Many of the most important queer films in cinema history share a birthplace: the Sundance Film Festival. Organized by the Sundance Institute, the legendary annual fest in Park City, Utah, has boasted international and U.S. premiere titles as varied as the groundbreaking New York ballroom documentary Paris Is Burning in 1991, Donna Deitch’s 1985 lesbian road drama Desert Hearts or even recent masterworks like Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 adaptation of Call Me by Your Name.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Kim Yutani, director of programming at Sundance, about some of the most important Lgbtqia+ films to debut there.
“Seeing the films that Sundance has programmed over the years, especially around the early 1990s with the New Queer Wave, that was what attracted me to Sundance,” says Yutani, who’s been working with the festival for 17 years, and has also worked in various positions within the film industry, like as Gregg Araki...
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Kim Yutani, director of programming at Sundance, about some of the most important Lgbtqia+ films to debut there.
“Seeing the films that Sundance has programmed over the years, especially around the early 1990s with the New Queer Wave, that was what attracted me to Sundance,” says Yutani, who’s been working with the festival for 17 years, and has also worked in various positions within the film industry, like as Gregg Araki...
- 6/26/2023
- by Hilton Dresden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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Whether it’s romantic dramas, war stories, action films, dark comedies, or illuminating the stories of marginalized women and girls, there’s no denying that female directors have shown their cinematic range. Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done in widening opportunities, and completely shattering the glass ceiling, but female directors continue to make strides that have shifted the landscape.
The last three years have seen an uptick in women director’s helming box-office hits, and the numbers continue to increase. Despite the start of the global pandemic that crippled the movie theater industry but boosted the streaming world, 16 percent of the top 100 films in 2020 were directed by women.
Whether it’s romantic dramas, war stories, action films, dark comedies, or illuminating the stories of marginalized women and girls, there’s no denying that female directors have shown their cinematic range. Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done in widening opportunities, and completely shattering the glass ceiling, but female directors continue to make strides that have shifted the landscape.
The last three years have seen an uptick in women director’s helming box-office hits, and the numbers continue to increase. Despite the start of the global pandemic that crippled the movie theater industry but boosted the streaming world, 16 percent of the top 100 films in 2020 were directed by women.
- 3/8/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
"I raised him! And it's my job to protect him!" A trailer has debuted for an indie drama called Skipping Stones, arriving in theaters later in 2020. This indie drama originally used the title Skipping Stones to Madonna, but they took out that second name and went with the shorter version for release. The film tells the story of a girl coming to terms with the loss of her brother and her deep friendship with her brother's best friend. This stars Michael Ironside, Patricia Charbonneau, Chase Masterson, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Gabby Kalomiris, & Nathaniel Ansbach. It's described as inspired by other small town dramas like Ordinary People, Moonlight Mile, Stand By Me. But it doesn't seem like it's worth writing home about. Here's the first official trailer for S.J. Creazzo's Skipping Stones, direct from the film's own YouTube: Skipping Stones to Madonna tells the story of a young girl (Amanda...
- 12/27/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
A woman arrives in Reno by train and will leave the same way, with one seismic difference: she has met and fallen in love with Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), a local artist and resident free-spirit. The year is 1959, and Vivian (Helen Shaver) is in Reno to get divorced. (In 1959, did people always have to go to Reno to get divorced?) She's an academic leaving a loveless, functional marriage. The idea of falling for a woman has never entered her wildest speculations. Modern audiences will inevitably connect Donna Deitch's 1985 independent film, Desert Hearts, with Todd Haynes' masterpiece of twenty years later, Carol. Both are set in the 1950s and feature older/younger relationships forming between an experienced woman and a woman only beginning to discover...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 11/20/2017
- Screen Anarchy
By 1985 Hollywood had still only dabbled in movies about the ‘shame that cannot speak its name,’ and in every case the verdict for the transgressors was regret and misery, if not death. Donna Deitch’s brilliant drama achieves exactly what she wanted, to do make a movie about a lesbian relationship that doesn’t end in a tragedy.
Desert Hearts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 902
1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 14, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley, Andra Akers, Gwen Welles, Dean Butler, James Staley, Katie La Bourdette, Alex McArthur, Tyler Tyhurst, Denise Crosby, Antony Ponzini, Brenda Beck, Jeffrey Tambor.
Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Film Editor: Robert Estrin
Production Design: Jeannine Oppewall
Written by Natalie Cooper from the novel by Jane Rule
Produced and Directed by Donna Deitch
Desert Hearts is a fine movie that’s also one of the first features ever about a lesbian romance,...
Desert Hearts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 902
1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 14, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley, Andra Akers, Gwen Welles, Dean Butler, James Staley, Katie La Bourdette, Alex McArthur, Tyler Tyhurst, Denise Crosby, Antony Ponzini, Brenda Beck, Jeffrey Tambor.
Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Film Editor: Robert Estrin
Production Design: Jeannine Oppewall
Written by Natalie Cooper from the novel by Jane Rule
Produced and Directed by Donna Deitch
Desert Hearts is a fine movie that’s also one of the first features ever about a lesbian romance,...
- 11/7/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
November over at The Criterion Collection may look a smidge slim, offering up just four new titles, but each new addition to the collection is a seminal selection well-deserving of the Criterion treatment. Of most interest, however, is Donna Deitch’s feature debut “Desert Hearts,” a seminal lesbian drama that’s been going through something of a resurgence as of late, thanks to last year’s 30th anniversary and a continued adoration for its forward-thinking subject matter.
As we recently explored, in the early ’80s, Deitch was a film school grad with only docs under her belt, eager to make a different kind of feature about lesbians in love, and “without the help of Kickstarter or industry backing, she launched an unorthodox grassroots campaign that eventually gained the support of Gloria Steinem, Lily Tomlin, and Stockard Channing. The result was a hit at Sundance in 1986 that went on to become...
As we recently explored, in the early ’80s, Deitch was a film school grad with only docs under her belt, eager to make a different kind of feature about lesbians in love, and “without the help of Kickstarter or industry backing, she launched an unorthodox grassroots campaign that eventually gained the support of Gloria Steinem, Lily Tomlin, and Stockard Channing. The result was a hit at Sundance in 1986 that went on to become...
- 8/16/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
For every cult classic like Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me or stone cold classic like Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, the folks at Janus and The Criterion Collection decide to use their platform to shine a light on some of film’s most interesting unsung gems. Be it from the early days of African cinema, the Romanian New Wave or even American indie cinema of the ‘80s and ‘90s, some of Janus and Criterion’s most interesting theatrical and home video releases are the ones that seemingly come out of nowhere.
Take, for example, Desert Hearts. From director Donna Deitch, Hearts tells the story of Vivian, a conservative, buttoned up English professor caught in the middle of late ‘50s Reno and a going-nowhere marriage. In the midst of a divorce Vivian meets Cay, a gorgeous and vibrant woman who helps not only open Vivian’s eyes to herself but to the world around her.
Take, for example, Desert Hearts. From director Donna Deitch, Hearts tells the story of Vivian, a conservative, buttoned up English professor caught in the middle of late ‘50s Reno and a going-nowhere marriage. In the midst of a divorce Vivian meets Cay, a gorgeous and vibrant woman who helps not only open Vivian’s eyes to herself but to the world around her.
- 7/20/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
In the early ’80s, Donna Deitch was a recent film school grad with no feature credits looking make a lesbian romance — one that didn’t end with killing its heroines. Without the help of Kickstarter or industry backing, she launched an unorthodox grassroots campaign that eventually gained the support of Gloria Steinem, Lily Tomlin, and Stockard Channing. The result was a hit at Sundance in 1986 that went on to become a groundbreaking lesbian classic that still resonates today.
Read More‘Desert Hearts’ Trailer: Donna Deitch’s Groundbreaking Lesbian Classic Restored — Watch
Adapted by Natalie Cooper from the 1964 Jane Rule novel “Desert of the Heart,” Deitch’s 1985 film is a poignant romance set in 1959, when straitlaced Columbia professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives at a ranch in Reno, Nev. to get a divorce (the only place one could at that time). She meets the rancher’s daughter, Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau), an open and self-assured lesbian,...
Read More‘Desert Hearts’ Trailer: Donna Deitch’s Groundbreaking Lesbian Classic Restored — Watch
Adapted by Natalie Cooper from the 1964 Jane Rule novel “Desert of the Heart,” Deitch’s 1985 film is a poignant romance set in 1959, when straitlaced Columbia professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives at a ranch in Reno, Nev. to get a divorce (the only place one could at that time). She meets the rancher’s daughter, Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau), an open and self-assured lesbian,...
- 7/20/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Set in 1959 and released in 1986, “Desert Hearts” is utterly timeless. Not only was Donna Deitch’s groundbreaking film directed and produced by a woman, but it was the first film to show two women have a romance onscreen that didn’t result in their deaths. A little over thirty years since its Sundance debut, Deitch’s classic is getting a beautiful 4k restoration and anniversary theatrical run — complete with this brand new trailer and poster.
Adapted from a novel by Jane Rule, “Desert Hearts” chronicles straitlaced English professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) who arrives in Reno to finalize her divorce. Hoping for a little peace and quiet, her world is turned upside down by the firecracker Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau). Ten years younger and not afraid to go after what she wants, Cay’s blows the lid off of Vivian’s carefully cultivated world at full speed.
The period details...
Adapted from a novel by Jane Rule, “Desert Hearts” chronicles straitlaced English professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) who arrives in Reno to finalize her divorce. Hoping for a little peace and quiet, her world is turned upside down by the firecracker Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau). Ten years younger and not afraid to go after what she wants, Cay’s blows the lid off of Vivian’s carefully cultivated world at full speed.
