The genre-jumping Stephen Frears gifts us with TAMARA DREWE. Thank you, say I.

Stephen Frears (shown below) is at it again -- bouncing around from genre to genre but leaving his own special mark on the proceedings. Thrillers, westerns, bio-pics, noirs, comedies, smart political/social broadsides, character studies, historic costume melodramas, and much else -- including some Hollywood product like Hero (which would probaly lie at the bottom of my Frears list). But even that one (and/or Mary Reilly) had some some good things to offer. At the top of the list lie most of his other movies, all jostling for first, second or third place because they're all good films. This time out--with his newest, TAMARA DREWE (which goes immediately to near the top of my Frears list)--his chosen genre may remind you of a cross between drawing-room comedy (set mostly outdoors in the glorious English countryside) and social satire that targets academia, as well as the middle and lower British classes.

Based on the supposedly beloved (though unknown by me) graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, itself inspired  by Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, the movie is hardly Hardy. The references may be there, all right, but the film is far too much fun -- bright, saucy and snappy -- to put you in mind of the dark master's work. Taking place in what seems to be a kind of writer's colony cum-season-long-bed-and-breakfast run by a famous and best-selling-but-caddish writer and his long-suffering wife, the movie spins so many small plots and loopy characters into the mix that you fear for its ability to bring anything home. Put those fears to rest, dear viewer, for surely we have learned by now: No fears when Frears is afoot.

Though the movie does begin with a very Hardy-esque visual, as a sexy, sweaty man of the soil (Luke Evans, above) chops woods and has us imagining that we're a century or more back in time, the filmmaker then plops us first in media res, as a zaftig young woman in a nifty automobile arrives in town for a dalliance with our famous author (Roger Allam, below, in what is probably the movie's most perfect performance).

From here the ball starts rolling and never stops. We meet that put-upon but quite charming wife (Tamsin Grieg, below, left) and, among her several writer/guests, an American academic played by Bill Camp (below, right). These two provide the film with its sweetest, most likable characters.

The film's titular star Gemma Arterton, is certainly its main physical attraction. Ms Arterton (on poster, top), stacked and stoked, is a bundle of energetic joy as the young woman who left her family's mini-mansion in this small town as an ugly duckling and now, with some pronounced plastic surgery, has returned as the sexy swan.

There are also a couple of young "townie" girls, played by Jessica Barden (above, left) and Charlotte Christie, at right) fixated on a current rock star, one of whom looks likely to grow into up into, to use a Brit vernacular term, a right proper "slag";

that rock star with whom the girls are infatuated (and yes, as personified by Dominic Cooper, shown at left, he's a naughty hunk indeed, sporting an appealing set of drumsticks -- with which he gives an impromptu kitchen concert -- and some other nice equipment);

various and assorted would-be writers;

a herd of cows and one very energetic dog (shown with Mr. Cooper).

Terrible things happens to some of these characters, but I swear the smile will never leave your face. In fact, as the film rolls along, thanks to Mr. Frears' pitch-perfect ability to hold the right tone, that smile should turn into one hell of a grin -- never more so than when death descends on the scene. 

How and why the movie works so well is also due in no small part to the contribution of screenwriter Moira Buffini, who has taken Ms Simmonds' "novel" and, we are told in the press materials, added some of her own extensions. She's done a bang-up job of creating full-bodied characters -- all self-involved and ripe for satire, but some nastier than others -- then weaving them and their mini-plots together so that the movie builds gradually into an explosion of great, dark fun. One might have wished for a tad more succulent dialog. What we have is perfectly serviceable and does a fine job of getting us from A to B and finally Z. Dollops of Coward or Wilde would have been nice, of course, but as someone once said, "Why ask for the moon when we have the stars?"

Tamara Drewe, from Sony Picture Classics (my goodness, this company is currently on a roll), opens this Friday, October 8, in both New York City (at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the Regal Union Square) and in Los Angeles. It will be arriving for the rest of you lucky Americans in a nearby city soon.

