The heavy roster of Specialties heading to theaters in the post-Labor Day period is ebbing a bit this weekend. Cuba Gooding, Jr. makes his debut as writer-director with thriller Bayou Caviar, in which he stars with Famke Janssen and Richard Dreyfuss in a day and date bow this weekend via Gravitas Ventures. Sundance fest debut documentary Studio 54 is the second recent theatrical feature by Matt Tyrnauer, following this summer’s Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood. Zeitgeist opens the title about the legendary New York nightclub in, of course, New York, before heading West next week. Vertical Entertainment is opening drama-thriller A Crooked Somebody directed by Trevor White and starring Rich Sommer, while Music Box is spearheading SXSW’s Finnish metal music-comedy, Heavy Trip.
A couple of studios are also giving their movies a limited start, including Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz starrer, Loving Pablo from Universal, while...
A couple of studios are also giving their movies a limited start, including Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz starrer, Loving Pablo from Universal, while...
- 10/5/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
“Show me you can be great.”
Cuba Gooding Jr. does just that in a People exclusive trailer for his directorial debut Bayou Caviar.
The actor, 50, plays former boxing champion Rodney Jones who dreams of reclaiming victory in the ring from his dull life as a night club bouncer.
Despite his attempts to stay on a narrow path, he is unwittingly dragged into business with mafia members after he witnesses them murder his boss. Jones sets out to bring down a rival mafia boss but finds himself struggling with the life or death consequences.
Gooding Jr. directs and stars in the...
Cuba Gooding Jr. does just that in a People exclusive trailer for his directorial debut Bayou Caviar.
The actor, 50, plays former boxing champion Rodney Jones who dreams of reclaiming victory in the ring from his dull life as a night club bouncer.
Despite his attempts to stay on a narrow path, he is unwittingly dragged into business with mafia members after he witnesses them murder his boss. Jones sets out to bring down a rival mafia boss but finds himself struggling with the life or death consequences.
Gooding Jr. directs and stars in the...
- 8/28/2018
- by Alexia Fernandez
- PEOPLE.com
Exclusive: Cuba Gooding Jr. started production today on Louisiana Caviar, an independently financed New Orleans-set thriller that marks the directing debut of the Oscar-winning Jerry Maguire star. Gooding Jr. stars with Richard Dreyfuss and Famke Janssen, from a script by Eitan Gorlin that Gooding Jr. rewrote. Paul Haggis is aboard as exec producer, and Anjul Nigam is producing under his Brittany House Pictures banner with Steve Straka of Quixotic Road, and Hilary Shor…...
- 6/19/2017
- Deadline
Opens
Friday, July 12
New York
NEW YORK -- Eitan Gorlin's debut feature, which won the Grand Jury Prize for best feature film at Slamdance, presents a view of Israel that defies conventional expectations. Depicting the complicated relationship that develops between a deeply religious but questioning young rabbinical student and a 19-year-old Russian prostitute, "The Holy Land" delivers an interesting portrayal of the conflict between religion and secularism.
The film's central character is Mendy (Oren Rehany), who is given a startling recommendation to cure his restlessness by his teaching rabbi. The rabbi, alarmed over Mendy's choice of reading material -- he's currently devouring "Siddhartha" -- advises him to visit a prostitute, preferably a gentile one, to get it out of his system.
Taking his advice, Mendy visits a strip bar in Tel Aviv, where he becomes immediately smitten with the beautiful Sasha (Tchelet Semel) after she provides a full-body (but never completed) massage. Abandoning his Torah studies, Mendy gets a job working as a bartender at Mike's Place, run by an emotionally volatile former war photographer (Saul Stein). There, he comes into contact with a variety of colorful characters, including a genial Arab smuggler (Albert Illuz) and an American-born settler, dubbed the Exterminator, who never lets go of his M-16 rifle. All the while, Mendy is obsessively pursuing the object of his romantic fervor, who's rather discomfited by this strange young man's attentions.