The period details...
- 7/14/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
It’s almost time to get your Q on, St. Louis!!
The 10h Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, runs March 29th – April 2nd at the .Zack (3224 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo 63103)
The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of films from filmmakers that represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.
All screenings at the .Zack (3224 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo 63103). Individual tickets are $13 for general admission, $10 for students and Cinema St. Louis members with valid and current photo IDs.
Advance tickets may be purchased at the Hi-Pointe Backlot box office or website. For more info, visit the Cinema St. Louis site Here
http://www.
The 10h Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, runs March 29th – April 2nd at the .Zack (3224 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo 63103)
The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of films from filmmakers that represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.
All screenings at the .Zack (3224 Locust St., St. Louis, Mo 63103). Individual tickets are $13 for general admission, $10 for students and Cinema St. Louis members with valid and current photo IDs.
Advance tickets may be purchased at the Hi-Pointe Backlot box office or website. For more info, visit the Cinema St. Louis site Here
http://www.
- 3/16/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival may already have announced their premieres, Spotlights, Competition and Next lineup, among other films and installations, but there’s four more features joining the festival.
Sundance Institute has added two Documentary Premieres and two archive From The Film Collection movies to next year’s lineup. The two documentaries are “Bending the Arc” and “Long Strange Trip,” with the archive films being “Desert Hearts” and “Reservoir Dogs,” which premiered at Sundance in 1986 and 1992, respectively. The 25th anniversary screening of Quentin Tarantino’s classic will be followed by an extended Q&A with Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender.
Read More: Sundance 2017: The Lineup So Far
The archive films are selections from the the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA, a joint venture between UCLA Film & Television Archive and Sundance Institute, established in 1997. With these additions, the festival will present 118 feature-length films, which represent 32 countries and 37 first-time filmmakers. For...
Sundance Institute has added two Documentary Premieres and two archive From The Film Collection movies to next year’s lineup. The two documentaries are “Bending the Arc” and “Long Strange Trip,” with the archive films being “Desert Hearts” and “Reservoir Dogs,” which premiered at Sundance in 1986 and 1992, respectively. The 25th anniversary screening of Quentin Tarantino’s classic will be followed by an extended Q&A with Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender.
Read More: Sundance 2017: The Lineup So Far
The archive films are selections from the the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA, a joint venture between UCLA Film & Television Archive and Sundance Institute, established in 1997. With these additions, the festival will present 118 feature-length films, which represent 32 countries and 37 first-time filmmakers. For...
- 12/14/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Festival brass on Wednesday added two Documentary Premieres as well as a pair of favourites from the vaults – Desert Hearts and Reservoir Dogs.
Documentary Premieres are Haitian activism story Bending The Arc from Kief Davidson and Pedro Kos, and Long Strange Trip, about The Grateful Dead, from Happy Valley and The Tillman Story director Amir Bar-Lev.
Desert Hearts and Reservoir Dogs premiered at Sundance in 1986 and 1992, respectively. Quentin Tarantino and Reservoir Dogs producer Lawrence Bender will participate in a post-screening Q&A.
The archive films are selections from the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA, a joint venture between UCLA Film & Television Archive and Sundance Institute established in 1997 that has grown to more than 4,000 holdings representing close to 2,300 titles.
The four additions boost the 2017 roster to 118 feature films representing 32 countries and 37 first-time filmmakers, including 20 in competition.
Entries were selected from 13,782 submissions including 4,068 features and 8,985 shorts. Of the feature submissions, 2,005 were from the Us and 2,063 were international. One hundred...
Documentary Premieres are Haitian activism story Bending The Arc from Kief Davidson and Pedro Kos, and Long Strange Trip, about The Grateful Dead, from Happy Valley and The Tillman Story director Amir Bar-Lev.
Desert Hearts and Reservoir Dogs premiered at Sundance in 1986 and 1992, respectively. Quentin Tarantino and Reservoir Dogs producer Lawrence Bender will participate in a post-screening Q&A.
The archive films are selections from the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA, a joint venture between UCLA Film & Television Archive and Sundance Institute established in 1997 that has grown to more than 4,000 holdings representing close to 2,300 titles.
The four additions boost the 2017 roster to 118 feature films representing 32 countries and 37 first-time filmmakers, including 20 in competition.
Entries were selected from 13,782 submissions including 4,068 features and 8,985 shorts. Of the feature submissions, 2,005 were from the Us and 2,063 were international. One hundred...
- 12/14/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Tags: gay for payShay MitchellJennifer BealsLena HeadeyPiper PeraboIMDb
Last week on Buzzfeed, I came across the article "31 Actresses That Went Gay for Pay." The sub-header of the article states "These (supposedly) straight actresses have switched teams for television and movie roles, sometimes more than once. And we love that about them." My first reaction was, "awesome!" because I’m pretty much a sucker for anything with lesbian content. (I swear I will watch paint dry as long as the paint is lesbian.) As I read through the article, a feeling of frustration washed over me. The connotation of “gay for pay” turns those roles, roles we love, to something less than positive.