Yeow -- it's João! Pedro Rodrigues gets a retro at BAM; quick chat w/the filmmaker

This week BAMcinématek's popular series The Next Director goes gay -- and kinda wild -- with the introduction of Portuguese filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues' five-film retrospective (three full-lengths and two shorts) beginning Wednesday, October 6 at 7 pm (O Fantasma, preceded by the short Happy Birthday!), continuing Thursday, October 7, at 7:30 (Two Drifters, preceded by the short China, China) and ending Friday, October 8, with two showings of his latest movie, To Die Like a Man, at 4pm and 7.  The latter screening will feature a Q&A with Rodriguez and his frequent collaborator and jack of all trades, João Rui Guerra da Mata, who's done everything from acting, writing and directing to art/set decoration and costume design.

Though João-One (shown at left) claims he doesn't like to talk about his work (see interview below) -- and who can blame him? An artist's work should speak for itself -- still, he proved a charming and interesting conversationalist, so TrustMovies bets he'll make a smart and enjoyable host for that Q&A. If you're a newcomer to JPR's output, you're in for a crazy ride. In the first of the shorts in this fest, Happy Birthday! (Parabéns!),

a 20-year-old student (Eduardo Sobral) that a 30-something architect (played by João-Two, shown at right) has picked up the night before, awakens in the latter's apartment and has a morning look-around. Young Sobral is a delight in this extremely fresh outing, the most "normal" of Rodrigues' films that I've seen.

O Fantasma, on the other hand, tracks a sexy young Portuguese sanitation worker and is dark, dirty and hot--very hot--if you like your sex spiced with a good deal of S&M. The photography is excellent, and the performances are fine--as far as they go. The lead character has a dog fixation (he likes 'em and he likes to act like 'em, too). As the film moves along, his behavior grows more erratic and off-the-wall, culminating in a night-long spree of violence and sex that finally approaches the deep end. There is not a lot of story here, and you may find, as I did, not much reason to care about anyone in the film, but you can't easily dismiss the eye-popping visuals and the even more unusual character at the center of things. Night-time gay prowling has seldom seemed more bizarre.

In his second full-length narrative, Two Drifters, Rodrigues tackles this time a woman who fixates on the recently-deceased lover of a bereft young man.  The filmmaker's narrative here is much more complicated than in O Fantasma, though whether or not it at all coalesces will be yours to decide. For me, it did not, though I found the filmmaker's themes -- and how he deals with them -- as fascinating as they are flawed.  And, as I recall (it's been five years since I've seen this film), the song "Moon River" will never find a home in an odder movie.  (Two Drifters will be preceded by the 14-minute short China, China, which I've not yet seen and is said to deal with a Chinese family living in Lisbon.)

Rodrigues' longest and most-heralded film so far is his latest, 2009's To Die Like A Man, which tells of the travails of Tonia, a transvestite on her way to full transgenderation. The film opens with a young man applying... make-up?  Or is it war paint?  Then we cut to the shot of a spider in her web and then to a pair of soldiers, one of whom is that young man again, in camouflage, on a mission or perhaps part of a military game. Strange, very bad things happen, but, as usual with Rodrigues, you can never be sure if they're real.

In this film, which involves sexuality, identity, children, father-and-son (or mother-and-sons: Trannies, you may realize along the way, allow you to have your mom and dad all in one!), Rodrigues has created quite a character in Tonia, his drag-show entertainer with a fondness for young men, whether they be her son or her lover. That lover's a druggie, and so the two squabble, make up, and squabble some more. He's off drugs, then back on. And when s/he gives the kid a blow job, be breaks it off mid-suck.

Instead of the story circling around, it's the location that does so, coming back to the house through the window of which, at the film's beginning, the two soldiers watched as two transvestites partied.  When we come back to this house, the film turns (even more) surreal, offering up a love song (religious?), as our characters, including a dog, sit together in what seems a kind of enchanted forest. After which the movie momentarily turn into L'avventura (with Tonia standing in for the missing Anna).

