This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs the Late Henry Moss (2003)

Director:

Michael Almereyda

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Director Michael Almereyda's documentary on the weeks just prior to Sam Shepard's stage production of his play "The Late Henry Moss."

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Cast

Sean Penn	...	Himself / Ray
Nick Nolte	...	Himself
Cheech Marin	...	Caesar
Sheila Tousey	...	Choncita
T-Bone Burnett	...	Himself
Sam Shepard	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Gammon	...	Himself
Woody Harrelson	...	Himself / taxi
Ann Militello	...	Herself

Also Known As:

The Late Henry Moss (USA) (working title)
This So-Called Disaster (USA) (short title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some language.

Runtime:

USA:89 min | Argentina:90 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:Unrated | USA:R

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

IFC Productions

Interesting Look at Acting

This So-Called Disaster basically documents the pre-production of Sam Shepard's 2000 play, `The Late Henry Moss', from about the third week of rehearsals to opening night. The movie is overall very engaging in its presentation of the featured actors involved, and because the visual style makes the viewer feel as though they were in the audience during the play's preparations.

Because `Henry Moss' is partially autobiographical, this movie provides some scenes of Shepard providing anecdotes about growing up with his father. I liked these scenes very much, because Sam Shepard's relationship with his father did was not typical of some relationships that alcoholic fathers had with their sons. There is a sense that Shepard accepted the way in which his father acted while drunk, and did not seem to have too much of a problem maintaining a relationship with him.

But the parts of Disaster that I particularly liked were everything involving the rehearsals of the play. It is very interesting to see the contrasting styles of preparation seen in the different actors, such as Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, Cheech Marin, Woody Harrelson, and John Gammon. It was amazing to see that these actors were able to nail their performances every time they rehearsed their lines.

Along with their preparations, I was able to see these people in a much different light than I ever had before. In this movie, I wasn't seeing Sean Penn, bad boy actor, or Nick Nolte the oddball (though he does have his moments). The actors in the play are presented in this movie as people who are actors, not Hollywood movie stars.

Michael Almereyda does the viewer a favor by keeping the camera pretty much stationary throughout the picture. Early on, I thought I had to prepare myself for some sort of home video visual style, which is very amateurish in that it shakes all over the place and never settles down. But thankfully, the camera allows the audience to see this movie as though they were in the theater, watching people like Penn, Nolte, and others get ready for their performances.