Fireflies in the Garden Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Trailers are taking to the air this week as we discuss five previews that make me think of flying.

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This is a real quick little teaser but it makes me smile every time I watch it, and I'm pretty certain that's Ed Asner voicing the single word used. I suspect this brief bit of film will not even end up in the final flick, but it's already sold me through its ability to be charming as hell. This is Pixar's tenth animated feature, though not having seen Wall-E yet I'm starting to fall behind. In addition to Asner the voice cast includes Christopher Plummer and Pixar mainstay John Ratzenberger, and is described as "a 'coming of old age' story," in which "a seventysomething hero, alongside his clueless wilderness ranger sidekick, travels the globe, fighting beasts and villains, and eating dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon."

Fireflies in the Garden
If Willem Defoe were my father and he was half as crazed as he looks here I'd be pretty screwed up too. This is a semi-autobiographical feature from director Dennis Lee and deals with a family trying to deal with an unexpected tragedy. Defoe plays the father and presumably the source of much of the dysfunction and Ryan Reynolds is the son publishing his memoirs and stirring up the muck. Julia Roberts is there too, along with Carrie-Anne Moss and Hayden Panetierre. The trailer comes off as fascinating but grim, so if you're looking for the feel good movie of the year you should probably look elsewhere. Here's what Eugene thought.

Let's see: a serious, multigenerational, semi-autobiographical family drama starring Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson and Julia Roberts -- it sure sounds like Oscar buzz for Fireflies in the Garden should have gotten turned up to 11 by now. There hasn't really been any; the bad reviews from the film's out-of-competition premiere at Berlin probably didn't help. Still, that cast is tough to beat (there's also Ryan Reynolds, Carrie Anne-Moss and Hayden Panettierre), and the movie should be able to land with at least a minor splash if its eventual US distributor puts in a bit of effort.

There's now a full international trailer up at one of the film's websites. If the movie does indeed suck, the trailer doesn't telegraph the suckage -- it makes the film look solid, respectable. The reviews, on the other hand, make it sound embarrassing, with the sort of logistical difficulties (Texas failing to stand in for Chicago; implausible casting of younger and older versions of the same characters) that shouldn't really plague a production this high-profile.

Director Dennis Lee is making his feature debut after directing a well-received short film called Jesus Henry Christ. It's a heck of a pedigree for a first film, though the scenario and the reviews (and the director's last name) make me think of Jieho Lee's The Air I Breathe -- a feature debut by a director with a strong short on his resume, and a spectacular cast, that turned out to be completely unwatchable.

Sometimes I wish I had a large, waiting-to-be-used stash of money that would allow me to go to every film festival that caught my fancy. The other option would be to convince a patron of each fest to wear a mini camera on their lapel, but that would be, well, illegal, so let's stick with the other fantasy. Like many of the big fests, Berlinale is looking to be all sorts of tasty. We've already had some previous screening announcements, and now Reuters has added even more eagerly-anticipated films to the fest list.

In the realm of Berlin's competitive films, Kristin Scott Thomas' I've Loved You So Long has been added to the roster. In the "out of competition" offerings at Berlinale, filmgoers can delight in a who's who of big names. There's Fireflies in the Garden, the Julia Roberts-starring film about a town devastated by an unexpected tragedy. (It's also a film that co-stars the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hayden Panettiere, and Ioan Gruffudd.) Or, if you want to dip back into history, there's Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman's The Other Boleyn Girl. And, what could be better to wrap up the festival than a movie for fans of film? Berlinale will perfectly close with Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind. (Check out James' Sundance review!)

The festival will run from February 7 to 17.

There's no more retirement for Julia Roberts. In fact, after lending her voice to both The Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web, she is starting to pile up the live-action film roles. Her political drama, Charlie Wilson's War is in post-production, and she's going to be knitting up a storm in The Friday Night Knitting Club. Apparently hungry for more, she has also signed on to star with Fido's Carrie-Anne Moss, ex-Alanis beau Ryan Reynolds and British actress Emily Watson in the upcoming family drama, Fireflies in the Garden.

The film will be directed by Dennis Lee. Not to be confused with the popular Canadian children's book author, Lee is a screenwriter and director who made his debut with student Academy Award-winning short film, Jesus Henry Christ, in 2003. Fireflies is Lee's partially-autobiographical story -- dealing with the struggle of commitment and love when a family is challenged by an unexpected tragedy. It sounds like the usual fare for Roberts -- love, mounting challenges and two-hankie drama, but I'm curious about Reynolds' involvement. The rest of the cast are no stranger to drama, but the Double-R is the kid from Fifteen who made it big in goofy comedies like Van Wilder. Will this be his Truman Show? It worked for one Canadian. Maybe it can work for another!