Indie Pick O' The Day: New York Lately

Loosely connected characters living in New York City trying to find out who they are. Yes, the genre has been done a number of times, but somehow New York Lately makes us realize that each obstacle a character faces is one that we all inevitably face in our lifetimes. The film is about a group of New Yorkers who have specific burdens in their lives they have to come to terms with.

The film opens up with introducing us briefly to each of our characters at a New York bar. The first crisis starts with Mark, who just broke up with his girlfriend Andrea. He can't break away from his past with her and every girl that comes within his sphere of influence, looks and speaks just like Andrea. He turns a blind eye to anyone who isn't Andrea and has to decide if he wants to stay living in the past, or move on to living in the aftermath of a long term relationship.

Jared works in the human resources department at his company and tends to have a soft spot for his employees. After an employee abuses company phone policy, Jared feels hesitant to fire him, but knows that it has to be done. As a result, he offers the employee and opportunity to extend his benefits to make the termination less harsh than he intended.

Jared meets Truly a cute aspiring folk singer who works at a coffee shop and resembles Corinne Bailey Rae, is saved by Jared by an oncoming bicyclist. They meet and are instantly attracted to each other and have great chemistry.

Truly's friend Veronica is an aspiring actress who also works at the coffee shop. She is waiting for her big break, but lack a great deal of self esteem in her image and confidence in her career. She questions whether or not becoming an artist is truly what she wants and if its worth fighting for.

Ringo Barnes who is a close friend of Jared's finds himself in compromising situations with women---he likes to pay for them! He also has a warped sense of who and what women really are. However, his friendship with Jared is threatened when Jared is forced to make a business decision that that his boss chooses for him.

Elliot George is a down-on-his-luck writer, who has given up his craft--and whom also suspects that his wife is having an affair. He decides to hire a P.I. to investigate. His P.I., a lovely woman named Samantha, becomes more than just a detective for Elliott and teaches him to trust himself again as a writer and stop giving up on himself.

The film has an interesting style and at times can be jarring using jump cut edits and loops that look more like a music video than a movie. However, it's not overdone and it's used in just the right places that allows the scenes to make some sense. Need to see a New York Indie flick?? Check out New York Lately.

NEW YORK LATELY will hit the film festival circuit in 2009 for more info go to this link

Here is the trailer for the film below:

Indie Pick O' The Day: Chuck & Buck

Are you in the mood for love?? How about a homoerotic masochistic love story? Well that's exactly what you'll get when you pop in the DVD and watch Chuck & Buck. The film tells the story of Buck who comes off as being mildly retarded, but really he's just a man-child who refuses to stray away from his childhood. Buck has a childhood crush on his best friend Chuck. A simple twish of fate bring these two together under unfortunate circumstances after Buck's mother passed away. They meet at her funeral and reunite once again as friends. Although the years that passed has changed and matured Chuck, his old pal Buck has remained the same and wants to go outside and play as if he never grew up as they parted as friends.

Chuck who lives in Los Angeles, kindly tells Buck that he should come by and visit sometime. Poor ol Buck sees that remark as more than just a friendly invitation and moves to Los Angeles permanently where he begins stalking Chuck. The movie begins to become even more bizarre when Buck decides to write and produce a play about Chuck and their friendship.

The film won an Independent Spirit Award in 2001 for Best Feature under $500,000. It was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Pretty compelling performance by Mike White who plays Buck and also wrote the screenplay. You might have seen his written work too in a little unknown film called School Of Rock.

The movie is weird and bizarre, but quirky and cute in its own way. A creative effort by the director and writer and shot on a shoestring budget.

Indie Pick o' the Day: MASH

Forget Alan Alda and Loretta Swit. Forget the laugh track, the transvestite Klinger and the comedic stylings of David Ogden Stiers. In the name of all that's holy, forget After MASH, which was to sitcoms what Treblinka was to Slavic partisans. Okay, now that you've cleared your mind...

When Richard Hooker's MASH came out in 1968, it was a revelation. Following in the ideological footsteps of Richard Heller's Catch-22, it covered the author's experiences as a doctor during the Korean war. Many of the characters hailed from New England prep schools and colleges, where they had pledged fraternities, played football, and generally followed the well-worn path of Northern preppies. In Korea, their activities, while playful, fit into the traditions of college pranking.

