Pedro Pascal and David Harbour at set to team up on the HBO limited series ‘My Dentist’s Murder Trial’ which is currently in development.
Pedro Pascal & David Harbour set for limited series ‘My Dentist’s Murder Trial’, the true story focuses on how Dr. Gilberto Nunez was indicted for the death of his friend, Thomas Kolman.
Both Pascal and Harbour will executive produce in addition to starring. Steve Conrad will write and executive produce in addition to directing the pilot. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists will also executive produce along with Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television. Taylor Latham of Escape Artists will co-executive produce.
Also in news – Edinburgh Film Festival announces 2022 programme
Pascal is set to star in the HBO series adaptation of the video game ‘The Last of Us’ in the lead role of Joel. He is also known...
Pedro Pascal & David Harbour set for limited series ‘My Dentist’s Murder Trial’, the true story focuses on how Dr. Gilberto Nunez was indicted for the death of his friend, Thomas Kolman.
Both Pascal and Harbour will executive produce in addition to starring. Steve Conrad will write and executive produce in addition to directing the pilot. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists will also executive produce along with Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television. Taylor Latham of Escape Artists will co-executive produce.
Also in news – Edinburgh Film Festival announces 2022 programme
Pascal is set to star in the HBO series adaptation of the video game ‘The Last of Us’ in the lead role of Joel. He is also known...
- 7/27/2022
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
David Harbour and Pedro Pascal are set to appear in a new limited HBO series called "My Dentist's Murder Trial," Variety announced on July 26. The show will be based on a New Yorker article by James Lasdun, "My Dentist's Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation," which unfurled the true saga of how dentist Dr. Gilberto Nunez was charged with (and eventually acquitted of) the murder of his friend Thomas Kolman.
Harbour and Pascal are also both executive producing the series, which has been acquired by HBO, and the script will be written by Steve Conrad, who will also executive produce and direct the first episode. Other executive producers include Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television.
Harbour most recently appeared in the fourth season of "Stranger Things," making a triumphant return as Hopper after being presumed dead at the end of the previous season.
Harbour and Pascal are also both executive producing the series, which has been acquired by HBO, and the script will be written by Steve Conrad, who will also executive produce and direct the first episode. Other executive producers include Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television.
Harbour most recently appeared in the fourth season of "Stranger Things," making a triumphant return as Hopper after being presumed dead at the end of the previous season.
- 7/26/2022
- by Eden Arielle Gordon
- Popsugar.com
David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Pedro Pascal are teaming up for HBO's latest true crime limited series.
Variety reports that the pair have joined the cast of My Dentist's Murder.
The series is based on James Lasdun’s 2017 New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation,” which takes viewers inside the true story of Upstate New York dentist Dr. Gilberto Nunez, who was indicted for the death of his friend Thomas Kolman.
Harbour and Pascal will exec produce the series alongside Lasun.
Pascal is no stranger to HBO, having starred on the hit Game of Thrones.
He also has one of the two lead roles on the forthcoming Last of Us TV series, which is on track for an early 2023 launch.
He's also a series regular on The Mandalorian in the titular role.
The series has been on an extended hiatus and is...
Variety reports that the pair have joined the cast of My Dentist's Murder.
The series is based on James Lasdun’s 2017 New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation,” which takes viewers inside the true story of Upstate New York dentist Dr. Gilberto Nunez, who was indicted for the death of his friend Thomas Kolman.
Harbour and Pascal will exec produce the series alongside Lasun.
Pascal is no stranger to HBO, having starred on the hit Game of Thrones.
He also has one of the two lead roles on the forthcoming Last of Us TV series, which is on track for an early 2023 launch.
He's also a series regular on The Mandalorian in the titular role.
The series has been on an extended hiatus and is...
- 7/26/2022
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
David Harbour and Pedro Pascal are reportedly teaming up to star in the limited series My Dentist’s Murder Trial for HBO. According to Variety, the show, which is currently in development, is inspired by the New Yorker article, “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation,” by writer James Lasdun. The article tells the true story of how Dr. Gilberto Nunez was indicted for the death of his friend, Thomas Kolman. James Lasdun (Credit: Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images) Pascal and Harbour are currently attached to executive produce the series in addition to starring. Meanwhile, pilot director Steve Conrad will pen the script and executive produce alongside Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, Lasdun, and MGM Television. The series will be co-executive produced by Taylor Latham. This isn’t the first major HBO role for Pascal who is currently set...