Arbitrary does not begin to describe this movie -- philosophical, funny, moving, sentimental, silly -- in which events, desires, characters all change at the drop of a hat.  And yet, as usual with this man's work, you can't shake the thing. And Rodrigues saves his best costume, a glorious one, for the finale. And also his best line: "Don't be so sure; that's not who I am."

The Rodrigues retrospective takes off this Wednesday, October 6.  You can find all the information about it, including ticket availability, here.  Directions to BAM can be found here.

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In order to speak with João Pedro Rodrigues (right), we do a Skype phone call -- New York to Portugal -- except that it's been quite awhile since TrustMovies has used Skype, so he's forgotten all the computer technology regarding what plugs into where.  Rodrigues, a very good sport, puts up with several phone calls with, apparently, no one at the other end of the phone -- until we get it straightened out (so to speak).  In the below interview, TM appears in boldface, and Rodrigues in standard type.

Whew!  Sorry about all that. I don't use Skype often enough to remember how to do it...  OK: I think I've seen all your films at this point -- oh, except for China, China. Any chance that we will see that soon?

Yes, it’s part of the retro at BAM. (João's right; this short precedes the showing of Two Drifters, Thursday, October 7 at 7:30.)

Do your films reflect gay life in Portugal, particularly?

I don’t draw the films to make a portrait of how is gay life in Portugal. It is more the stories I have in mind that are closer to me that I want to tell in that moment of my life. My purpose was never, when I started –- well, of course they are gay-themed but that was not my purpose. That is because I am gay and these are the stories that I want to tell. But I do feel in myself that my main goal is not to make gay cinema. I just want to make films.

And you have. Drifters, in some ways, was not so gay. Or was it?

(He laughs) That’s a good question. How gay is it? And what does that mean? Mainly I want to make my films for everybody. Anyone who will see them and can -- or can not -- appreciate them. There are people who love them very much and others who hate them very much.

I try to be honest with what I am telling and my feelings. But my films are not autobiographical. Of course there are elements of things that come from myself. Because I write them, along with other people. But they are not portraits of myself . I don’t want to make self-centered cinema. I make my films for others to see.

So you are making them for as many people as possible to see. That’s what all artists do, on some level, I believe.

I do understand that these are not films for six-year-olds. But if you are 16 or 18 or more, then I think it is OK.

When Drifters first came out, it was allowed for twelve or older to get in to see it in Portugal. But for To Die Like a Man… (he thinks a moment) I cannot remember because I was traveling a lot to promote the film and so I was not here when it opened.

I believe that children can better understand things than we, especially we here in America, give them credit for.

Yes, and anyway, they have access to the internet.

(I laugh) Right! It seems to me that you’re films have grown a little darker, one after another, as you’ve progressed --from Happy Birthday to O Fantasm, from Drifters to the new one. Does this make sense you?

Hmmm… (He think about this.) Maybe so. Happy Birthday, from 1997, was my first short. So… Yes, because I think I have grown darker myself.

That’s probably normal; as we age we become aware of the darker side of life and things that we can't so easily dismiss.

Maybe, but some people never seem to do this – to come to terms with the tragedy or what is happening in their lives.

One of my biggest questions about To Die Like a Man regards who the two “women” are that we see at the beginning, through the windows and then at greater length in the middle of the movie? Their house, and especially that wooded area around the hose seemed like something out of Shakespeare – the Forest of Arden. Something magical maybe.

They could be like ghosts, and yes, in an enchanted forest. You know, the character of Maria already existed as a character. A friend of mind plays this character in a play in the theater. She plays it in English. Originally she did not want to play it in Portuguese. But this character in the film is not exactly the same as Maria. The character is inspired by everyone from Callas to Dietrich. My friend creates a character, he sings songs, plays jokes, and is very funny. But it only makes sense in English -- at least he thought this would be true. He thought that the subtleties of the English language could not adapt to Portuguese, so I had to convince him.

So you did convince him, apparently. But where did his original character come from?

