AUTHOR | Sam Weisberg

ARCHIVES

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TALKING MOVIES | THE ROAD WITHIN, gentle comedy about affliction

[2014]
Zoë Kravitz, Robert Sheehan and Dev Patel
Directed by Gren Wells

On Friday Gren Wells's "The Road Within," a low-key dramedy about affliction adapted from the 2010 German film "Vincent Goes to Sea," opened in New York and Los Angeles. It stars the young, promising Irish actor Robert Sheehan as a teenager stricken with Tourette's, whose cold-hearted father (Robert Patrick of "Terminator 2": Judgment Day") installs him in a mental clinic after his mother dies. ... more >

The (sort of) truth behind the two versions of Abel Ferrara’s “Welcome to New York”

Includes conversations with Abel Ferrara and Vincent Maraval [Wild Bunch]
Film will come out in one theater only in San Francisco

Today, after a six month-press war launched by filmmaker Abel Ferrara against his chief financier, Vincent Maraval (French distributor Wild Bunch's head honcho) and IFC Films, the R-rated cut of Ferrara’s originally unrated “Welcome to New York” is opening theatrically—to Ferrara’s chagrin—in the US. It is, however, only showing at one theater: The Roxie, in San Francisco. Elsewhere in this ... more >

THE RIOT CLUB

Where your reputation can be made or broken in one night
Max Irons, Douglas Booth and Sam Claflin
Directed by Lone Scherfig

The slyest aspect about Lone Scherfig’s “The Riot Club” is also its most maddening one. Structurally, the whole production is a come-on, a tease, a manipulative stunt. It begins in lusciously ribald fashion as we are treated to nineteenth-century sexual shenanigans amid the upper classes at Oxford University: white wigs, splashy capes and all. A beloved hedonist is murdered after cuckolding an ... more >

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INTERVIEW | Sally Kirkland, “Archaeology of a woman”

"In Europe, the elders are revered"
An arresting look at the horrors of dementia
Directed by Sharon Greytak

Sharon Greytak’s “Archaeology of a Woman,” now playing in New York, is a scintillating, intimate look at the horrors of dementia crossed with a purposefully disorienting murder mystery. Margaret (Sally Kirkland in riveting form) is a septuagenarian prone to automotive scrapes and violent temper tantrums. Her fortysomething daughter Kate (an equally fine Victoria Clark) is understandably worried ... more >

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INTERVIEW | Alan Hruska of THE MAN ON HER MIND

"The Man on Her Mind," which opens tomorrow, is screenwriter/co-director Alan Hruska's whimsical, sunny look at two cute, eccentric loners' budding romance, with a twist--they each have imaginary friends. There's another twist. Leonard (Samuel James), a ghostwriter, feels unrequited lust for book publisher Nellie (Amy McAllister); repulsed by Leonard, she reinvents him, in her mind, as Jack ... more >

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JAMES FRANCO TALKS “CHILD OF GOD”

Film comes out tomorrow
James Franco, James Parrack and Tim Blake Nelson
Directed by James Franco

Have you ever stared at a disheveled, smelly, fierce-eyed derelict, talking to himself on a street corner, and wondered what it would be like to spend around two hours in his company? Have you ever wondered if compulsive necrophiliacs are humane deep down? Do you have a knack for deciphering nearly-inaudible dialogue spoken by people missing teeth and brain cells? Is that a yes? Thought so. ... more >

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT “Away from Here”

We spoke with Kate Cohen, Nick Stahl and Alicia Witt
Alicia Witt and Nick Stahl
Directed by Bruce Van Dusen

The Johnny Depp science fiction film “Transcendence” has been kicking around theaters for the past two weeks, but there’s a smaller gem of a movie—independently co-written and co-produced by Kate Cohen, one of “Transcendence’s” producers that's only available for streaming. It’s called “Away from Here,” and like “The Woodsman,” it treats a normally sensational subject, adult sex with minors, ... more >