- 7/26/2022
- TV Insider
HBO has announced the upcoming limited series “My Dentist’s Murder Trial,” a ripped-from-the-headlines true crime series starring David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) and Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”). The series will be based on a 2017 New Yorker article titled “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, false identities, and a lethal sedation,” written by James Lasdun. […]
The post “My Dentist’s Murder Trial” – David Harbour and Pedro Pascal Starring in HBO’s True Crime Series appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The post “My Dentist’s Murder Trial” – David Harbour and Pedro Pascal Starring in HBO’s True Crime Series appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 7/26/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Jim Hopper and the Mandalorian are teaming up to tell a true-crime story with bite.
David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) have been tapped to executive-produce and star in the HBO limited series My Dentist’s Murder Trial, our sister publication Variety reports.
More from TVLineWestworld Recap: Yep, Christina Is Almost Certainly [Spoiler]!Industry: Jay Duplass Raises the Stakes in Tense Season 2 Trailer -- WatchHouse of the Dragon Trailer: House Targaryen Teeters on the Brink in New Peek at Game of Thrones Prequel
The series is based on James Lasdun’s 2017 New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery,...
David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) have been tapped to executive-produce and star in the HBO limited series My Dentist’s Murder Trial, our sister publication Variety reports.
More from TVLineWestworld Recap: Yep, Christina Is Almost Certainly [Spoiler]!Industry: Jay Duplass Raises the Stakes in Tense Season 2 Trailer -- WatchHouse of the Dragon Trailer: House Targaryen Teeters on the Brink in New Peek at Game of Thrones Prequel
The series is based on James Lasdun’s 2017 New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery,...
- 7/26/2022
- by Andy Swift
- TVLine.com
You know what they say, the truth is “Stranger” than fiction.
“Stranger Things” star David Harbour is set to co-lead upcoming HBO limited series “My Dentist’s Murder Trial” opposite Pedro Pascal. The show is currently in development.
Inspired by James Lasdun’s New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation,” the series tells the true story of how Dr. Gilberto Nunez (Pascal) was indicted for the death of his friend, Thomas Kolman (Harbour).
Both Pascal and Harbor will executive produce the series, with Steve Conrad writing, executive producing, and directing the pilot. Conrad is also attached to write the adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” prequel novel “Tales of Dunk & Egg,” as Variety reported.
Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists will also executive produce along with Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television.
“Stranger Things” star David Harbour is set to co-lead upcoming HBO limited series “My Dentist’s Murder Trial” opposite Pedro Pascal. The show is currently in development.
Inspired by James Lasdun’s New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation,” the series tells the true story of how Dr. Gilberto Nunez (Pascal) was indicted for the death of his friend, Thomas Kolman (Harbour).
Both Pascal and Harbor will executive produce the series, with Steve Conrad writing, executive producing, and directing the pilot. Conrad is also attached to write the adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” prequel novel “Tales of Dunk & Egg,” as Variety reported.
Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists will also executive produce along with Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television.
- 7/26/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian”) and David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) will star in HBO’s upcoming limited series “My Dentist’s Murder Trial.”
The series, which is currently in development, is based on the true story of Dr. Gilberto Nunez’s indictment in the death of his friend Thomas Kolman. The case was the subject of a James Lasdun-penned New Yorker article titled “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation.”
Also Read:
Kate Winslet to Star in HBO Limited Series ‘The Palace’ With Stephen Frears Directing
Harbour most recently appeared in Season 4 of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and Marvel’s “Black Widow.” Pascal appeared as his “Mandalorian” character, Din Djarin, in Disney+’s “The Book of Boba Fett” earlier this year and will headline HBO’s upcoming adaptation of the popular video game “The Last of Us.”
In 2015, Nunez was indicted on charges of second-degree...
The series, which is currently in development, is based on the true story of Dr. Gilberto Nunez’s indictment in the death of his friend Thomas Kolman. The case was the subject of a James Lasdun-penned New Yorker article titled “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation.”
Also Read:
Kate Winslet to Star in HBO Limited Series ‘The Palace’ With Stephen Frears Directing
Harbour most recently appeared in Season 4 of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and Marvel’s “Black Widow.” Pascal appeared as his “Mandalorian” character, Din Djarin, in Disney+’s “The Book of Boba Fett” earlier this year and will headline HBO’s upcoming adaptation of the popular video game “The Last of Us.”
In 2015, Nunez was indicted on charges of second-degree...
- 7/26/2022
- by Brandon Katz
- The Wrap
HBO is developing My Dentist’s Murder Trial, a limited series, starring and executive produced by David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Pedro Pascal.
Written by Steve Conrad, who is set to direct the pilot episode, My Dentist’s Murder Trial is inspired by James Lasdun’s 2017 New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, false identities, and a lethal sedation.”