When Robert Altman made MASH two years later, he transformed his characters from being a familiar bunch of collegiate cutups into a diverse gang of countercultural heroes. Their actions, which had previously tweaked the nose of authority figures in a playful way, became distinctly anti-authoritarian. From the first scene, in which a gang of lower-level bureaucrats get into a fist fight in a huge mud puddle, to the depiction of Army officers as either useless, malevolent, or downright psychotic, the movie is distinctly aimed at the perspective of a lower-level grunt who finds himself inducted into the military. In this context, Altman clearly intended Mash as a commentary on Vietnam, and he followed that impulse into some of the smallest details, even dressing peasants in traditional Vietnamese garb.

Although Altman acceeded to the studios' demand and opened the film with a coda that clearly placed it in Korea, his other impulses, thankfully, managed to make their way to the screen. His cast is a veritable who's who of future stars, including Tom Skerritt, Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman, and Robert Duvall. He heavily spiced the film with blasphemous references, notably the Painless Pole's Last Supper-influenced suicide, as well as heavy amounts of sex, nudity, and a hitherto-unheard of amount of blood and gore.

Beyond the groundbreaking combination of comedy and horror, the film also marked the beginning of the famous Altman style. All of the elements of his latter films are here, including overlapping dialogue, long-distance close-ups, and naturalistic settings. The music is, largely, environmental, which enables the viewer to truly fall into the story. One unfortunate exception is the mawkish, sophomoric theme song, "Suicide is Painless," which was written by Altman's son.

When the movie was being filmed, the cast and crew had no idea how it could possibly be transformed into a coherent narrative; quitting in anger, the scriptwriter, Ring Lardner Jr., publicly disassociated himself from the film, although he later accepted a best adapted screenplay Oscar for his work on it. However, Altman managed to weave a compelling story out of the scattered elements that he created, laying the groundwork for his creative process in subsequent films, including the amazing Nashville. Whether as a groundbreaking technical achievement, a political watershed event, a masterful advance in cinematic storytelling, or simply as one of the definitive works of an American auteur, MASH is a film that is definitely worthy of study.

Indie Pick o' the Day: A Panic in Needle Park

Visiting 72nd Street and Broadway today, one finds the confluence of Sherman Square and Verdi Park. It's a nice little area, complete with statues, tasteful landscaping, and the occasional homeless person scattered among the yuppies and other usual upscale riffraff that haunt the UWS. There's a Gray's Papaya, a Burritoville, a few chain stores and a lot of nice buildings. Physically, it's not far from the area where they filmed exteriors on Music and Lyrics; architecturally, it is second cousin to Prague. In short, it's a nice, hip little street corner.

Thirty years ago, it was "Needle Park," a nasty little triangle of pavement where heroin users congregated to score drugs, hang out, and find johns. The buildings around it, now high-end condos, contained crash pads, flophouses, pawnshops, and cheap restaurants. In the hands of director Jerry Schatzberg, The Panic in Needle Park records this place and time, a moral no-man's land where escape is impossible, addiction is necessary, and there is no hope.

With a painfully sincere script by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, the movie focuses on Helen (Kitty Winn), a young homeless woman who falls in love with Bobby (Al Pacino), a charismatic heroin addict. Over the course of a few months, grinding poverty and her own neediness lead Helen into addiction, and her world shrinks to Bobby, herself, and her next hit. In the process, Helen follows a well-worn path into prostitution and betrayal, until she faces a decision that could mean the choice between her own destruction and her hope of redemption.

Through Schatzberg's lens, the audience descends into the narrow confines of a junkie's New York. It is a world of misery, grime, grit, and isolation. In Needle Park, it is always winter and every day is colder than the last. Early on, Alan Vint's Hotch, a sympathetic cop, tells Helen that, "Everyone in this situation will rat on someone else, always," but she chooses to place her faith in Bobby and her band of friends. Over the course of the movie, she and Bobby learn that they can only rely on each other and that, ultimately, every junkie is alone in his or her addiction.

Kitty Winn, probably most famous for her portrayal of "Sharon" in The Exorcist, received the best actress award at the 1971 Cannes film festival for her work in this movie. As the fragile, aristocratic Helen, she is fresh and playful; even as she descends into prostitution and addiction, she never loses her unfocused, dreamy look of hope. Pacino does a great job as the energetic counterpoint to Winn's shy outsider. His Bobby is all fast talk and hustle, a charismatic survivor making friends even as he picks pockets. Although three decades and a world of personalities separate Bobby and Michael Corleone, it's easy to see why Francis Ford Coppola hired Pacino on the basis of this film.

