lili taylor Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A good indicator of an unnecessary subplot is one that never seems to cross paths with the A-story -- it's a problem that afflicts the new film, Starting out in the Evening, starring Six Feet Under's Lauren Ambrose and film and stage veteran Frank Langella. Ambrose plays Heather, a feisty graduate student obsessed with the works of a minor, undervalued novelist, Leonard Schiller, played by Langella. Schiller is long past the point of imagining that he will be widely recognized in his lifetime for his work, and has settled into the quietude of old age, but Heather is so determined to gain access into his private world that she brazenly positions herself as a sexual thrill for the 70-something man, and he somewhat half-heartedly takes the bait, leading to a believable but half-cocked courtship and an interesting exploration of a completely lop-sided relationship. Good fodder for a feature-length motion picture, but for some reason director Andrew Wagner also shoehorns in an entire relationship drama centered about Lili Taylor, playing the lovesick, 40-something daughter of Schiller.

The notoriously press-shy Lauren Ambrose was not readily available to speak about her role during the film's recent press jaunt, but that's a shame, because her character is far and away the most intriguing aspect of the film. Heather is very believable as one of those early-20s graduate students who seem to have crammed a lifetime's worth of reading into the years when they could have gotten some fun out of life, making for an inherently sad but also clever and resourceful personality, able to stand toe to toe intellectually with someone who has fifty years on her. The best scenes in Starting Out come closer to the beginning of the film than the ending, when Schiller is continually rejecting Heather's entreaties to be his chronicler-muse-companion. Although he keeps telling her no, she keeps coming up with reasons to jam her foot back in the door, like some kind of bookworm stalker who knows exactly how to keep from being confronted with a final, stern rejection. These early scenes are spot-on and very well-executed.

You know, we're leading with Brittany Murphy and Jason Lee, but they're only the mainstream, comedic tip to the talent that is coming from the upcoming fantasy comedy The Other Side. There is Giovanni Ribisi (Lost in Translation), and I wouldn't be surprised if he got the gig due to his connection with Lee -- they were both in I Love Your Work, plus an untitled short that Lee directed last year and he's appeared in a few eps of My Name is Earl. But the cast also boasts Jim Broadbent, Tim Roth and Lili Taylor listed in the news from Variety, and IMDb lists even more -- Anjelica Huston, Fiona Shaw, Eddie Izzard, Rupert Friend, Eddie Griffin, Dave Matthews... You get the picture.

Directed by producer David Michaels, Other Side comes from the pens of Michaels and Phil Reeves, and it focuses on a grad student (Murphy), who is spending her summer working at a science institute on a remote northern island. While there, "she discovered an eccentric community of characters who are hiding a secret about a terrible tragedy that took place many years before." Lee, for one, is playing: a hippie, chauffeur, pilot, butler, bartender and bait shop clerk. Between him and the rest of the cast, I would say that they picked just the right people to pull off an "eccentric community," although I find it smirk-worthy that Murphy will play a scientist. This is a comedy, so I imagine she will be a very, very cute and giggly scientist. However, how interesting would it be if she was the one believably serious actor in the piece? I mean, she has completely 180'd before.

There's an indie film that has been off the Cinematical radar, but might just be something to look out for in the future. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Roadside Attraction has secured the worldwide distribution rights to Andrew Wagner's indie drama called Starting Out in the Evening, based on the 1999 novel by Brian Morton. The film, which premiered at Sundance in January, boasts an impressive cast of Lauren Ambrose, Frank Langella and Lili Taylor. Roadside plans to release it in the states this November, just in time for a nice awards push for Langella's performance -- it's one that THR gushingly called "astounding." What might be even more-so is the fact that the performance could come from a shoot that lasted only 18 days.

The story revolves around a forceful grad student named Heather (Ambrose). She's writing her thesis on a novelist named Leonard Schiller (Langella), and hopes this will be a huge step to her own literary success. She meets him, finding him to be: "Old, fat, bald, leaning awkwardly on a cane" -- the vision of her literary hero a bit dashed. Meanwhile, he's been struggling on the same book for ten years, as his health deteriorates. There is also Schiller's daughter (Taylor), who is struggling with her desire for a child and her marriage to a man who doesn't want to have one. Heather invades his world, a seductive and challenging pressure in his life. I'm not sure how much more you can ask for -- an interesting story, great actors, glowing reviews and some indie flavor.

Factotum, the first English-language film by Norwegian director Bent Hamer, has reportedly been acquired by IFC Films. The film, an adaptation of Charles Bukowski's second novel, stars Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, and Marisa Tomei. Dillon plays Henry Chinaski, a loser obsessed with drinking, sex and gambling (not necessarily in that order) who gets fired from every job he has. Dillon's performance in the film has been lauded - between Factotum and Crash he is staking out a major career revival that could include an Oscar, and Factotum was being buzzed about at Outfest today, so it's not surprising to learn it's been picked up. The film opened last year at Cannes to critical acclaim and his been steadily picking up steam ever since. Karina will have a review up of Factotum by tomorrow.

[ via filmfestivalstv.com ]