Derick Martini Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you're currently living (or crashing) in and around the New York City area (and you like movies), then there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be checking out the Gen Art Film Festival, which kicked things off Wednesday night with the premiere of Lymelife, followed by last night's premiere of the quirky-but-huggable Gigantic, and continues through to Tuesday, April 7. This weekend features a rather fantastic line-up of Peter and Vandy, My Suicide and Punching the Clown -- three films I whole-heartedly vouch for -- so get your ass over to Gen Art's website and snag yourself a ticket. Not only do you get to watch a feature and a short, but you also gain access to a hip-hoppin' after party with a three-hour open bar. Yes, I did just say three ... hour ... open ... bar!

I was fortunate enough to be on hand for the opening night premiere of Lymelife -- a moody late-seventies dramady surrounding two dysfunctional Long Island families who desperately want, need and lust after the things they think they want or need in order to achieve the "American Dream". The film, directed by Derick Martini (and co-written by Derick and his brother Steven, inspired by their own lives growing up) boasts what is perhaps one of the best ensemble casts I've seen so far this year -- including Alec Baldwin (who was on hand), Cynthia Nixon, Emma Roberts, Jill Hennessy, Timothy Hutton and sensational scene-stealing performances from Kieran and Rory Culkin, the former of which reminds me of a young Tobey Maguire. I'll be back with a full review of Lymelife next week, but in the meantime check out this video of opening night from my good pal DavidJr.com.



For more on the Gen Art Film Festival (including ticket information), visit their official website ... and make sure to say hey if you're heading over there this weekend.

The big screen is about to get lymey. Variety reports that Derick and Steven Martini's dramedy Lymelife is finally getting made, and it's got a solid cast along for the ride. Alec Baldwin and Emma Roberts lead the pack, followed by Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Rory Culkin (Zodiac), Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down), Jill Hennessy (Crossing Jordan), and Timothy Hutton (The Last Mimzy).

A retro piece taking place in late '70s Long Island, the coming-of-age project focuses on "two families who fall apart when precarious relationships, real estate problems, and Lyme disease converge in the heart of suburbia." It's a film that the brothers have been trying to get made for years. The project was developed during the 2001 Sundance Filmmakers Lab, and experimental scenes were even shot with Kieran. (He's since been replaced by Rory, as he's grown too old for his original role. He'll now play an older brother.) Heck, even Baldwin has been attached to the project for years, so while the film might have struggled to get to this point, there's something in it that has a long-term hold on two of the main players.

Filming gets underway next week in New Jersey, and the picture has a tentative release date for January 2009.

When telling you about Jackie Earle Haley last month, I mentioned one of his upcoming films, the biopic of Charles (Buddy) Bolden called, aptly, Bolden. Now The New York Times published a piece that gives some background into this ambitious indie project. Basically, there are two features, all sibling-like. The first is the Bolden biopic, which will try to delve into Buddy's world, even though most of the details surrounding him are myth. (The jazz performer was a big draw from 1895 to 1907, but was never recorded and ended up being sent to an institution after a bout of acute alcoholic psychosis, which ended his career.) The second is an hour-long silent film called The Great Observer, about a young boy named Louis (recalling Louis Armstrong) who dreams of playing the horn, while getting entangled in New Orlean's red-light district.

The pair of films are the project of Dan Pritzker, who is a billionaire's son and musician, and now, director. His plan is to debut the movies in tandem, and have the silent film play with a live performance by Wynton Marsalis. I have to say that I'm really happy and amped to see more being done with silent film, especially after how phenomenal Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain! was when it was teamed with live performances. But first, Pritzker's team, which includes Derick and Steven Martini as screenwriters and Vilmos Zsigmod as the director of photography, has to get past the hurdle of piecing together the bits of Buddy's life that can be siphoned from references and oral storytelling. According to the Times, the film will imagine the musician "in the last year of his life, hearing a radio broadcast in which Artmstrong, who became the public face of New Orleans jazz, paid tribute to the music's supposed birth with Bolden."