Panic in Needle Park never reaches the operatic excesses of Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream. Its depiction of heroin addiction is more subtle, more intimate, and ultimately more real. Its greatest horrors come in its quietest moments, in throwaway lines where the characters reveal the ultimate hopelessness of their lives and the subtle awareness that they will never escape the trap they've fallen into. Ultimately, the film is a classic tragedy, with a series of events that are foreordained and relentless; in their descent, Bobby and Helen show that freedom is, ultimately, only a dream.

Indie Pick O' The Day: Sidewalks Of New York

Sidewalks of New York, written and directed by Edward Burns in 2001, is a must see Indie movie. It is engaging, funny, and speaks directly to the heart. All of the actors in this film bring a certain charm to their performance, which makes you want to like them even though their actions in the movie would tell you to do otherwise. This movie follows the love lives and drama of six different individuals who in some ways are going through things that many can relate to.

I first came upon the movie Sidewalks of New York at an FYE store. I was looking for a good movie to buy which I had never seen. So, after noticing that Sidewalks of New York was available I decided to buy it. I am so glad that I did What got my attention about this movie was how engaging it is. Each of the main characters speaks candidly (to an unseen interviewer) about their love lives. You get the perspective on love and sex from three different age groups: the young adults (the characters Ashley and Maria), the middle aged (the character Tommy), and the older adult (the character Griffin).

The best performances from this movie came from actresses Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, and Actors Stanley Tucci and David Krumholtz. They are all engaging. Brittany Murphy, playing the youngest interview subject Ashley, brings a vulnerability and emotional cadence to her role. Her character Ashley is a young woman who is having an affair with a dentist (Griffin). When you first get to know Ashley, you can see that this is a hardworking girl: she works as a waitress at a coffee shop and works long hours. She also, even though it may appear she is naive, is very smart and strong. A great scene that shows this is when Ashley confronts Griffin about why he can never take her out in public. All they ever do is go a hotel room, have sex. Ashley wants more out of the relationship, which Griffin won’t give. This is where the emotional side of Brittany Murphy’s acting comes out; she knows how to bring sweetness to her character, yet you get the picture through her speech and body language that this a woman who is getting fed up. She really wants an honest relationship.

For the young adult contemporary woman, if they view Rosario Dawson's character Maria, they may see a side of themselves. Dawson brings an honest, fresh, and funny spirit to her role. Through her up front conversation on dating, life, and the craziness of men, you can feel a certain kinship. You also forget that you are looking at Rosario Dawson, who has done good dramatic roles, and you see a young woman who is trying to live her life and not fall hard in love. One good scene in Sidewalks of New York which shows this is the one in which Maria and Tommy first meet in the video store. Maria approaches Tommy about a video he has. She wants the video, but Tommy says he needs to see it for work. It, at first seems awkward how the two connect: Tommy doesn’t seem so interested at first in Maria; Maria appears to be shy and apprehensive. However, when Maria walks out the store after losing her fight to get Tommy’s video, Tommy comes after her. It’s a good dynamic between the two; you can see that Tommy wants to get to know Maria, but Maria is standing her ground and not letting him into her space so easily. Great acting by both Edward Burns and Rosario Dawson in this scene.

Finally, for the men represented, you see two different sides . One side is sweet, giving; The character Benjamin played convincingly by David Krumholtz. The other side is savvy, yet charming; The character Griffin played by Stanley Tucci. Now when you first get introduced to the character Benjamin, at first you might think this guy is really desperate and needs a girl. Benjamin is a man who tries so-so, hard at love, but he just can’t seem to get it right. Actor David Krumholtz really makes you believe these qualities by how sad his character is after his breakup with Maria (that’s right, Maria from the video store and Benjamin dated), and also by how he stumbles when he tries to flirt with Ashley ( you guessed right again, this is the same Ashley who is having an affair with Griffin the dentist!... twists and turns all around!) A funny moment in the film, when Ben guesses something incorrectly about Ashley’s hometown; he feels so bad, like he truly messed things up! Krumholtz makes you really believe he is this young man who wants love through the innocence and heart he brings to this role; you can’t help but want him to win!