First of all, "gay for pay" has pornographic origins. It’s used to describe a heterosexual performer who engages in gay sex for compensation. To equate all gay roles played by straight actors as "gay for play" seems fundamentally unfair.
Last week on Buzzfeed, I came across the article "31 Actresses That Went Gay for Pay." The sub-header of the article states "These (supposedly) straight actresses have switched teams for television and movie roles, sometimes more than once. And we love that about them." My first reaction was, "awesome!" because I’m pretty much a sucker for anything with lesbian content. (I swear I will watch paint dry as long as the paint is lesbian.) As I read through the article, a feeling of frustration washed over me. The connotation of “gay for pay” turns those roles, roles we love, to something less than positive.
First of all, "gay for pay" has pornographic origins. It’s used to describe a heterosexual performer who engages in gay sex for compensation. To equate all gay roles played by straight actors as "gay for play" seems fundamentally unfair.
- 3/12/2013
- by DanaPiccoli
- AfterEllen.com
"Kiss the Sky" is a smart, sexy, sophisticated comedy-drama with provocative ideas, witty dialogue and droll performances by a first-rate cast. Needless to say, its commercial prospects don't look good.
But it deserves a fighting chance, and one hopes Goldwyn's marketing department will figure out a way to promote it effectively. The film recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
William Petersen and Gary Cole -- two superb, theater-trained actors who rarely get to play film roles with this much depth -- play Jeff and Marty, old friends approaching the cusp of middle age who have serious dissatisfactions with their prosperous but spiritually empty, unexciting lives. Both men are married to beautiful, loving women, and Marty has kids he adores. But both are stubbornly nostalgic for the pleasures of their youth; when Jeff discovers a business opportunity in the Philippines, he convinces Marty to join him, and they set off like a couple of college kids searching for adventure.
They get more than they bargained for. After a requisite period exploring the opium dens and sex clubs of Manila, the pair find themselves staying at a remote island resort. There, they chance upon a beautiful Australian traveler, Andy (Sheryl Lee), and before long the trio has settled into a complex but workable menage a trois that has each delighted and confused. Things get even more disorienting when both men discover that they have fallen in love, and that Andy loves them back. Providing wittily acerbic commentary about the proceedings is Kozan (Terence Stamp), an unconventional Buddhist monk on holiday.
Eric Lerner's script is terrifically smart, filled with digressions and philosophical musings as insightful as they are entertaining. The characters are drawn with a depth and shading rare in contemporary theatrical features, and the dialogue fairly crackles with wit. Although the plot at times strains credibility, the execution is so deft it's hard to seriously care. It is also one of the few films that can truly be described as sexy, a result of the characters' intelligence as much as their physical appeal.
And appealing they are. Petersen, playing a cynical, hard-edged, philosophical type with a soft interior, is given the best of the dialogue and runs with it. Cole, playing a more vulnerable, inward soul, makes even his character's ambivalence highly attractive. And Lee is the best she has ever been: An actress who has never been afraid to bare her body, she delivers a sexy portrayal of a sophisticated woman that will have male audience members panting heavily.
Stamp, delivering lines in the deadpan style he has honed to perfection, scores huge laughs as the monk, and Patricia Charbonneau and Season Hubley are moving as frustrated wives who still love their wayward husbands.
Roger Young's astute direction manages the screenplay's shifts of tone perfectly, and he gets maximum mileage from the talented cast. Donald M. Morgan's lensing of beautiful, exotic locations is likely to spark an exodus to island paradises. Another plus is the musical score's extensive use of Leonard Cohen records, which complement perfectly the script's bittersweet maturity and elegance.
KISS THE SKY
Goldwyn Films
An MGM company
Produced in association with Pacific Motion Pictures
Director: Roger Young
Screenwriter-producer: Eric Lerner
Executive producer: Matthew O'Connor
Director of photography: Donald M. Morgan
Production designer: James Schopppe
Editor: Benjamin A. Weissman
Music: Patrick Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: William Petersen
Marty: Gary Cole
Andy: Sheryl Lee
Franny: Patricia Charbonneau
Beth: Season Hubley
Kozan: Terence Stamp
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
But it deserves a fighting chance, and one hopes Goldwyn's marketing department will figure out a way to promote it effectively. The film recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
William Petersen and Gary Cole -- two superb, theater-trained actors who rarely get to play film roles with this much depth -- play Jeff and Marty, old friends approaching the cusp of middle age who have serious dissatisfactions with their prosperous but spiritually empty, unexciting lives. Both men are married to beautiful, loving women, and Marty has kids he adores. But both are stubbornly nostalgic for the pleasures of their youth; when Jeff discovers a business opportunity in the Philippines, he convinces Marty to join him, and they set off like a couple of college kids searching for adventure.