The true crime story chronicled in the article centers on Dr. Gilberto Nunez who in 2015 was indicted for killing his friend Thomas Kolman by getting him “to ingest a substance that caused his death.” There were also two forgery counts, including Nunez posing as a C.I.A. agent. Nunez, who had had an affair with Kolman’s wife Linda, stood trial in 2018 where he was found not guilty of murder but guilty on fraud charges, which led to a prison sentence.
Written by Steve Conrad, who is set to direct the pilot episode, My Dentist’s Murder Trial is inspired by James Lasdun’s 2017 New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, false identities, and a lethal sedation.”
The true crime story chronicled in the article centers on Dr. Gilberto Nunez who in 2015 was indicted for killing his friend Thomas Kolman by getting him “to ingest a substance that caused his death.” There were also two forgery counts, including Nunez posing as a C.I.A. agent. Nunez, who had had an affair with Kolman’s wife Linda, stood trial in 2018 where he was found not guilty of murder but guilty on fraud charges, which led to a prison sentence.
- 7/26/2022
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Pedro Pascal and David Harbour at set to star together in the limited series “My Dentist’s Murder Trial” currently in development at HBO, Variety has learned.
The series is inspired by the James Lasdun New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation.” The article told the true story of how Dr. Gilberto Nunez was indicted for the death of his friend, Thomas Kolman.
Both Pascal and Harbour will executive produce in addition to starring. Steve Conrad will write and executive produce in addition to directing the pilot. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists will also executive produce along with Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television. Taylor Latham of Escape Artists will co-executive produce.
Pascal is set to star in the HBO series adaptation of the video game “The Last of Us” in the lead role of Joel.
The series is inspired by the James Lasdun New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation.” The article told the true story of how Dr. Gilberto Nunez was indicted for the death of his friend, Thomas Kolman.
Both Pascal and Harbour will executive produce in addition to starring. Steve Conrad will write and executive produce in addition to directing the pilot. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists will also executive produce along with Bruce Terris, Molly Allen, James Lasdun, and MGM Television. Taylor Latham of Escape Artists will co-executive produce.
Pascal is set to star in the HBO series adaptation of the video game “The Last of Us” in the lead role of Joel.
- 7/26/2022
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
“Real Life Rock Top Ten” is a monthly column by cultural critic and Rs contributing editor Greil Marcus.
1. “Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff Debuting New Country Song at the Ally Coalition Talent Show” (YouTube): From December — and can this performance really have had less than 9,000 views? There’s no title: With Antonoff strumming an acoustic guitar, then hinting at a figure, the song refers to Hank Williams in its first verse, but that’s as close to what’s sold as country as it gets. In the melody as it slowly takes shape,...
1. “Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff Debuting New Country Song at the Ally Coalition Talent Show” (YouTube): From December — and can this performance really have had less than 9,000 views? There’s no title: With Antonoff strumming an acoustic guitar, then hinting at a figure, the song refers to Hank Williams in its first verse, but that’s as close to what’s sold as country as it gets. In the melody as it slowly takes shape,...
- 4/25/2019
- by Greil Marcus
- Rollingstone.com
The Undoing Project (W.W. Norton & Company) by Michael Lewis
Agency: CAA
Film adaptations of his books (The Blind Side, Moneyball, The Big Short) have earned 13 Oscar nominations (and two wins), so producers should be keen to land his latest, about the friendship between two psychologists who invented behavioral economics.
The Fall Guy (W.W. Norton & Company) by James Lasdun
Agency: Wme
The Man Booker-nominated author's critically praised new novel is a Trump Age thriller: A rich banker and his cousin, an unemployed chef, both covet the banker's wife, who is having an affair with a fourth person. Things...
Agency: CAA
Film adaptations of his books (The Blind Side, Moneyball, The Big Short) have earned 13 Oscar nominations (and two wins), so producers should be keen to land his latest, about the friendship between two psychologists who invented behavioral economics.
The Fall Guy (W.W. Norton & Company) by James Lasdun
Agency: Wme
The Man Booker-nominated author's critically praised new novel is a Trump Age thriller: A rich banker and his cousin, an unemployed chef, both covet the banker's wife, who is having an affair with a fourth person. Things...
- 11/16/2016
- by Rebecca Ford,Andy Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Give Me Everything You Have: On Being StalkedBy James Lasdun; Fsg; 218 pages; $25As the title suggests, there are two characters central to Lasdun’s harrowing — and that word couldn’t be more appropriate — true tale of being stalked. There’s “Nasreen” (the “Give Me Everything You Have” half of the titular equation), a young, initially unassuming M.F.A. student, who through the course of seven years of nearly daily e-mails reveals herself to be an unstable Lasdun-obsessive. Her hostility manifests itself through a series of false accusations: claiming that her onetime mentor plagiarized her work, based characters on her, and, much more insidiously, sexually abused her. And while the e-mails he excerpts offer little beyond a voyeuristic thrill, Lasdun’s knack for self-exploration elevates the narrative. He shows us the effect that the stalker has on the stalkee, and we learn that Lasdun has become equally obsessed — not with...