Changing direction from sweet to sleazy, Stanley Tucci’s character Griffin is one sneaky man! He is having an affair, cheating on his wife, yet lying and trying to live his life like everything is normal. Griffin is also a charming man too. Tucci really shows this, especially during the scene in which the film shows Griffin and Ashley first meeting in the park. Griffin charmed Ashley so well; any woman would have been knocked off her feet. Despite this feeling however, the love spell dies once it is seen how dishonest Griffin is being to his wife Annie (played well by actress Heather Graham). Tucci does an amazing job in his role as Griffin because you hate him and love him at the same time. You hate him for what a mess he is creating and how badly he is treating his wife, yet you love him because Griffin is not a horrible acting man. He has a nice quality to his personality, warmness shines through.

Overall, Sidewalks of New York, I recommend everyone seeing it. It’s a great date movie, has unforgettable scenes, and really made me want to experience New York for a day, feel the energy of the city.

Indie Pick O' The Day: A Man and a Woman

A few years back, The Onion ran an article about a man who was arrested for stalking. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the gentleman's crimes were, essentially, plot devices taken from various romantic comedies. While the article was hilarious, it was also painfully true: anyone choosing to take his or her cues about male/female interactions from the big screen would be convinced that all relationships either involve zany schemes or are snoozefests featuring Richard Gere and Diane Lane.

The key elements of Claude Lelouche's A Man and a Woman are clearly expressed in the title. The movie basically involves a man and a woman, both widowed and both single parents, who are attempting to fall in love. In the process, they must both navigate their own (and each other's) emotional baggage and escape the memories of their respective spouses. The basic story is simple, yet never simplistic, the romantic quest reduced to its most essential elements.




Contrasting the uncomplicated story, the soundtrack and cinematography are both beautiful, lush, and groundbreaking. The music, by Francis Lai, is a mix of lounge, Samba, and a more traditional orchestral soundtrack, and is beautifully integrated into the movie. Any fan of Bebel Gilberto will probably get a thrill out of watching the characters listening to Samba together, and the discovery of the then-novel musical form parallels the discovery of new love.

The cinematography, whose beauty belies Lelouche's origins as a fashion photographer, moves back and forth between black and white, full color, and sepia tones. At times, it takes on a documentary style, only to return to an exquisite intimacy. A careful observer will notice shots that clearly inspired many subsequent directors, including Robert Altman, whose long-distance close ups arguably owe a debt to Lelouche.

Largely forgotten today, A Man and A Woman was incredibly significant in its time. It won the Grande Prix at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Best Foreign Film award at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes. More significantly, Lelouche and the female star, Anouk Aimee, were both nominated for Oscars in their respective categories, a distinction that is very rare for a foreign language film.


Admittedly, some of the elements seem dated and Americans might have a hard time with the film's shrugging acceptance of the male lead's mistress. On the other hand, for anyone who realizes that male/female interaction runs a little deeper than defiled apple pie, A Man and A Woman makes a sterling case for thoughtful, transformative romance.

Indie Pick O' The Day: Waitress

Make sure you watch this movie on a full stomach. Quite honestly, I was craving for pies after watching this cute film about an unhappily married small town waitress hoping to win a pie baking contest so she can leave her husband.

In a pecan pie with almonds-nutshell...that's what the movie is about. Jenna is played by actress Keri Russell (of Felicity fame) and she consults with her co-workers Dawn and Becky about her unwanted pregancy from her husband. My favorite line from the movie is: "Why did I get drunk? I do stupid things when I'm drunk ... like sleep with my husband!" Classic! Her lowlife scummy husband is played by Jeremy Sisto (tuurrrn away...tuurrrn awayyy--Clueless reference guyz).

Anywho...the movie is deliciously refereshing and delightful. Jenna's friend Dawn is played by Adrienne Shelly who also wrote and directed the film. Tragically, Shelly never saw this film's success. She was killed in her apartment after an attempted robbery gone bad. The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.

The film's love story is not typical and neither is it's ending...which is why I enjoyed it so much. It didn't fall into those lackluster cliches we see in every Julia Roberts film. Waitress is definitely worth checking out if you're in the mood for an unconvential romance with a cup of sugar.

Indie Pick O' The Day: Bully

After the recent death of Brad Renfro, a movie I remembered seeing which was an intriguing yet disturbing performance by Renfro in the Larry Clark film Bully. I say it was disturbing becuz honestly it seems like Renfro was high the whole time. I don't know if that's how the character was to be portrayed, or if the drugs revealed itself though his performance. Bully is actually based on a factual account of a group of high school aged slackers who decide to kill one of their own. Marty has become fed up with his friend Bobby's twisted ways. His girlfriend, a victim of Bobby's often cruel insults and sexual assaults, couldn't agree more and they strategize murdering Bobby, with a group of willing and unwilling participants in a small Florida town. In the midst of their plotting, they find themselves contemplating with the possible aftermath of what could happen. Larry Clark (in typical Clark-inspired fashion) uses close-ups on body parts and gratuitous shots of Bijou Phillips' crotch.