They get more than they bargained for. After a requisite period exploring the opium dens and sex clubs of Manila, the pair find themselves staying at a remote island resort. There, they chance upon a beautiful Australian traveler, Andy (Sheryl Lee), and before long the trio has settled into a complex but workable menage a trois that has each delighted and confused. Things get even more disorienting when both men discover that they have fallen in love, and that Andy loves them back. Providing wittily acerbic commentary about the proceedings is Kozan (Terence Stamp), an unconventional Buddhist monk on holiday.
Eric Lerner's script is terrifically smart, filled with digressions and philosophical musings as insightful as they are entertaining. The characters are drawn with a depth and shading rare in contemporary theatrical features, and the dialogue fairly crackles with wit. Although the plot at times strains credibility, the execution is so deft it's hard to seriously care. It is also one of the few films that can truly be described as sexy, a result of the characters' intelligence as much as their physical appeal.
And appealing they are. Petersen, playing a cynical, hard-edged, philosophical type with a soft interior, is given the best of the dialogue and runs with it. Cole, playing a more vulnerable, inward soul, makes even his character's ambivalence highly attractive. And Lee is the best she has ever been: An actress who has never been afraid to bare her body, she delivers a sexy portrayal of a sophisticated woman that will have male audience members panting heavily.
Stamp, delivering lines in the deadpan style he has honed to perfection, scores huge laughs as the monk, and Patricia Charbonneau and Season Hubley are moving as frustrated wives who still love their wayward husbands.
Roger Young's astute direction manages the screenplay's shifts of tone perfectly, and he gets maximum mileage from the talented cast. Donald M. Morgan's lensing of beautiful, exotic locations is likely to spark an exodus to island paradises. Another plus is the musical score's extensive use of Leonard Cohen records, which complement perfectly the script's bittersweet maturity and elegance.
KISS THE SKY
Goldwyn Films
An MGM company
Produced in association with Pacific Motion Pictures
Director: Roger Young
Screenwriter-producer: Eric Lerner
Executive producer: Matthew O'Connor
Director of photography: Donald M. Morgan
Production designer: James Schopppe
Editor: Benjamin A. Weissman
Music: Patrick Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: William Petersen
Marty: Gary Cole
Andy: Sheryl Lee
Franny: Patricia Charbonneau
Beth: Season Hubley
Kozan: Terence Stamp
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Kiss the Sky" is a smart, sexy, sophisticated comedy-drama with provocative ideas, witty dialogue and droll performances by a first-rate cast. Needless to say, its commercial prospects don't look good.
But it deserves a fighting chance, and one hopes Goldwyn's marketing department will figure out a way to promote it effectively. The film recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
William Petersen and Gary Cole -- two superb, theater-trained actors who rarely get to play film roles with this much depth -- play Jeff and Marty, old friends approaching the cusp of middle age who have serious dissatisfactions with their prosperous but spiritually empty, unexciting lives. Both men are married to beautiful, loving women, and Marty has kids he adores. But both are stubbornly nostalgic for the pleasures of their youth; when Jeff discovers a business opportunity in the Philippines, he convinces Marty to join him, and they set off like a couple of college kids searching for adventure.
They get more than they bargained for. After a requisite period exploring the opium dens and sex clubs of Manila, the pair find themselves staying at a remote island resort. There, they chance upon a beautiful Australian traveler, Andy (Sheryl Lee), and before long the trio has settled into a complex but workable menage a trois that has each delighted and confused. Things get even more disorienting when both men discover that they have fallen in love, and that Andy loves them back. Providing wittily acerbic commentary about the proceedings is Kozan (Terence Stamp), an unconventional Buddhist monk on holiday.
Eric Lerner's script is terrifically smart, filled with digressions and philosophical musings as insightful as they are entertaining. The characters are drawn with a depth and shading rare in contemporary theatrical features, and the dialogue fairly crackles with wit. Although the plot at times strains credibility, the execution is so deft it's hard to seriously care. It is also one of the few films that can truly be described as sexy, a result of the characters' intelligence as much as their physical appeal.
And appealing they are. Petersen, playing a cynical, hard-edged, philosophical type with a soft interior, is given the best of the dialogue and runs with it. Cole, playing a more vulnerable, inward soul, makes even his character's ambivalence highly attractive. And Lee is the best she has ever been: An actress who has never been afraid to bare her body, she delivers a sexy portrayal of a sophisticated woman that will have male audience members panting heavily.
Stamp, delivering lines in the deadpan style he has honed to perfection, scores huge laughs as the monk, and Patricia Charbonneau and Season Hubley are moving as frustrated wives who still love their wayward husbands.