- 2/4/2013
- Vulture
From a full programme of film and stage adaptations to a new James Bond novel, unpublished works by Rs Thomas and Wg Sebald and a new prize for women writers, 2013 is set to be a real page-turner
January
10th The Oscar nominations are announced unusually early this year. Keep an eye out for a bumper crop of literary adaptations, including David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, the David Nicholls-scripted Great Expectations, as well as Les Miserables, Anna Karenina and The Hobbit.
18th A new stage adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw at the Almeida theatre in London. In the year of the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth, his musical version will also feature around the country in both concert and stage performances.
24th The finalists for the fifth Man Booker International prize will be announced at the Jaipur festival.
January
10th The Oscar nominations are announced unusually early this year. Keep an eye out for a bumper crop of literary adaptations, including David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, the David Nicholls-scripted Great Expectations, as well as Les Miserables, Anna Karenina and The Hobbit.
18th A new stage adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw at the Almeida theatre in London. In the year of the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth, his musical version will also feature around the country in both concert and stage performances.
24th The finalists for the fifth Man Booker International prize will be announced at the Jaipur festival.
- 1/5/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Few character actresses have proven to be as effortlessly versatile as Piper Laurie. Her Oscar-nominated turns as Paul Newman’s alcoholic lover in Robert Rossen’s 1961 classic “The Hustler” and Marlee Matlin’s estranged but loving mother in Randa Haines’s 1986 drama “Children of a Lesser God” offer a mere sample of her remarkable range and magnetic screen presence.
Yet her role that remains immortalized in the minds of moviegoers is Margaret White, the psychotic mother of the titular telekinetic teen in Brian De Palma’s marvelously effective 1976 thriller “Carrie.” Chicagoans will have the opportunity to meet the legendary actress when she attends Camp Midnight’s presentation of “A Very Carrie Christmas” at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 at the Music Box Theatre.
The event includes pre-show entertainment from Hell in a Handbag Productions, as well as an interactive audience guide and running commentary from Dick O’Day and David...
Yet her role that remains immortalized in the minds of moviegoers is Margaret White, the psychotic mother of the titular telekinetic teen in Brian De Palma’s marvelously effective 1976 thriller “Carrie.” Chicagoans will have the opportunity to meet the legendary actress when she attends Camp Midnight’s presentation of “A Very Carrie Christmas” at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 at the Music Box Theatre.
The event includes pre-show entertainment from Hell in a Handbag Productions, as well as an interactive audience guide and running commentary from Dick O’Day and David...
- 11/29/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Veteran actor Piper Laurie has turned her talents to directing, most recently helming the Off-Broadway solo play "Zero Hour," written by and starring Jim Brochu, who plays the larger-than-life actor-painter Zero Mostel, and in 2006 directing the short film "Property," based on a James Lasdun story. But the Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated Laurie is quick to point out, "I directed my first play when I was 11. I was asked if I would like to play the lead in the school play, and I said I'd rather direct." Having appeared in well over 100 films and TV programs, not to mention a host of stage plays, Laurie has strong opinions on the director's role."A light touch is always the best way to go," she says. "The best thing a director can do is give an actor a sense of freedom. Working with Jim, I was both editor and director, helping with the shape of...
- 12/30/2009
- backstage.com
"Signs & Wonders" is filled with more treachery, spying and betrayals than a Cold War espionage thriller. Yet the focus is on a philandering husband's desperate attempt to win back the family he has scorned.
Unfortunately, Jonathan Nossiter -- making his second feature after his first, "Sunday", was honored as best film at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival -- has overburdened "Signs & Wonders" with so many leaps in logic, unconvincing behavior and nervous camera trickery that he is likely to lose an audience's confidence in his storytelling. The film, in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, will be a tough sell even in the art house market. Nor will that sell be helped by the unwise decision to inflict every character with aggressive nastiness.
One of the themes Nossiter and his co-writer, James Lasdun, are pursuing is that of dislocation -- of people feeling out of place in a land that is not their own. So Stellan Skarsgard plays Alec, a Scandinavian-born American living with his Greek-American wife (Charlotte Rampling) and their two children in Athens, Greece.