I think Bijou is a talented actress, but she should really extend her range a lil more and not play the same ol' skanky chickenheadish type roles. Her character in Bully is the same character she played in Havoc and Black & White. I'm sure there's more I just haven't seen her entire filmography. The movie although based on a true story, is within the same genre of other Larry Clark films about bored privileged white suburban teens who have nothing else better to do with their time than to dabble in drug use, promiscuous sex, and illegal activities. The film almost pay some homage to Kids by the casting of Leo Fitzpatrick who helps the kids coordinate the murder of Bobby. Fitzpatrick played Telly, the unsuspecting HIV positive teen in Kids. The film also stars Nick Stahl and Rachel Miner.

Indie Pick O' The Day: The Cooler

Just a quick disclaimer before we give our review...it is us or does it seem like every William H. Macy film that's out there he's always playing some sad pathetic loser? He's a really talented actor and needs to broaden his range a bit becuz he seems to always play the same roles.

With that said...we really did like The Cooler!

The quintessential loser--that is the William H Macy role---he plays a man whose luck is so bad, he brings bad luck to others. Maria Bello plays a skanky cocktail waitress. Alec Baldwin is a menacing ol school casino director, who uses bully-mafioso tactics, to manage his employees at the Shangri-La. So Baldwin is doin alotta verbal bashing and ass kickin...another stereotypical role for Baldwin.

Wow this review doesn't sound all too positive does it?

I mean I guess what I really like about the film was the love story between Macy and Bello. Bello is paid by Baldwin to court Macy and in turn...falls in love with him. The cute--yet skanky blonde and the loser hook up and find love. Ain't love grand?

There is "alledgedly" a controversial sex scene in this film that involves Bello receving oral pleasure from Macy. I don't see what the big deal is...I guess it's just kinda rare to see women get their rocks off than the guyz.

Overall it's definitely worth checkin out. The performances are mediocre...but the story is well-written and very 3 dimensional.

Indie Pick O' The Day: subUrbia

The opening shot of this film reminds me of my hometown. Haphazard shots of shopping malls, parking lots, convenience stores, newly constructed townhomes, and just....land and space. Don't get much of that up here...

Anyways, Richard Linklater once again creates a film about teenage slackers unsure of who they are and what their purposes are in life. They find themselves hanging out in parking lots talking about trivial and mundane topics. On the same night, their friend, the only successful one out of the group who is now a rock star, has returned to his hometown to revisit his old surroundings.

The friends decide to hang out and talk about inane subjects, while realizing that they've been wasting their lives away doing nothing. This film has great character and story. I don't know if its a good thing or bad thing, but I can totally relate to all of the slackers in this movie.

subUrbia was actually adapted from a staged play, which you can kinda tell because the film is most set in front of a convenience store. The owner of the store was the guy in Office Space...remember Samir? Well anyways there are a lot of well known indie actors in this flick. There's of course Giovanni Ribisi, Nicky Katt (who always plays such an asshole, but I hear is a really nice guy), Steve Zahn, and our IndieSeen favorite Parker Posey. The message behind this film is about really what are our purposes in life? What were we made for on this planet? What the hell do we plan to do with our lives?

Indie Pick O' The Day: Bella

One Life Can Change You Forever...

That is tag line for the Mexican film Bella directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde. This is a subtle film about life, loss, and family. When Jose, who is an international soccer star is on his way to sign a multi-million dollar contract and twist of fate and tragedy occurs that changes his life forever. He later finds himself working as a chef in his brother's restaurant. Jose's brother Manny treats Jose as well as the staff as slave drivers in the restaurant, including Nina, a down on her luck waitress who gets some inconvenient news. Nina finds herself running late for work after she takes a home pregnancy test and realizes she is now expecting. Unfortunately for Nina, her tardiness causes her to get fired and Jose feels sorry for Nina and feels the need to reach out to her.


Nina and Jose form a connection in each of their own disconnected lives and both deal with their own regrets and try to heal. Okay I liked this film and all, but I gotta say one thing Jose, played by Eduardo Verástegui is H-O-T. And YES he could TOTALLY GET IT. I mean this film has a deep message and is very well written and got lots of awards and stuff, but all the while I just kept on checking out Eduardo thinking...damn is he single?