There is a book called Casa Susanna in which there are photos from the 60s of men dressed as women in a country house and in the forest. It is by Robert Swope. The people are not identified because the photos were found in flea market. There is one photo that says Casa Susanna. So he imagined this as the place where these men wearing drag would meet and have conversations and tea and whatever. These were the inspirations for a kind of utopia where you could be as you want to be.

Interesting.  Because, even though this is a world that could offer her/him a lot more freedom, Tonia becomes frightened there and insists on going back to her home and her life.

These two characters are kind of cynical. So Tonia feels this way. But these characters also made her think more about her life and that she did not make finished all the things she wanted to. Finding these two women suddenly made these questions more powerful for her. She always led her life trying not to think about these things. When I wrote the script for the film, I interviewed a lot of drag queens and transsexuals. While it is a fiction, some of these stories are true. And I think that we all tend to put our problems aside and try not to think about them. When Tonia faces her problems, she is also ill and so must come to terms with them.

Watching the film made me wonder if you, as a filmmaker, and maybe as a person, wanted to put the two sexes together into a single package that incorporates both male and female. So we can have it all.

Hmmm. ..I don’t have many friends who are this way, so I didn’t really know these people. They puzzled me. So the film is a reflection of what I felt while I was hearing these stories and while I was meeting these people. I don’t also want to give any answer that might say, "Transsexuals are all like this."  Even though my film is a tragedy, I did meet some younger people like this who seem to have a happier life. It’s not easy, this thing of changing gender, but they are people who have a somewhat normal life. Not every story is a tragedy. But I wanted to tell a tragedy so I wrote a script like this one.

Do you do see this story as tragedy??

It’s like a classical tragedy, because there is someone who can not find her most inner desires.

But also at the end of the film there is a kind of acceptance of her/his destiny. As there is with her young lover. So they are at peace, perhaps?

As she is very Catholic, there is almost, like, an assumption. She is the Virgin of -- or the Madonna of -- the Transsexuals. She is reaching up. And wearing red and blue – the colors of the Madonna, as in the painting of Titan and others. That I like very much!

What’s it like in Portugal – for gays?

We are following the steps of Spain. Gay marriage was approved in Portugal just this year -- a few years after Spain did it. Like in Spain, it was a political decision. We have a socialist government now -- you would call it liberal – and when we had elections, part of the program of that party was saying that they would approve gay marriage. If we had a popular referendum, it probably would not be approved. So I think it was a very brave decision on the party’s part.

Evidently you can trust your political parties to do what they say they will do. We can’t do that.

(He laughs) Sometimes, at least. Sometimes they promise things, and then they do not do them.

How is the economy there?

Not so good. Very complicated. We were always one of the poorest countries, and now that we are in the European Union, we are still one of the least developed counties.  It is not easy.

So you're on the Euro, right?

Oh, yes.

Is there anything else you want to say – while I’ve got you. Something you’ve always wanted to say, but nobody ever asked.

(He thinks a bit.) Only that I always feel that I am not the best person to talk to about my work.

I think you’ve been a fine person to talk to.  But you're right: When the work is good -- when it's real -- it will speak for itself. So thanks for this interview, João, and enjoy your time in the US and at BAM.

Taymor's TEMPEST, a visual treat, stays true in spirit to its great source material

What a beautiful piece of filmmaking -- and how true in spirit to Shakespeare's great play -- is Julie Taymor's renditon of THE TEMPEST.  As this is a Disney/Miramax co-production, I would normally -- being the frugal fellow I am -- suggest you wait until its scheduled release date (as of now, December 10) to plunk down your cash. But if you can obtain a ticket to its second and final NY Film Festival screening at 10pm tonight, Saturday, October 2 (the first one, at 7pm, is sold out), go for it. The enormous screen at Alice Tully Hall should do this gorgeous film justice, and you may want to see it prior to reading much about it. Not that there is much to spoil for buffs of The Bard, but Ms Taymor has indeed made a few interesting changes in her paired-down, theme-heightened version -- chief among these is the casting of Helen Mirren as Prospera (yes, that's an "a" at the end). And why not?