Alec is a poster boy for the new Ugly American. Living in an ancient city overrun by American fast-food joints, he never bothers to learn the language and pursues pleasure at the expense of everyone else. An affair with a colleague Deborah Kara Unger) -- confessed to, dropped, then resumed -- has destroyed the family. After a divorce, he finds himself briefly back in the States.
Then, believing that his lover has deceived him, he abruptly returns to Athens and obsessively pursues his ex-wife and family. Only his ex now has a lover (Dimitris Katalifos), a Greek journalist with strong leftist views, and the children are wary of the emotional roller coaster that is their dad.
But Alec and his daughter (Ashley Remy) can still connect. They share a secret view of the world where they look for signs and coincidences to guide them. A sign causes Alec to abandon his family, and another sign brings him back.
Why a grown man would adopt such a childish belief system is never questioned. Nor does Alec wonder why he continues to trust a system that constantly leads him astray.
Nossiter started his film career as an assistant on "Fatal Attraction", and this film bears more than a little resemblance to that one as Alec stalks his family. Indeed, much of the film is shot through glass windows and wire fences or peaking through foliage as if the viewer has joined Alec in his domestic espionage.
Nossiter has also chosen to make the film on video, which gives the story immediacy. But the film often looks like a home movie by an overambitious amateur, filled with nonsensical angles and fussy hand-held camera movement.
It's hard to care much for the film's characters because Nossiter never convinces us that these are real people. They behave more like characters in a movie whose needs and motives are subordinate to the filmmakers' needs to score thematic points.
In Skarsgard and Rampling, Nossiter has actors who are so good they almost convince us that their characters are simply highly irrational beings. Almost, that is. And Remy possesses an unnerving look that leads us to suspect she's about to become an underage murderess -- which, in a way, she does.
"Signs & Wonders" is, ultimately, a movie more about its technique than its characters. Alec is forever trying to read a Greek translation of "Alice in Wonderland", and Nossiter seems to want his film to have an "Alice in Wonderland" visual strangeness. Thus, his story all too often gets stranded in a cacophony of visual and aural flourishes.
SIGNS & WONDERS
MK2 Prods.
in association with Ideefixe Prods.,
Industry Entertainment, Sunshine
Amalgamedia, Goatworks Films
Producer Marin Karmitz
Director Jonathan Nossiter
Writers James Lasdun, Jonathan Nossiter
Based on a story by James Lasdun
Executive producers Jed Alpert, Nick Wechsler
Director of photography Yorgos Arvantis
Music Adrian Utley
Costume designer Kathryn Nixon
Editor Madeleine Gavin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alec Stellan Skarsgard
Marjorie Charlotte Rampling
Katherine Deborah Kara Unger
Andreas Dimitris Katalifos
Siri Ashley Remy
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Unfortunately, Jonathan Nossiter -- making his second feature after his first, "Sunday", was honored as best film at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival -- has overburdened "Signs & Wonders" with so many leaps in logic, unconvincing behavior and nervous camera trickery that he is likely to lose an audience's confidence in his storytelling. The film, in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, will be a tough sell even in the art house market. Nor will that sell be helped by the unwise decision to inflict every character with aggressive nastiness.
One of the themes Nossiter and his co-writer, James Lasdun, are pursuing is that of dislocation -- of people feeling out of place in a land that is not their own. So Stellan Skarsgard plays Alec, a Scandinavian-born American living with his Greek-American wife (Charlotte Rampling) and their two children in Athens, Greece.
Alec is a poster boy for the new Ugly American. Living in an ancient city overrun by American fast-food joints, he never bothers to learn the language and pursues pleasure at the expense of everyone else. An affair with a colleague Deborah Kara Unger) -- confessed to, dropped, then resumed -- has destroyed the family. After a divorce, he finds himself briefly back in the States.
Then, believing that his lover has deceived him, he abruptly returns to Athens and obsessively pursues his ex-wife and family. Only his ex now has a lover (Dimitris Katalifos), a Greek journalist with strong leftist views, and the children are wary of the emotional roller coaster that is their dad.
But Alec and his daughter (Ashley Remy) can still connect. They share a secret view of the world where they look for signs and coincidences to guide them. A sign causes Alec to abandon his family, and another sign brings him back.
Why a grown man would adopt such a childish belief system is never questioned. Nor does Alec wonder why he continues to trust a system that constantly leads him astray.
Nossiter started his film career as an assistant on "Fatal Attraction", and this film bears more than a little resemblance to that one as Alec stalks his family. Indeed, much of the film is shot through glass windows and wire fences or peaking through foliage as if the viewer has joined Alec in his domestic espionage.