Just to show you want I'm talking about, click here to see what his fine ass looks like. He was in that craptacular flick Chasing Papi if anyone of you out there ever seentz it. I only watched it becuz I was bored out of my mind one night and there was absolutely nothing to watch. I shoulda just watched paint dry. But seeing Eduardo's screen time was worth it. He's come up since CP, so you definitely have to check out Bella. Another cool thing about the film are the shots of New York City and how its so contemporary with NYC life. There's a scene that takes place on the train that every New Yorker can relate to. There is also a poignant scene with a blind homeless man that is very touching. It's amazing what happens when you take the time out of your busy hectic NY schedule to talk to a homeless guy on the street. It's not always what it seems...

Indie Pick O' The Day: Shadowboxer

I loved this movie! Okay, besides looking at an oil-glistened booty from Cuba Gooding Jr and not too mention full frontal of Stephen Dorff doin it doggy style this is actually a very witty film with fully developed characters and a substantial plot. Yepperoonies!!!

Basically ol' Cuba Goody is a hitman along with his stepmother/lover Helen Mirren. yes, that's right...she's his stepmom AND his girlfriend. Anyways, the two of the are killers for hire and Mirren's character is hit with some unfortunate news that she is dying of cancer. After years of killing people, Mirren suddenly grows a conscience when she is hired to kill the wife of a crime boss who just so happens to be preggers (that's pregnant yall). The wife is the hot n sexy Vanessa Ferlito, who I TOTALLY loved in Death Proof.

Mirren decides to have mercy on her soul and not kill the pregnant wife, but instead take her in and put her into hiding. She even decides to help take care of her kid!!! Well the story of events of this film evolve over the years and the plot starts to get really interesting!!

Ummm...oh yea, did I mention "the hotness that is" JGL is in this film?? Oh yea, and lemme say he really is hot. He plays a doctor to the crime boss and is responsible for helping the injured clients who find themselves getting shot in the foot by their crime bosses. JGL's girlfriend is voluptuous funny lady Ms Mo'Nique which I find to be incredibly bizarre...yet sexy! My favorite scene is when JGL gets caught "tipping the velvet" with another chick and Monique finds them in that uncompromising position. HOTNESS!!!!! JGL doing his thang...wowz. I think I rewound that scene like 5 times.

Anywayz, the film is directed by none other than producer Lee Daniels who produced Monster's Ball. My aunt claims to know his mom...hey Aunt Faye give me the hookup!!!

Indie Pick O' The Day: Shortbus

John Cameron Mitchell decides to go out of the box and direct a film about New Yorkers discovering their sexual awakenings. That's different right? No other filmmaker has ever gone to such depths to show a narrative about horny New Yorkers gettin it on with other horny New Yorkers? Well okay, maybe it HAS been done before, but Mitchell asked his cast members to have unsimulated sex on screen to make this not just another sappy-New York-sexually frustrated-commitmentphobia-type of flick. Shew!


Shortbus is a film about a place in the city aptly called....Shortbus! It's a sexy skin party where couples, singles, trannies, hipsters, queers, punks, preps, geeks, goths, and the like go to get their freak on! The main character Sofia ironically a sex therapist is pre-orgasmic...yikes!!! Yea, we never heard of the term pre-orgasmic before either...and thank God for that!!! Basically poor Sofia has never experience an orgasm before...double yikes!!! POOR BABY!!! Sofia finds herself on a quest and becomes sexually awakened thanks to a cute gay couple by the name of Jamie and James who are having their own sexual issues in their relationship. James wants Jamie to invite a threesome into their mix but James has an ulterior motive that could have critical ramifications.

Meanwhile Sofia is invited by James and Jamie to go to Shortbus and experience from others what it is like to have an orgasm since her husband Rob is doing a shitty job at it. Sofia meets Justin, (who plays himself) who is the hostess of the Shortbus parties. Justin Bonds is such a delight and brings so much such humor and luminance to the film. Apparently during auditioning and casting, any interested actors were to submit a 10-minute video of themselves describing an important sexual experience. The director received approximately 500 tapes. On the DVD they show the process of how these actors were chosen for the film. Get paid to get laid??? I'm in! To make the actors more comfortable, the director and the cameramen were stripped naked while filming the orgy scene. What a fun production to have worked on!!

Interestin stuff....now where is the REAL Shortbus around here??