If The Great Shake were around today, he'd embrace the rise of women. He was too smart not to, but being of his time and knowing quite well which side of his bread was buttered (and by whom), he played along regarding the "fair sex," just as he did about most else. Casting Mirren is no stunt, either; she's equal parts moving and commanding in the role. And hearing much of the play's words out of her mouth (as well as that of others in this fine cast) is a pleasure. Other than Prospero, The Tempest tends to live or die by its Caliban and Ariel.  Yes, certain other characters in certain productions stand out now and again, but as this is a play about justice and the uses of authority (via magic), audiences tend to look to the magical characters -- Prospero, Ariel and Caliban -- for their thrills and joy.

Djimon Hounsou makes a spectacular Caliban. He is such a handsome, full-bodied actor, and his rich voice has seldom been put to better use than here. With make-up and costume that manage to accentuate his blackness and his "whiteness" (you'll see), he becomes a slave whose enormous possibilities lie just beyond our ken -- and his ability to tap into them.  Caliban is one of Shakespeare's strangest creations, and Taymor and Hounsou make the most of this. They don't (and we can't) explain Caliban -- this marvelous "other" -- but we also can't take our eyes off him. We are fully engaged, as we should be, by who he is and, at the film's moving conclusion, what might become of him.

As Ariel, Ben Whishaw adds another feather to his growing cap. Androgynous and beautiful, fairy-like and asexual, alternately powerful (frightening when need be) and pliant, the actor is a great choice for this role.  Granted the role is half special effects, but Whishaw's skills are such that his performance and the effects seem joined at the hip-- and everywhere else.  I'll have more to say about this remarkable film upon its release.  But if you can make it to Lincoln Center today and can afford the $25, I'd advise the trip.

Check out the entire New York Film Festival here.  For The Tempest, click here.

Drake Doremus' DOUCHEBAG -- ah, alliteration! -- is energetic, intelligent fun. Plus a Q&A with the filmmaker

Can you resist a movie that bills itself as a "Super Crispy Entertainment Production"?  I couldn't, though I admit to having a misgiving or two along the way. DOUCHEBAG, the new film from Drake Doremus, starts out reminding one of the recent The Freebie in its use of a camera view so immediate and intimate that it seems to put us up close and personal -- in fact, in bed with -- the protagonists. As the film moves along, we may think back to certain others such as The Overbrook Brothers and Lovers of Hate, among a number of mumblecore-ish movies that spring immediately to mind.

Yet Douchebag is not mumblecore. Not in my view anyway. One of the things that best describes an m-core movie is that its participants so often seem adrift, barely knowing what they want, or need, or are even doing a good deal of the time.  That's not the case here. The characters created by Doremus, with help from his actor/co-writer Andrew Dickler and actor/co-producer Ben York Jones (shown below, with Mr. Jones at left) are, if anything, a little too sure of themselves. There's no drifting here.

These people are active-positive (sometimes active-negative), and so full of energy they practically compel us to go along with them. (At times -- the kite-flying scene on the beach -- the film has a near-documentary quality that probably means many of its scenes were improvised -- but well.) Conversations often lead to action: Talk of figure-skating bounces on to love and from there to inviting a very old flame (5th grade, anyone?) as a date to the upcoming wedding.

At this point the movie becomes a freak road trip, the reason for which does defy credibility, so I wish Mr. Doremus had better headed off our objections.  Once on our way, however, there is so much fun to be had and interesting new characters to meet that I think you'll be happy to tag along.  (The scene with Nicole Vicius in a skating rink is simply magical -- and then suddenly, quite sensible)  Dickler and Jones make a fine set of sparring brothers, while the always-engaging Marguerite Moreau (shown above, right, who was so compelling in the recent Easier With Practice) -- direct and utterly real -- helps ground this short, 72-minute movie.  Good music is provided by, among others, the Goddamn Electric Bill, and there's also some nifty artwork (the Jones character is an artist) from Christopher Baier.