Roger Young's astute direction manages the screenplay's shifts of tone perfectly, and he gets maximum mileage from the talented cast. Donald M. Morgan's lensing of beautiful, exotic locations is likely to spark an exodus to island paradises. Another plus is the musical score's extensive use of Leonard Cohen records, which complement perfectly the script's bittersweet maturity and elegance.
KISS THE SKY
Goldwyn Films
An MGM company
Produced in association with Pacific Motion Pictures
Director: Roger Young
Screenwriter-producer: Eric Lerner
Executive producer: Matthew O'Connor
Director of photography: Donald M. Morgan
Production designer: James Schopppe
Editor: Benjamin A. Weissman
Music: Patrick Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: William Petersen
Marty: Gary Cole
Andy: Sheryl Lee
Franny: Patricia Charbonneau
Beth: Season Hubley
Kozan: Terence Stamp
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
But it deserves a fighting chance, and one hopes Goldwyn's marketing department will figure out a way to promote it effectively. The film recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
William Petersen and Gary Cole -- two superb, theater-trained actors who rarely get to play film roles with this much depth -- play Jeff and Marty, old friends approaching the cusp of middle age who have serious dissatisfactions with their prosperous but spiritually empty, unexciting lives. Both men are married to beautiful, loving women, and Marty has kids he adores. But both are stubbornly nostalgic for the pleasures of their youth; when Jeff discovers a business opportunity in the Philippines, he convinces Marty to join him, and they set off like a couple of college kids searching for adventure.
They get more than they bargained for. After a requisite period exploring the opium dens and sex clubs of Manila, the pair find themselves staying at a remote island resort. There, they chance upon a beautiful Australian traveler, Andy (Sheryl Lee), and before long the trio has settled into a complex but workable menage a trois that has each delighted and confused. Things get even more disorienting when both men discover that they have fallen in love, and that Andy loves them back. Providing wittily acerbic commentary about the proceedings is Kozan (Terence Stamp), an unconventional Buddhist monk on holiday.
Eric Lerner's script is terrifically smart, filled with digressions and philosophical musings as insightful as they are entertaining. The characters are drawn with a depth and shading rare in contemporary theatrical features, and the dialogue fairly crackles with wit. Although the plot at times strains credibility, the execution is so deft it's hard to seriously care. It is also one of the few films that can truly be described as sexy, a result of the characters' intelligence as much as their physical appeal.
And appealing they are. Petersen, playing a cynical, hard-edged, philosophical type with a soft interior, is given the best of the dialogue and runs with it. Cole, playing a more vulnerable, inward soul, makes even his character's ambivalence highly attractive. And Lee is the best she has ever been: An actress who has never been afraid to bare her body, she delivers a sexy portrayal of a sophisticated woman that will have male audience members panting heavily.
Stamp, delivering lines in the deadpan style he has honed to perfection, scores huge laughs as the monk, and Patricia Charbonneau and Season Hubley are moving as frustrated wives who still love their wayward husbands.
Roger Young's astute direction manages the screenplay's shifts of tone perfectly, and he gets maximum mileage from the talented cast. Donald M. Morgan's lensing of beautiful, exotic locations is likely to spark an exodus to island paradises. Another plus is the musical score's extensive use of Leonard Cohen records, which complement perfectly the script's bittersweet maturity and elegance.
KISS THE SKY
Goldwyn Films
An MGM company
Produced in association with Pacific Motion Pictures
Director: Roger Young
Screenwriter-producer: Eric Lerner
Executive producer: Matthew O'Connor
Director of photography: Donald M. Morgan
Production designer: James Schopppe
Editor: Benjamin A. Weissman
Music: Patrick Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: William Petersen
Marty: Gary Cole
Andy: Sheryl Lee
Franny: Patricia Charbonneau
Beth: Season Hubley
Kozan: Terence Stamp
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 11/30/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Kiss the Sky" is a smart, sexy, sophisticated comedy-drama with provocative ideas, witty dialogue and droll performances by a first-rate cast. Needless to say, its commercial prospects don't look good.
But it deserves a fighting chance, and one hopes Goldwyn's marketing department will figure out a way to promote it effectively. The film recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
William Petersen and Gary Cole -- two superb, theater-trained actors who rarely get to play film roles with this much depth -- play Jeff and Marty, old friends approaching the cusp of middle age who have serious dissatisfactions with their prosperous but spiritually empty, unexciting lives. Both men are married to beautiful, loving women, and Marty has kids he adores. But both are stubbornly nostalgic for the pleasures of their youth; when Jeff discovers a business opportunity in the Philippines, he convinces Marty to join him, and they set off like a couple of college kids searching for adventure.