The relationship slowly blossoms, signified by such incidents as the one in which Sasha impulsively shears off Mendy's laboriously grown earlocks. But when Mendy's new friends get him involved in a smuggling scheme, and Sasha impulsively agrees to marry him and move to America, he begins to question their motives.
While director-screenwriter Gorlin occasionally allows the story to meander with little dramatic effect, he also provides a richly detailed sense of both place and character that infuses the film with a subtle truthfulness. The central relationship is depicted with an ambiguity and complexity that defies easy categorization, with the characters revealing unexpected and surprising depths. Equally effective is the depiction of a violence-torn Israel, populated by wildly divergent types operating under their own desperate agendas. While the film's ending seems a bit tacked on and out of place with what comes before it, it also could be argued that it's all too reflective of current realities.
The Holy Land
Cavu Pictures
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Eitan Gorlin
Producers: Udi Yerushalmi, Ran Bogin
Executive producers: Isil Bagdadi, Michael Sergio
Co-executive producer: Saul Stein
Director of photography: Nils Kenaston
Editors: Yair Elazar, Josh Apter
Music: Chris Cunningham
Production designer: Carl Stensel
Cast:
Mendy: Oren Rehany
Sasha: Tchelet Semel
Mike: Saul Stein
The Exterminator: Arie Moskuna
Razi: Albert Illuz
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Friday, July 12
New York
NEW YORK -- Eitan Gorlin's debut feature, which won the Grand Jury Prize for best feature film at Slamdance, presents a view of Israel that defies conventional expectations. Depicting the complicated relationship that develops between a deeply religious but questioning young rabbinical student and a 19-year-old Russian prostitute, "The Holy Land" delivers an interesting portrayal of the conflict between religion and secularism.
The film's central character is Mendy (Oren Rehany), who is given a startling recommendation to cure his restlessness by his teaching rabbi. The rabbi, alarmed over Mendy's choice of reading material -- he's currently devouring "Siddhartha" -- advises him to visit a prostitute, preferably a gentile one, to get it out of his system.
Taking his advice, Mendy visits a strip bar in Tel Aviv, where he becomes immediately smitten with the beautiful Sasha (Tchelet Semel) after she provides a full-body (but never completed) massage. Abandoning his Torah studies, Mendy gets a job working as a bartender at Mike's Place, run by an emotionally volatile former war photographer (Saul Stein). There, he comes into contact with a variety of colorful characters, including a genial Arab smuggler (Albert Illuz) and an American-born settler, dubbed the Exterminator, who never lets go of his M-16 rifle. All the while, Mendy is obsessively pursuing the object of his romantic fervor, who's rather discomfited by this strange young man's attentions.
The relationship slowly blossoms, signified by such incidents as the one in which Sasha impulsively shears off Mendy's laboriously grown earlocks. But when Mendy's new friends get him involved in a smuggling scheme, and Sasha impulsively agrees to marry him and move to America, he begins to question their motives.
While director-screenwriter Gorlin occasionally allows the story to meander with little dramatic effect, he also provides a richly detailed sense of both place and character that infuses the film with a subtle truthfulness. The central relationship is depicted with an ambiguity and complexity that defies easy categorization, with the characters revealing unexpected and surprising depths. Equally effective is the depiction of a violence-torn Israel, populated by wildly divergent types operating under their own desperate agendas. While the film's ending seems a bit tacked on and out of place with what comes before it, it also could be argued that it's all too reflective of current realities.
The Holy Land
Cavu Pictures
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Eitan Gorlin
Producers: Udi Yerushalmi, Ran Bogin
Executive producers: Isil Bagdadi, Michael Sergio
Co-executive producer: Saul Stein
Director of photography: Nils Kenaston
Editors: Yair Elazar, Josh Apter
Music: Chris Cunningham
Production designer: Carl Stensel
Cast:
Mendy: Oren Rehany
Sasha: Tchelet Semel
Mike: Saul Stein
The Exterminator: Arie Moskuna
Razi: Albert Illuz
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/11/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.