Douchebag, from Paladin, open today, October 1, in New York City at the Village East Cinemas, in Los Angeles on October 8 at the NuArt Theater, and elsewhere around the country in the weeks to come.  Click here for a listing of cities and theaters.

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At the chance to speak with this filmmaker, shown at left, TrustMovies jumped but, due to a time mix-up, it was not to be. Instead we emailed back and forth and came up with the following. (Normally I would retype Mr. Doremus' answers -- which came back to me in CAPITAL LETTERS -- into upper and lower case, but today's time constraints prevent this. (Plus, TrustMovies is such a lousy typist that he would make many mistakes, only some of which, if history be a guide, would he then catch and correct.)  So, in the below interview, TM remains in upper and lower case, while Drake Doremus appears in ALL CAPS:

So, Drake --how old are you?  Seeing this movie, by the way, really makes me want to see your earlier Spooner, so I will stick that one in my Netflix queue – if NF has it.)

THANKS MAN, SPOONER SHOULD BE OUT SOMETIME IN JANUARY, I BELIEVE. I AM 27 YEARS OLD. WE JUST SHOT A NEW MOVIE, TOO, THIS YEAR CALLED ''LIKE CRAZY'' STARRING FELICITY JONES, JENNIFER LAWRENCE AND ANTON YELCHIN. SHOULD BE DONE FOR NEXT YEAR AT SOME POINT. AS LONG AS THE IDEAS ARE THERE, A MOVIE A YEAR IS THE GOAL.

A Super Crispy Entertainment Production: Great name. Sort of describes the feeling your film has. Where did that name come from?

HAHAHA. THAT'S THE WONDERFUL NAME OF MY PRODUCER JONATHAN SCHWARTZ'S COMPANY. I BELIEVE IT JUST POPPED INTO HIS HEAD ONE DAY AND HE WENT WITH IT. HE'S AN AMAZING PRODUCER. HE PRODUCED ALL THREE OF MY FILMS AND WITHOUT HIM NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. HE'S A HERO IN MANY WAYS.

My companion mentioned the word Mumblecore – which he generally hates (I think it must have appeared somewhere on the press release or info for the movie?) But your film did not really seem like most Mumblecore movies. It’s more energized, specific and direct regarding in the characters’ intentions. M’core people seem to diddle and wander and to be adrift somewhat. Not yours. Want to talk about this?

THANKS MAN I APPRECIATE IT. ENERGIZED IS A GREAT WORD AND THAT'S COOL THAT YOU FELT THAT WAY. SURE. I NEVER REALLY SAW THE FILM AS MUMBLECORE BUT I UNDERSTAND THE COMPARISONS. I APPRECIATE THE GENRE FOR WHAT IT IS BUT I FEEL LIKE DOUCHEBAG IS A MORE FANTASTICAL JOURNEY THAN MOST FILMS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT GENRE.

There is such immediacy to the proceedings! The energy level is really high—without being off the charts. Is this something you wanted going in, or did the actors provide it on their own?

I HATE IT IN MOVIES WHERE IT TAKES TOO LONG FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN OR MOMENTUM TO BUILD. I THINK IF YOU'RE NOT HOOKED IN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES TO GO ON A JOURNEY WITH THE CHARACTERS YOU NEVER WILL BE, SO YES THAT WAS ALWAYS THE INTENTION IN THE RHYTHM OF THE FILM. I WANT ALL OF MY MOVIES TO BE SHORT AND I LOVE IT WHEN WE GET GOING QUICKER THAN LATER. THE WONDERFUL BEN YORK JONES AND ANDREW DICKLER BROUGHT THAT ENERGY EVERYDAY, TOO.

How much of the dialog was improvised, how much written?