They get more than they bargained for. After a requisite period exploring the opium dens and sex clubs of Manila, the pair find themselves staying at a remote island resort. There, they chance upon a beautiful Australian traveler, Andy (Sheryl Lee), and before long the trio has settled into a complex but workable menage a trois that has each delighted and confused. Things get even more disorienting when both men discover that they have fallen in love, and that Andy loves them back. Providing wittily acerbic commentary about the proceedings is Kozan (Terence Stamp), an unconventional Buddhist monk on holiday.
Eric Lerner's script is terrifically smart, filled with digressions and philosophical musings as insightful as they are entertaining. The characters are drawn with a depth and shading rare in contemporary theatrical features, and the dialogue fairly crackles with wit. Although the plot at times strains credibility, the execution is so deft it's hard to seriously care. It is also one of the few films that can truly be described as sexy, a result of the characters' intelligence as much as their physical appeal.
And appealing they are. Petersen, playing a cynical, hard-edged, philosophical type with a soft interior, is given the best of the dialogue and runs with it. Cole, playing a more vulnerable, inward soul, makes even his character's ambivalence highly attractive. And Lee is the best she has ever been: An actress who has never been afraid to bare her body, she delivers a sexy portrayal of a sophisticated woman that will have male audience members panting heavily.
Stamp, delivering lines in the deadpan style he has honed to perfection, scores huge laughs as the monk, and Patricia Charbonneau and Season Hubley are moving as frustrated wives who still love their wayward husbands.
Roger Young's astute direction manages the screenplay's shifts of tone perfectly, and he gets maximum mileage from the talented cast. Donald M. Morgan's lensing of beautiful, exotic locations is likely to spark an exodus to island paradises. Another plus is the musical score's extensive use of Leonard Cohen records, which complement perfectly the script's bittersweet maturity and elegance.
KISS THE SKY
Goldwyn Films
An MGM company
Produced in association with Pacific Motion Pictures
Director: Roger Young
Screenwriter-producer: Eric Lerner
Executive producer: Matthew O'Connor
Director of photography: Donald M. Morgan
Production designer: James Schopppe
Editor: Benjamin A. Weissman
Music: Patrick Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: William Petersen
Marty: Gary Cole
Andy: Sheryl Lee
Franny: Patricia Charbonneau
Beth: Season Hubley
Kozan: Terence Stamp
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
But it deserves a fighting chance, and one hopes Goldwyn's marketing department will figure out a way to promote it effectively. The film recently had its world premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
William Petersen and Gary Cole -- two superb, theater-trained actors who rarely get to play film roles with this much depth -- play Jeff and Marty, old friends approaching the cusp of middle age who have serious dissatisfactions with their prosperous but spiritually empty, unexciting lives. Both men are married to beautiful, loving women, and Marty has kids he adores. But both are stubbornly nostalgic for the pleasures of their youth; when Jeff discovers a business opportunity in the Philippines, he convinces Marty to join him, and they set off like a couple of college kids searching for adventure.
They get more than they bargained for. After a requisite period exploring the opium dens and sex clubs of Manila, the pair find themselves staying at a remote island resort. There, they chance upon a beautiful Australian traveler, Andy (Sheryl Lee), and before long the trio has settled into a complex but workable menage a trois that has each delighted and confused. Things get even more disorienting when both men discover that they have fallen in love, and that Andy loves them back. Providing wittily acerbic commentary about the proceedings is Kozan (Terence Stamp), an unconventional Buddhist monk on holiday.
Eric Lerner's script is terrifically smart, filled with digressions and philosophical musings as insightful as they are entertaining. The characters are drawn with a depth and shading rare in contemporary theatrical features, and the dialogue fairly crackles with wit. Although the plot at times strains credibility, the execution is so deft it's hard to seriously care. It is also one of the few films that can truly be described as sexy, a result of the characters' intelligence as much as their physical appeal.
And appealing they are. Petersen, playing a cynical, hard-edged, philosophical type with a soft interior, is given the best of the dialogue and runs with it. Cole, playing a more vulnerable, inward soul, makes even his character's ambivalence highly attractive. And Lee is the best she has ever been: An actress who has never been afraid to bare her body, she delivers a sexy portrayal of a sophisticated woman that will have male audience members panting heavily.
Stamp, delivering lines in the deadpan style he has honed to perfection, scores huge laughs as the monk, and Patricia Charbonneau and Season Hubley are moving as frustrated wives who still love their wayward husbands.
Roger Young's astute direction manages the screenplay's shifts of tone perfectly, and he gets maximum mileage from the talented cast. Donald M. Morgan's lensing of beautiful, exotic locations is likely to spark an exodus to island paradises. Another plus is the musical score's extensive use of Leonard Cohen records, which complement perfectly the script's bittersweet maturity and elegance.