Nossiter has also chosen to make the film on video, which gives the story immediacy. But the film often looks like a home movie by an overambitious amateur, filled with nonsensical angles and fussy hand-held camera movement.
It's hard to care much for the film's characters because Nossiter never convinces us that these are real people. They behave more like characters in a movie whose needs and motives are subordinate to the filmmakers' needs to score thematic points.
In Skarsgard and Rampling, Nossiter has actors who are so good they almost convince us that their characters are simply highly irrational beings. Almost, that is. And Remy possesses an unnerving look that leads us to suspect she's about to become an underage murderess -- which, in a way, she does.
"Signs & Wonders" is, ultimately, a movie more about its technique than its characters. Alec is forever trying to read a Greek translation of "Alice in Wonderland", and Nossiter seems to want his film to have an "Alice in Wonderland" visual strangeness. Thus, his story all too often gets stranded in a cacophony of visual and aural flourishes.
SIGNS & WONDERS
MK2 Prods.
in association with Ideefixe Prods.,
Industry Entertainment, Sunshine
Amalgamedia, Goatworks Films
Producer Marin Karmitz
Director Jonathan Nossiter
Writers James Lasdun, Jonathan Nossiter
Based on a story by James Lasdun
Executive producers Jed Alpert, Nick Wechsler
Director of photography Yorgos Arvantis
Music Adrian Utley
Costume designer Kathryn Nixon
Editor Madeleine Gavin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alec Stellan Skarsgard
Marjorie Charlotte Rampling
Katherine Deborah Kara Unger
Andreas Dimitris Katalifos
Siri Ashley Remy
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/14/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
While it doesn't quite reach the artistic heights of his best work, "Besieged" marks a return to the kind of intimate, fundamental filmmaking that Bernardo Bertolucci had abandoned for his more elaborate and not always successful epics.
The payoff is an intriguing if somewhat plot-deprived, lyrical pas de deux between a reclusive English pianist and a female African refugee who meet in Italy after crossing very different paths.
Accomplished performances by leads David Thewlis and Thandie Newton, combined with its will-they-or-won't-they percolating tease, could help this Fine Line Features release find an appreciative art house audience.
Collaborating on the screenplay with his wife, filmmaker Clare Peploe -- which was based on the James Lasdun short story, "The Siege" -- Bertolucci has created a vivid emotional landscape in a daunting Roman villa where the eccentric Mr. Kinsky (Thewlis) takes refuge behind his grand piano.
Enter Shandurai, a young woman who fled her politically oppressive African homeland to study medicine at night school while earning room and board by cleaning Mr. Kinsky's dusty, inherited home.
Gradually, he is smitten by the smart, beguiling Shandurai and one day blurts out his feelings for her. Not taking the revelation too well, she informs him that if he truly cares for her, he'll help free her incarcerated husband.
Reluctantly deciding to stay on despite the potentially awkward conditions, Shandurai soon finds herself becoming attracted to her rather odd employer and his haunting musical compositions. But as those feelings begin to crystallize, Mr. Kinsky's villa is steadily being depleted of its antique heirlooms as he quietly makes some considerable sacrifices to prove his unconditional love for her.
In some ways reminiscent of Bertolucci's notorious "Last Tango in Paris" minus the explicit carnal element, "Besieged" again finds a man and a woman alone together (and apart) in an imposing, ultimately empty house. Here, however, they're symbolically kept at a distance by a dramatic winding staircase that neatly reflects their own labyrinthian emotional states.
The film works best when it stays within the boundaries of those compelling interiors. Less successful are a series of flashbacks and/or dream sequences set in Shandurai's homeland accompanied by the constant presence of a shaman-like, wizened African storyteller. While undeniably exotic, the scenes ultimately distract from rather than adding anything significant to the proceedings.
Certainly little additional set dressing is required when you have two performances as delicately and intricately rendered as those of Newton and Thewlis, who excel at conveying intellectually contained vulnerability. They manage to keep things involving despite the occasional dips in dramatic tension.
Also putting in virtuoso performances are cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti, and frequent Bertolucci collaborators, production designer Gianni Silvestri and costume designer Metka Kosak, whose visual contributions are important characters in their own right.
Composer Jacopo Quadri does a nimble job reconciling the seemingly opposing strains of classical piano and African rhythms.
BESIEGED
Fine Line Features
A Fiction Films & Navert Film Production in association with Mediaset
Director:Bernardo Bertolucci
Screenwriters:Bernardo Bertolucci, Clare Peploe
Based on a story by:James Lasdun
Producer:Massimo Cortesi
Director of photography:Fabio Cianchetti
Production designer:Gianni Silvestri
Editor:Jacopo Quadri
Costume designer:Metka Kosak
Music:Alessio Vlad
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shandurai:Thandie Newton
Mr. Kinsky:David Thewlis
Agostino:Claudio Santamaria
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The payoff is an intriguing if somewhat plot-deprived, lyrical pas de deux between a reclusive English pianist and a female African refugee who meet in Italy after crossing very different paths.
