both Daniel Day and Brenda Fricker deserved their Oscars. I refused to get the pan-and-scan DVD. There was supposed to a new letterboxed one released a while back, but got bumped or cancelled. Fuckin' Disney.

"In The Name Of The Father" does the same with a father/son relationship. Another amazing performance by Lewis. Underrated film. Great soundtrack too.

[Newtron]

and be lookin out for this film if it ever gets released.

Consider me highly excited. Maybe they'll release it for Oscar time, but it will probably be ignored.

[aclockworkjj]

Samantha Morton

I am interested to see this just cause of her...I remember a lot of people here all gun-ho about her in Minority Report....which I didn't quite understand.  How is she in it?...as I am not really bought on her yet...

Fuckin' Disney.

ths can be said all too often...you would think they would get the fuckin' hint...

[MacGuffin]

and be lookin out for this film if it ever gets released.

Consider me highly excited. Maybe they'll release it for Oscar time, but it will probably be ignored.

Release Date: November 26th, 2003 (LA/NY); expands to other cities at later dates

Release Date Notes: After pulling this film from being an "Oscar bait" movie for 2002, Fox Searchlight has apparently had a change of mind, now positioning it as one of the highlights of Oscar season... 2003, with a platform release that starts on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Trailer here.

[aclockworkjj]

I get a kick out of ....." from master storyteller..." in the trailer...

[RegularKarate]

I thought this had come and gone, I saw the trailer for this like five or more months ago.  

Didn't look very good to me at the time, but that might have been because I had been so disapointed by the majority of indie flicks I had been seeing (Dancer Upstairs, etc...)

[Pubrick]

all i gotta say is, Fuck Trailers. i don't understand how everyone here relies on them so much, they're just commercials. i only watch em for when i don't think i'll be seeing a movie, or when i feel like getting the wrong impression of sumthing.

I am interested to see this just cause of her...I remember a lot of people here all gun-ho about her in Minority Report....which I didn't quite understand.  How is she in it?...as I am not really bought on her yet...

yeah, she's only the best actress of her generation. when i first saw she was is in this, i was like "i don't know how she'll play a mother" but she turned out to be perfect, she's always been about the eyes.. what with her mute roles and all. hot too.

[RegularKarate]

all i gotta say is, Fuck Trailers. i don't understand how everyone here relies on them so much, they're just commercials. i only watch em for when i don't think i'll be seeing a movie, or when i feel like getting the wrong impression of sumthing.

Know whatcha mean, P.  

I don't always rely on trailers, but there hadn't been to much hype for this film elsewhere, so I just went off my natural reaction to the trailer.

There are so many movies that come out (especially here in Austin), sometimes I have to base my decisions on trailers.  Unless something better comes along... like P's approval... that's usually a decent reason to check out a film as far as I'm concerned.

[©brad]

so nice to be in a college town that actually gets decent movies. this movie would never get released anywhere near my parents house.

rk u get sum good stuff in austin? huh, i had a friend who lived in dallas and said that they didn't get anything but mainstream stuff. is there a bigger film scene in austin?

[RegularKarate]

rk u get sum good stuff in austin? huh, i had a friend who lived in dallas and said that they didn't get anything but mainstream stuff. is there a bigger film scene in austin?

Talk to Ghostboy about Dallas... he seems to get to see good stuff.

Austin, on the other hand has a pretty big film scene.  It's a college town and home of quite a few festivals including South by Southwest and The International Gay and Lesbian film festival.

Right now, we have to choose from:

I've deleted all the stuff that I'm sure is at everyone else's theater (there may be a couple I'm not sure about)

Boogie Nights  R  Comedy  02:32  
Capturing the Friedmans  NR  Documentary  01:47  
Donnie Darko  R  Romance  02:00  
Freeze Bomb  NR  Action  00:90  
Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns  NR  Documentary  01:42  
Gunfighter  NR        
The Holy Land  NR  Art/Foreign  01:32  
I Capture the Castle  R  Drama  01:51  
Jesco the Dancing Outlaw     Documentary    
Lucia Lucia  R  Comedy  01:50  
Northfork  PG-13  Art/Foreign  01:34  
Perfect Blue  R  Art/Foreign  01:20  
Simon, King of the Witches  NR  Horror    
Snakes  R  Thriller  01:23  
Spellbound  G  Documentary  01:37  
Swimming Pool  R  Drama  01:42  
Torture Chamber of Fu Manchu
Washington Heights  R  Drama  01:22  
Whale Rider  PG-13  Art/Foreign  01:45  
Winged Migration  G  Documentary  01:31  

huh... we had Cremaster cycle up until last week... guess I missed it.

We also have the Alamo Draft House, which I've hailed as the best theater in world many times.

[chainsmoking insomniac]

Fuckin-a P, I really want to see this movie.  I didn't see the last Morton pic (the last one I saw her in was Minority Report, but liked her better in Sweet and Lowdown) but you did a fantastic job of summarizing the film.  Kudos dude.
As an aside, where are you from?

[aclockworkjj]

yeah, she's only the best actress of her generation.......hot too.

I dunno ....she is kinda goofy (I realize though I probably just haven't seen enough of her)  looking at times, I imagine that has a lot to add to her appeal though as well....

[Pubrick]

As an aside, where are you from?

it's right behind the clouds there.

[godardian]

I was sure this was going to be an adaptation of this:



I was wrong. The movie sounds like one to see, though.