I'D SAY ABOUT 70 PERCENT OF THE DIALOG WAS IMPROVISED AND THE REST WRITTEN. WE HAD A 30 PAGE OUTLINE WITH REALLY SPECIFIC BEATS TO HIT AND THE WONDERFULLY TALENTED WRITER LINDSAY STIDHAM PENNED A BUNCH OF LINES, TOO, THAT ARE IN THE FILM.

One caveat that I have: Not immediately bringing up the possibility of Mary’s being married-with-kids (or something) seems a little too dense. I know you needed to get the guys out of there, plot-wise, but I wish you could have found a way around the viewer’s objection to this kind of non-believability == because so much of your movie really is believable.

I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT. FOR ME THOSE TWO GUYS ARE PRETTY DENSE IN SOME SOCIAL WAYS FOR SURE AND I THINK THE FACT THAT NEITHER OF THEM BRINGS IT UP OR MANY OTHER LOGICAL THINGS DURING THIER JOURNEY JUST ADDS TO THE FANTASTICAL ELEMENT I SPOKE OF BEFORE.

How’d you get Marguerite Moreau? She’s so good: Direct, simple, direct, real and involved! She grounds the movie.

YES, I LOVE MARGUERITE AND MAN, DOES SHE ALWAYS BRING IT EVERYDAY THAT SHE'S ON SET! I HAD MET HER ON ANOTHER MOVIE AND IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT OF HER TO PLAY STEPH WHEN WE STARTED CASTING. THAT'S FUNNY YOU USE THE WORD GROUNDED BECAUSE THAT WAS ALWAYS THE INTENTION WITH HER AND I USED THAT WORD A LOT WITH HER. SAM AND TOM CAN BE VERY SILLY AND OUTLANDISH AT TIMES SO I FELT IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE HER AS THE VOICE OF REASON THROUGHOUT THE FILM. I ALSO GREW UP WATCHING THE MIGHTY DUCKS AND GREW UP A BIG DUCKS FAN IN ORANGE COUNTY SO I GUESS IN THE BACK OF MY MIND I ALWAYS LOVED HER AND IT WAS VERY VERY COOL TO GET TO WORK WITH HER.

Nicole Vicius is also great. That one little scene just lights up the movie in a certain odd way. She is so open and direct and charming. The viewer is definitely sorry that Tom won’t end up with her – whether she’s the real Mary or not.

YEAH, NICOLE I ALSO MET ON ANOTHER FILM AND I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER AS AN ACTRESS THE MOMENT I SAW HER IN HALF NELSON. SHE'S NEVER HIDING ANYTHING ON SCREEN. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET WITH HER AND THAT SECTION IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES FOR SURE.

Christopher Baier did the art for the end credits? Really good. How did this come about?

CHRIS IS ONE OF BEN YORK JONES' BEST FRIENDS AND ONCE WE KNEW TOM WAS GOING TO BE A PAINTER HIS NAME CAME TO MIND VERY QUICKLY. HE IS AN INCREDIBLE ARTIST AND LIVENS UP THE MOVIE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MORE OF HIS WORK HERE.

Great music, too. Goddammed Electric Bill -- never heard of ‘em -- but good!  Friends of yours?

YES, BEST FRIENDS, ACTUALLY. I ALWAYS KNEW I WANTED JASON TORBERT AND CASEY IMMOOR'S MUSIC IN THE FILM. I HAD NEVER REALLY SEEN A FILM IN THIS VEIN WITH THIS TYPE OF ELECTRONIC SCORE BEFORE, SO I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT MUSICALLY HERE THAT STILL HIT EMOTIONALLY THE WAY IT NEEDED TO IN THE FILM. YOU CAN FIND MOST OF THE MUSIC IN THE FILM ON ITUNES AND HERE OR HERE.

Anything else you want to say? Here’s your chance.