Indie Pick O' The Day: The Doom Generation

I love the tagline for this film: Sex. Mayhem. Whatever.

The film being referred here is none other than the wild, hipster, androgynous thriller The Doom Generation. This eccentric flick directed by none other than the master of emo indies himself Mr. Gregg Araki. Another film of his was reviewed by NYIndieSeen called Nowhere, which is just as stylish as The Doom Generation. After I rented Nowhere I became obsessed with Araki's auteur film style and decided to see what other films he's made....well that's when this movie came into my life.

The Doom Generation is two hipster loners Jordan White and Amy Blue who have nothing else better to do in their unfulfilled lives than to wander aimlessly on a journey to nowhere. During their journey, they meet Xavier. The threesome grow a VERY close relationship that involves sex, drugs, and a violent killing spree into the life of shoplifting and intimate bonds with psychotics.

The movie is out there and certainly not for everyone. But if you're really into avant garde stylized films than this is the one to rent...or shall we say the one to Netflix. You may not get all of Araki's message in the film, but its probably because he doesn't want you to.

The film has a large number of celebrity cameos, but the principle players star Rose McGowan, James Duval, and Johnathon Schaech.

Indie Pick O' The Day: Reservoir Dogs

Okaaaay....so we know that this blog has been stood up, neglected, and abandoned for weeks now and we apologize for that. So it's time to slowly....but surely get back into discussing indie film.

Let's talk about my favorite film of ALL time..............

RESERVOIR DOGS.

Yes, this film is not new to the NYIndieSeen blog and has been discussed many many times before, but it has not yet fallen into the NYIndieSeen Pick O The Day Category until now.

So for those of you that have no clue about indie cinema or about how this film got made, the script was written in 3 days by QT. That's Quentin Tarantino of course. Then he basically got together all of this famous talent in this film. How did he get them?

Well his producing partner and friend Lawrence Bender was taking an acting class taught by Harvey Keitel's wife. That's right. So what do you do when your an aspiring filmmaker with an awesome script you totally feel confident about and find yourself in an acting class taught by a celebrity who you thinnk should totally be in the film and you find its his wife actually teaching the class????? You give her the script of course!! You hope that first of all she reads it, and second that she shows it to her superstar husband. You hope that he actually reads it and PRAY that he likes it.

Well guess what? Harvey Keitel loved it. He loved it so much in fac that not only he decide to produce it, he wanted to BE IN IT. Damn. That's awesome.


So Reservoir Dogs is about a jewelry heist gone bad. There a group of 6 thieves who rob the place. The police arrive at the scene TOO soon and it becomes suspect that there is one among their group who may be a RAT. But who is it??

The film stars Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Eddie Bunker, and QT himself. There are strong performances by each character and the dialogue is amazing. My favorite scene is the opening scene of te film including Mr. Brown's "Like A Virgin Speech". That's just a straight classic. I mean I have a whole new perspective about what Madonna meant in that song. Check this out to see what I'm talkin about:




Awesome right??? Yaaah you knoow u like it. You know u want it. Yeaaaah get it get it!!

Indie Pick O' The Day: The Commitments

Well not quite, they're Irish. The Commitments centers around a soul group in Ireland trying to make it big. Yup a soul band. In IRELAND! The group starts out as the brainchild of its manager Jimmy Rabbitte to bring soul music to Ireland. To him soul music is the expression of raw sex, sensuality, and freedom. The blacks in America expressed themselves that way when being oppressed during Civil rights. He felt as young Dubliners this was the best way to express themselves and do something different than what everyone else was trying to do.

He gathers a gaggle of young musicians and singers plus a seasoned "veteran" Joey "The Lips" Fagan a trumpet player who claims to have worked with soul great Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke just to name a few. They have a rocky start learning to play together as a band, getting venues to play at, and seeking an audience, but then get a strong local following.

When they start to have some sort of small success, they start to have internal problems in the band. The lead singer Deco's ego starts to balloon out of control. The girls who are the back up singers start to fight because they discover they are all sleeping with Joey. Jimmy gets angry at the sax player Dean as he becomes more engrossed in Jazz. So the band doesn't have a storybook ending, but that is what makes the movie that much more believable and poetic. Plus the movie has some great music. Just watch!!

Indie pick 'O' the day: Beautiful Thing

This adorable tale of two english boys coming of age, discovering themselves and finding Love, has been dubbed on of the best gay films of our time.