KISS THE SKY
Goldwyn Films
An MGM company
Produced in association with Pacific Motion Pictures
Director: Roger Young
Screenwriter-producer: Eric Lerner
Executive producer: Matthew O'Connor
Director of photography: Donald M. Morgan
Production designer: James Schopppe
Editor: Benjamin A. Weissman
Music: Patrick Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jeff: William Petersen
Marty: Gary Cole
Andy: Sheryl Lee
Franny: Patricia Charbonneau
Beth: Season Hubley
Kozan: Terence Stamp
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 12/30/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Remarkably, this film is based on Patrick Meyers' 1983 Broadway play, which won critical plaudits for its dramatic intensity. The moviegoer searches in vain for a trace of that drama.
The film, directed by Franc Roddam, nicely documents the balletic movements and strenuous effort that go into the perilous sport of alpine-style climbing. But with little involvement with the underdeveloped characters, an audience will experience scant emotional payoff for accompanying these mountaineers on their ascent of K2.
Paramount marketers face a task almost as difficult as climbing that inaccessible Pakistan mountain. Ancillary markets look equally as poor, as the film's most outstanding feature -- its visual razzle-dazzle -- will get lost on a small screen.
Michael Biehn and Matt Craven play climbing partners who are a convenient study in contrasts. Biehn's character is a you-only-live-once guy who tackles life with reckless glee. Craven provides the moderating ballast, a homebody whose only vice is an addiction to the rush of mountain climbing.
The two join a group of climbers headed for K2. Perfunctory personality conflicts keep things mildly dramatic until reaching the unromantically named Karakoram peak. (Mt. Waddington and Blackcomb Mountain in British Columbia stand in for K2.)
The actors -- including Raymond J.Barry, Patricia Charbonneau, Luca Bercovici and Hiroshi Fujioka -- gracefully combine their newly acquired mountaineering skills with their dramatic responsibilities.
Production values on a film shot under treacherous, oxygen-depriving conditions, are top of the world. Cinematographer Gabriel Beristain has almost literally validated the old cameraman's saying, "Give us a place to stand and we will photograph the world.''
K2
Paramount Pictures
A Trans Pacific Film Production in association with Miramax Films
Producers Jonathan Taplin, Marilyn Weiner, Tim Van Rellim
Executive producers Melvyn J. Estrin, Hal Weiner
Director Franc Roddam
Writers Patrick Meyers, Scott Roberts
Based on the play by Patrick Meyers
Director of photography Gabriel Beristain
Production designer Andrew Sanders
Music Chaz Jenkel
Costume designer Kathryn Morrison
Color/Dolby
Cast:
Taylor Brooks Michael Biehn
Harold Jamison Matt Craven
Phillip Claiborne Raymond J. Barry
Dallas Woolf Luca Bercovici
Jacki Metcalfe Patricia Charbonneau
Cindy Jamison Julia Nickson-Soul
Takane Shimuzu Hiroshi Fujioka
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
The film, directed by Franc Roddam, nicely documents the balletic movements and strenuous effort that go into the perilous sport of alpine-style climbing. But with little involvement with the underdeveloped characters, an audience will experience scant emotional payoff for accompanying these mountaineers on their ascent of K2.
Paramount marketers face a task almost as difficult as climbing that inaccessible Pakistan mountain. Ancillary markets look equally as poor, as the film's most outstanding feature -- its visual razzle-dazzle -- will get lost on a small screen.
Michael Biehn and Matt Craven play climbing partners who are a convenient study in contrasts. Biehn's character is a you-only-live-once guy who tackles life with reckless glee. Craven provides the moderating ballast, a homebody whose only vice is an addiction to the rush of mountain climbing.
The two join a group of climbers headed for K2. Perfunctory personality conflicts keep things mildly dramatic until reaching the unromantically named Karakoram peak. (Mt. Waddington and Blackcomb Mountain in British Columbia stand in for K2.)
The actors -- including Raymond J.Barry, Patricia Charbonneau, Luca Bercovici and Hiroshi Fujioka -- gracefully combine their newly acquired mountaineering skills with their dramatic responsibilities.
Production values on a film shot under treacherous, oxygen-depriving conditions, are top of the world. Cinematographer Gabriel Beristain has almost literally validated the old cameraman's saying, "Give us a place to stand and we will photograph the world.''
K2
Paramount Pictures
A Trans Pacific Film Production in association with Miramax Films
Producers Jonathan Taplin, Marilyn Weiner, Tim Van Rellim
Executive producers Melvyn J. Estrin, Hal Weiner
Director Franc Roddam
Writers Patrick Meyers, Scott Roberts
Based on the play by Patrick Meyers
Director of photography Gabriel Beristain
Production designer Andrew Sanders
Music Chaz Jenkel
Costume designer Kathryn Morrison
Color/Dolby
Cast:
Taylor Brooks Michael Biehn
Harold Jamison Matt Craven
Phillip Claiborne Raymond J. Barry
Dallas Woolf Luca Bercovici
Jacki Metcalfe Patricia Charbonneau
Cindy Jamison Julia Nickson-Soul
Takane Shimuzu Hiroshi Fujioka
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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