Imagination At Work...
OTHER TITLES: THE MOVIE NUT AND HIS AUDIENCE (Original working title); FRAME OF MIND (Spain and Eastern Europe); HOLLYWOOD ROMANCE (Greek title); Képzelt mozihõs (Hungarian for HYPOTHESIS OF CINEMA); THE SPIRIT IN FILM (Alternate Greek title); Moje ýycie to film (Polish for MY LIFE IS THIS MOVIE); Kino w mojej głowie (Alternate Polish: MOVIES IN MY HEAD); EREU DE FILM (HERO OF FILM (title in Romania)
It's sad how long we have to wait for certain movies to be available in some way, especially when most of these movies prove to be completely delightful in every possible way.
THE MOVIE HERO is that sort of film. Just delightful. Imaginative, original, intimate. It's a first. Anyway, I've never seen a film that includes THE VIEWER/THE AUDIENCE as an involved part of the story.
Blake, THE MAIN CHARACTER/HERO shimmers with an aura of innocence and sweetness, yet also comes across as extremely intelligent, eloquent, clever. Some mentally disturbed people are extremely intelligent, eloquent and clever. Blake's behavior is hard to decipher. At least it's hard for the police, his therapist, and even his side-kick, to figure out whether or not Blake is delusional and hallucinating. For his audience, though, it's never a mystery. Blake isn't crazy, he's playacting, having fun, and we're on his side. We love him. We're always with him. He's charismatic, sexy, and bubbly, a sensitive soul, a lover of life.
If you look deeper, you'll see Blake's ongoing playacting is a way to hold at bay anything that might bother him if he didn't use his imagination to create a fantastic movie. He's broke, unemployed, and his girlfriend has just dumped him because she doesn't share his enthusiasm for film and is annoyed by his interaction with us. If he didn't act out his "movie", he would probably be very depressed or at least unhappy. Even his parents, who love him very much, while supportive of his decision to live a life of fantasy, don't quite get him.
But because he loves his audience and wants to please us, Blake refuses to be sad and prefers to be glad, and spends his days and nights walking around his Hollywood neighborhood, checking out the Walk Of Fame, taking advantage of bargain cinema, and putting together a cast for his new "movie", which includes a side-kick, a love-interest, and a suspicious character/villain. Who cares if he's a "loser" to anyone else??? He's our hero and he's taking us on a fun ride. His "hardships" give us all the more reason to love, sympathize and route for him.
Blake discovers the Bad Guy's plot, and rescues us from the fiend a couple of times. He meets the beautiful Love Interest and uses his box of charms to slowly win her heart. He interacts wonderfully with the Side-Kick and there are plenty of action scenes, stunts, and buddy-cop comedy sketches to keep any "movie nut" satisfied. The best parts, though, are all about the revelation of Blake's depth and what motivates him day to day.
Jeremy Sisto continues to impress with his vibrant, dedicated performance as Blake. His happy-go-lucky exterior is there, but he reveals his soul to show us the underlying loneliness. Dina Meyer as Elizabeth has good chemistry with Sisto and her gradual surrender to Blake is very believable. Peter Stormare is very funny but also menacing, so he makes a perfect Suspicious Character. Brian White as Antoine the Side-Kick is enthusiastic and full of fun. Carlos Jacott as the Doomed Fiancé/Jonathan was great in that his character was so smug and mean-spirited and superior to everyone. He even treats Elizabeth like her profession and desire to help people are stupid. His thinly veiled jealousy and inferiority are true to life. If you watch the early scenes with Doomed Fiance and Love Interest, you'll see that even though they're engaged and try to believe they're happy together, they're not. Very well done sequences. Frances Bay has a lovely cameo, Alexis Arquette has a hilarious one.
It's a film that I can't say ANYTHING bad about. It won multiple festival awards, including Best Actor for Jeremy Sisto.
THE STELLAR CAST!
Jeremy Sisto as BLAKE GARDNER/THE HERO
Dina Meyer as ELIZABETH ORLANDO/THE LOVE INTEREST
Peter Stormare as THE SUSPICIOUS CHARACTER
Brian White as ANTOINE THOMPSON/THE SIDEKICK
Carlos Jacott as THE DOOMED FIANCE
ALEX ARQUETTE as THE STRANGE YET ATTRACTIVE WOMAN
Frances Bay as THE WISE OLD WOMAN
Eric Pierpoint as DAD
and Marcia Straussman as MOM
Directed by Brad T. Gottfred
From Rogue Elements and Shadow Lane Productions
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Music: Theme from Apollo 13, by James Horner, also featured in the original trailer for THE MOVIE HERO
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THE MOVIE HERO