Accomplished performances by leads David Thewlis and Thandie Newton, combined with its will-they-or-won't-they percolating tease, could help this Fine Line Features release find an appreciative art house audience.
Collaborating on the screenplay with his wife, filmmaker Clare Peploe -- which was based on the James Lasdun short story, "The Siege" -- Bertolucci has created a vivid emotional landscape in a daunting Roman villa where the eccentric Mr. Kinsky (Thewlis) takes refuge behind his grand piano.
Enter Shandurai, a young woman who fled her politically oppressive African homeland to study medicine at night school while earning room and board by cleaning Mr. Kinsky's dusty, inherited home.
Gradually, he is smitten by the smart, beguiling Shandurai and one day blurts out his feelings for her. Not taking the revelation too well, she informs him that if he truly cares for her, he'll help free her incarcerated husband.
Reluctantly deciding to stay on despite the potentially awkward conditions, Shandurai soon finds herself becoming attracted to her rather odd employer and his haunting musical compositions. But as those feelings begin to crystallize, Mr. Kinsky's villa is steadily being depleted of its antique heirlooms as he quietly makes some considerable sacrifices to prove his unconditional love for her.
In some ways reminiscent of Bertolucci's notorious "Last Tango in Paris" minus the explicit carnal element, "Besieged" again finds a man and a woman alone together (and apart) in an imposing, ultimately empty house. Here, however, they're symbolically kept at a distance by a dramatic winding staircase that neatly reflects their own labyrinthian emotional states.
The film works best when it stays within the boundaries of those compelling interiors. Less successful are a series of flashbacks and/or dream sequences set in Shandurai's homeland accompanied by the constant presence of a shaman-like, wizened African storyteller. While undeniably exotic, the scenes ultimately distract from rather than adding anything significant to the proceedings.
Certainly little additional set dressing is required when you have two performances as delicately and intricately rendered as those of Newton and Thewlis, who excel at conveying intellectually contained vulnerability. They manage to keep things involving despite the occasional dips in dramatic tension.
Also putting in virtuoso performances are cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti, and frequent Bertolucci collaborators, production designer Gianni Silvestri and costume designer Metka Kosak, whose visual contributions are important characters in their own right.
Composer Jacopo Quadri does a nimble job reconciling the seemingly opposing strains of classical piano and African rhythms.
BESIEGED
Fine Line Features
A Fiction Films & Navert Film Production in association with Mediaset
Director:Bernardo Bertolucci
Screenwriters:Bernardo Bertolucci, Clare Peploe
Based on a story by:James Lasdun
Producer:Massimo Cortesi
Director of photography:Fabio Cianchetti
Production designer:Gianni Silvestri
Editor:Jacopo Quadri
Costume designer:Metka Kosak
Music:Alessio Vlad
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shandurai:Thandie Newton
Mr. Kinsky:David Thewlis
Agostino:Claudio Santamaria
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/20/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY, Utah -- Sunday is not a day of rest for the residents of the homeless shelter but, rather a day of restlessness -- they are turned out into the street, not allowed to return until evening.
That's the sad setting for "Sunday", the deserved Grand Jury Prize winner in the dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival, and it is a film of disquieting grace, power and humanity.
Head-and-shoulders above its competition in terms of maturity, execution and theme, "Sunday" gives encouraging testament to the fact that not all indie films are mired in a twentysomething world view nor propelled by anger.
There's no easing into this "Sunday". The noisy, dehumanizing abrasions of a Queens homeless shelter are thrust upon us by director Jonathan Nossiter. We're immediately attuned to Oliver (David Suchet), an overweight, bald man whose fastidious ways are at odds with his more raucous, and demented, homeless brethren. We follow Oliver into the gray, Cold World of early-morning Queens as he shuffles along, trying to keep warm, trying to find something to do to fill the hours.
In this psychological odyssey, Oliver is confronted by a passionate woman, an actress, Madeline (Lisa Harrow) who claims to know him as a stage and film director. Confused and frightened, Oliver finds it easier to agree with her, acknowledge that he is a director.
The two spend the day together, and their time with one another is a fractured blend of beauty, uncertainty, chaos and ultimately transcendence. Aswirl with contradictory passions and underscored by frightened human longing, the story is a beautiful equation of hope with human connection. Screenwriters James Lasdun and Nossiter have created a bittersweet gem in this elegantly simple tale.