With heartfelt performances by appealing cast members Glen Berry and Scott Neal who play the two smitten teenage boys , and a delicate blend of the romance and the heavier aspects in the movie, it is no wonder.

Directed by Hettie MacDonald , this 1996 film manages to capture all of the innocence and confusion of adolescense and the love story never winds up coming off as "tragic" the way most "coming-out" stories tend to.

refreshing Moving and at times funny, Beautiful Thing is a welcome treat, that will leave at least a slight warm hearted smirk on that icy tightly wound face of yours.

Indie Pick O' The Day: That Night

Remember That Night? This is a coming of age film that takes place in Long Island during the 1960's. It stars C. Thomas Howell (back when he was cute) and Juliette Lewis (back when she had a career). The film is about a 10 year old girl played Buffy's nemesis Eliza Dushku. She is totally obsessed with Juliette Lewis, which to me was kinda creepy. I mean the lil 10 year old watches Lewis undress every night and tries and smell her scarves. Hmmm...

Izzie...I mean Katherine Heigl is in it too. She plays Eliza's friend. Things with Eliza and Juliette change when Juliette gets knocked up by C Thomas Howell. Damn, and now Juliette is faced with the decision to keep or abort the baby.

Meanwhile, little Eliza's creepy lesbian fantasies about Juliette dissipate away as the local boy in town develops a crush on her. Her pubescene emerges and her attraction becomes mutual.

Indie Pick O' The Day: The Lives Of Others

The Lives Of Others

This recent Academy Award winner for best foreign film is definitely worth watching. This film comes from Germany and takes place in East Germany in the mid 80's a few years before the fall of the Berlin wall. Now I know that some of you are concerned because I said FOREIGN film. Yes that means subtitles. Yes that means you have to READ during the film. Get over it! A lot of good films have subtitles and you just have to accept it.

In East Germany the communist government had a surveillance branch whos' job it was to monitor and observe and citizens they thought were less than faithful to its socialist views. Oh yeah. Orwell was right. Big Brother was in fact watching. One of the top observers there is Captain Weisler. He is handed the assignment to watch and closely observe a writer/playwright Georg Dreyman and his girlfriend a German actress named Christa. As he is listening to the couple, Weisler becomes more engrossed in their life and starts to live vicariously through them. When Dreyman takes it upon himself to rebel against the socialist party and write papers that belittle his government, Weisler starts to lie in his report and protect Dreyman.

This movie exposes the tyranny and oppression that communism held over East Germany. For most of us twenty-somethings who were just kids when the Berlin wall came down, it is hard for us to imagine a world where your basic rights to live , think, and express yourself freely don't exist. This film tells a story of what people do in order to free themselves of Germany's vice hold over its people.

Indie Pick O' The Day: Liberty Heights

Liberty Heights

This Barry Levinson film is a coming of age story about four friends in 1950’s Baltimore, Maryland. The film deals with racism and relationships. The protagonists are Jewish and run into anti-Semitic behavior among their peers whom they go to school with.

However, Ben a high school senior runs into more racial resistance when he starts dating Sylvia an attractive African-American student at his school. He really falls for this girl and even has to deal with the ignorant attitudes of his family members and friends.

Although this film sounds heavy and dramatic, its actually a lighthearted comedy. Some of the funniest moments in this film occur when Ben meets Sylvia’s parents for the first time and even when Ben and Sylvia attend a James Brown concert. If you look closely, you’ll notice that Sylvia’s father is none other than Dr. Richard Webber who is played by James Pickens Jr. Yall don’t know who Dr. Webber is? Ok, time for Grey’s Anatomy 101…click here. Another Grey’s Anatomy alumni is in this film...Dr. Alex Karev. That’s Justin Chambers if you don’t watch Grey’s. He plays Trey Tobleseted. This was actually Justin’s first feature film.

Then the film stars Joe Mantegna who has some gambling debt that he owes to a small-time drug dealer played by Orlando Jones (he also has Anthony Anderson as his sidekick). See, this movie isn’t exactly a drama..its really a comedy. My favorite scenes are with Jones and Anderson in their loan-shark business.

Last but certainly not least, is the yummy-skinny-but-sexy Adrien Brody. He stars as Ben’s brother Van who is in love with Debbie. The perfect girl who he thinks is just too good for him. She of course doesn’t even realize he exists, but he does everything in his power to get noticed.
It’s a cute quirky film that has some sexy upcoming actors and a down-to-earth storyline about interracial relationships and the dynamics of high school cliques.