DON'T TEMPT ME; I COULD TALK FOR HOURS.
WELL, JUST THAT THE FILM OPENS IN NEW YORK THIS FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST AND IN LOS ANGELES ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 8TH, AND THEN IN ABOUT 10 SELECTED CITIES AFTER THAT. BEN, ANDREW AND I WILL BE DOING Q AND A'S MOST OPENING NIGHT WEEKENDS AND WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOUR READERS COME OUT AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY THE FILM AND HANG OUT AFTERWARDS AND TALK FILM. SO PLEASE, COME ON OUT AND HAVE A BLAST WITH US. SEE YOU GUYS AT THE THEATER.  CHEERS!  --DRAKE

In Michael Imperioli's THE HUNGRY GHOSTS, East meets West--with pizzazz

An unusually fine actor for some 20 years, Michael Imperioli will likely be remembered as Christopher Moltisanti, one of The Sopranos' most indelible characters. (TrustMovies is more likely to remember him for Sweet Nothing.) In his first turn as writer and director of a full-length narrative film, it should probably surprise no one that the performances he elicits from his entire cast are beyond reproach. This is all to the good because the film itself,  which I think may be brilliant in its way -- a small, very specific way -- nonetheless takes some getting used to. An ensemble piece in which the characters' connections to each other become clear only slowly and haltingly, THE HUNGRY GHOSTS takes its time reaching a destination. Ah, but when it does finally coalesce, opening up and out into an entire universe, it may quietly, sweetly blow your mind.

One of the final notes I scribbled while watching Imperioli's  film was, Is this a commercial for Yoga? If so, I’m buying! (Particularly if I could have a teacher like Zohra Lampert.) Ms Lampert begins and ends the movie, and god, it's good to have her with us. Her slightly spacey demeanor that oddly manages to combine depth and gravity -- plus that wonderful voice -- has long made me sit up and take notice. She's just the beginning. I sat up and took notice of every actor here -- from Steven R. Schirripa (below, left), who plays a heavy-set radio-talk-show host with a gambling addiction and problems with wife (Sharon Angela, shown bottom, left) and son (newcomer Emory Cohen, below, right).

Also on board are Aunjanue Ellis (shown two photos below), a young woman who seems to be packing up and leaving, but for where? Following her is a fellow (Nick Sandow) with a philosophical bent, just out of de-tox, who wants to reconnect. Everyone here is searching for something -- connection, fulfillment -- usually in the wrong, if typical, places, including a hot, sad menage a trois (below). Yet more than simply being about fulfilling our needs, the film also tackles the subject of people who avoid their responsibilities to themselves and each other.

As writer and director Imperioli captures intense moments of need on every character's part, and his actors bite into their role with absolute ferocity and moment-to-moment reality that smacks of total commitment. This kind of thing can sometimes lead to a self-involved, emotional "whacking off" that will eventually deaden a movie.  That this does not occur here comes from the filmmaker's surprisingly keen sense of nuance and shading, and of his creation of some off-kilter happenings that, while they seem odd, are also quite real (again, I think, due to the willingness of his actors to jump in and sink or swim).

Imperioli's plot, if you can call it that (it's mostly just the connections these people possess), takes its time cementing. But this allows us to begin piecing together these connections, which also helps us to better understand the characters. Humor bubbles up at odd times ("I don't trust the woods," one fellow notes suspiciously, while taking a walk in the midst of them) and when a scene on a brownstone stoop goes over the top, the actors still manage to coral it and bring it home.

In the press materials for the movie (which I always read after viewing), we learn that the title comes from a Tibetan brand of hell in which souls with tiny mouths are afflicted with big (and insati-able) bellies, and that the storyline and characters reflect the zeitgeist of post-millennial New York City, in which "the desperation of the West smacks up against the religious teachings of the East." I'll buy that. It certainly gives focus to the somewhat fractured, but very inspired, feelings I had at the film's finale.  In fact, maybe I will take that yoga class. Ms Lampert, are you hosting?

The Hungry Ghosts opens today, October 1, appropriately in New York City at the Quad Cinema.  Further playdates will follow around the country, I hope. This one deserves to be seen and experienced.

All photos are from the film itself, except that of Mr. Imperioli, by Steve Granitz, courtesy of WireImage.