"Sunday"'s radiant power comes through the full-blooded performances of the two leads. Suchet's sharply fuddled portrayal of the homeless Oliver grabs our heart as we watch him struggle to keep his focus, right himself. As the outgoing actress who "remembers" Oliver, Lisa Harrow's performance is similarly complex, showing us the huge grains of uncertainty and regret that soil her life.
Poetically gritty, "Sunday" is graced by some well-conceived technical contributions, all fitting the film's story and theme. The cinematography of Michael Barrow and John Foster is particularly eloquent. Their keen eyes capture both the outer grime as well as inner spirit of Oliver's world.
Special praise also to David Ellinwood for the astute sound design, giving us a sensory feel for not only the harshness of the city streets but the emotions of a man who is struggling to get out of himself.
SUNDAY
Goatworks Films
A film by Jonathan Nossiter
Producers Jonathan Nossiter, Alix Madigan
Director Jonathan Nossiter
Screenwriters James Lasdun, Jonathan Nossiter
Executive producers Jed Alpert, D.J. Paul,
George Pezyos
Directors of photography Michael Barrow,
John Foster
Editor Madeleine Gavin
Production designer Deana Sidney
Casting Mali Finn
Costume designer Kathryn Nixon
Sound designer David Ellinwood
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Oliver/Matthew David Suchet
Madeline Vesey Lisa Harrow
Ray Jared Harris
Ben Vesey Larry Pine
Scottie Elster Joe Grifasi
Andy Arnold Barkus
Abram Bahman Soltani
Selwyn Willis Burks
Subalowsky Henry Hayward
Running time -- 93 minutes...
That's the sad setting for "Sunday", the deserved Grand Jury Prize winner in the dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival, and it is a film of disquieting grace, power and humanity.
Head-and-shoulders above its competition in terms of maturity, execution and theme, "Sunday" gives encouraging testament to the fact that not all indie films are mired in a twentysomething world view nor propelled by anger.
There's no easing into this "Sunday". The noisy, dehumanizing abrasions of a Queens homeless shelter are thrust upon us by director Jonathan Nossiter. We're immediately attuned to Oliver (David Suchet), an overweight, bald man whose fastidious ways are at odds with his more raucous, and demented, homeless brethren. We follow Oliver into the gray, Cold World of early-morning Queens as he shuffles along, trying to keep warm, trying to find something to do to fill the hours.
In this psychological odyssey, Oliver is confronted by a passionate woman, an actress, Madeline (Lisa Harrow) who claims to know him as a stage and film director. Confused and frightened, Oliver finds it easier to agree with her, acknowledge that he is a director.
The two spend the day together, and their time with one another is a fractured blend of beauty, uncertainty, chaos and ultimately transcendence. Aswirl with contradictory passions and underscored by frightened human longing, the story is a beautiful equation of hope with human connection. Screenwriters James Lasdun and Nossiter have created a bittersweet gem in this elegantly simple tale.
"Sunday"'s radiant power comes through the full-blooded performances of the two leads. Suchet's sharply fuddled portrayal of the homeless Oliver grabs our heart as we watch him struggle to keep his focus, right himself. As the outgoing actress who "remembers" Oliver, Lisa Harrow's performance is similarly complex, showing us the huge grains of uncertainty and regret that soil her life.
Poetically gritty, "Sunday" is graced by some well-conceived technical contributions, all fitting the film's story and theme. The cinematography of Michael Barrow and John Foster is particularly eloquent. Their keen eyes capture both the outer grime as well as inner spirit of Oliver's world.
Special praise also to David Ellinwood for the astute sound design, giving us a sensory feel for not only the harshness of the city streets but the emotions of a man who is struggling to get out of himself.
SUNDAY
Goatworks Films
A film by Jonathan Nossiter
Producers Jonathan Nossiter, Alix Madigan
Director Jonathan Nossiter
Screenwriters James Lasdun, Jonathan Nossiter
Executive producers Jed Alpert, D.J. Paul,
George Pezyos
Directors of photography Michael Barrow,
John Foster
Editor Madeleine Gavin
Production designer Deana Sidney
Casting Mali Finn
Costume designer Kathryn Nixon
Sound designer David Ellinwood
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Oliver/Matthew David Suchet
Madeline Vesey Lisa Harrow
Ray Jared Harris
Ben Vesey Larry Pine
Scottie Elster Joe Grifasi
Andy Arnold Barkus
Abram Bahman Soltani
Selwyn Willis Burks
Subalowsky Henry Hayward
Running time -- 93 minutes...
- 1/27/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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