Jennifer Garner and Alfred Molina star in Serena, a short film written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, a co-founder of Wigs along with Jon Avnet and Jake Avnet. Garner plays Serena, a woman who makes a series of shocking confessions to her Priest (Molina).
“Serena,” the first Wigs short film, is premiering now on youtube.com/wigs.
“Jennifer and Alfred were perfect,” remarked Rodrigo Garcia. “They elevated the script and found feeling and laughter where I had not seen it. I wish everything was this easy and fun.”
“Serena” is the first of 10 short films planned for Wigs, and comes on the heels of the channel’s first series, “Jan.” The first six episodes of “Jan,” which stars Caitlin Gerard, Virginia Madsen, and Stephen Moyer, are available on youtube.com/wigs.
Over the coming weeks and months, Wigs will continue to release content produced with a renowned group of writers and filmmakers,...
“Serena,” the first Wigs short film, is premiering now on youtube.com/wigs.
“Jennifer and Alfred were perfect,” remarked Rodrigo Garcia. “They elevated the script and found feeling and laughter where I had not seen it. I wish everything was this easy and fun.”
“Serena” is the first of 10 short films planned for Wigs, and comes on the heels of the channel’s first series, “Jan.” The first six episodes of “Jan,” which stars Caitlin Gerard, Virginia Madsen, and Stephen Moyer, are available on youtube.com/wigs.
Over the coming weeks and months, Wigs will continue to release content produced with a renowned group of writers and filmmakers,...
- 5/23/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This Rodrigo Garcia fellow really loves making these ensemble, multi-story, multi-character films centered on women – from his 2000 debut, Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, to Ten Tiny Love Stories, to Nine Lives, to his latest, Mother And Child, a drama centered around three women: A 50-year-old woman, the daughter she gave up for adoption 35 years ago, and an African American woman looking to adopt a child of her own.
The film, which costars the names above, plus Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Tatyana Ali, S Epartha Merkeson, Lisa Gay Hamilton, David Morse, Jimmy Smits, and others, played the festival circuit last year, including the Sundance Film Festival this year, and is scheduled for a May release.
I’ve seen both Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her and Nine Lives, and was bored by both, I’m sorry to say. I can appreciate meditative, talky, meandering,...
The film, which costars the names above, plus Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Tatyana Ali, S Epartha Merkeson, Lisa Gay Hamilton, David Morse, Jimmy Smits, and others, played the festival circuit last year, including the Sundance Film Festival this year, and is scheduled for a May release.
I’ve seen both Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her and Nine Lives, and was bored by both, I’m sorry to say. I can appreciate meditative, talky, meandering,...
- 3/25/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
In his decade in the storytelling business, Rodrigo García has made a name for himself not only as a notable television director (Carnivale, Six Feet Under, and In Treatment), but also as a filmmaker intensely interested in the lives of women and the intricacies of smaller, often interconnected story lines. It started with Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her and Ten Tiny Love Stories, but García really made his mark with 2005's Nine Lives. When he followed it up with the television movie Fathers and Sons, it was inevitable that he would one day take that same theme and apply it to the female characterizations he loves so much. It wouldn't be in the form of Mothers & Daughters, as Carl Bessai* brought that very film to Tiff in 2008. But with a slightly different title, Mother and Child, García jumps leaps and bounds beyond Bessai's take and has...
- 9/21/2009
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Cinematical
Nine Lives
PARK CITY -- Writer-director Rodrigo Garcia's Nine Lives is a bold film both in its storytelling strategies and its filmmaking logistics. Here are nine stories focusing on nine women. Each is a snapshot, a moment in time from which audiences must infer the totality of that life. And each vignette is shot in real time. The camera never stops rolling in a single location.
Of course, some vignettes are more powerful than others. Sometimes the authorial hand is evident. But the sustained energy of each continuing tracking shot gives the film a pleasing dynamism, and most vignettes attain a beguiling poignancy. The film, which acquisition execs first saw here at Sundance, should perform well in upscale specialty venues that attract college students and young professionals. The name cast is a huge plus.
In reality, Garcia's career has pointed toward Nine Lives all along. A self-described miniaturist, Garcia has gone the vignette route in each of his previous pictures -- "Things You Can Tell Just Tell By Looking at Her" (five stories) and Ten Tiny Stories (10). This time each stands alone, although characters from one can drift into another, often in ways that cause you to re-examine the previous story. Garcia keeps you on your toes as new characters and dilemmas appear every 10 to 12 minutes. One forgets how infrequently movies turn into such an adventure.
The first episode introduces Garcia's theme. Sandra (Elpidia Carrillo) is in prison. Her only desire is to speak briefly to her visiting daughter. These women, Garcia declares, are all trapped by situations and predicaments in life, some of their own making and others out of their control.
Married and pregnant Diane Robin Wright Penn) confronts an old flame (Jason Isaacs) while on a mundane supermarket excursion. In her case, Holly Lisa Gay Hamilton) wants confrontation with a stepfather, who all but ruined her life -- and it may be very messy.
A seemingly innocent social occasion turns into an unwanted True Confessions for Sonia (Holly Hunter). Teenage Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) becomes a human pinball, bounced back and forth between her wheelchair-bound dad and long-suffering mom, who don't much care to speak to one another.
Lorna (Amy Brenneman) unwisely attends the funeral of her ex-husband's wife only to discover her own inadvertent role in the woman's suicide. Ruth (Sissy Spacek) ventures from married life for a tryst in a sad motel.Unexpected comedy emerges from anxiety over imminent, life-altering surgery for Camille (Kathy Baker). Finally, Maggie (Glenn Close) makes an annual pilgrimage to a gravesite with daughter Maria (Dakota Fanning).
The rigorous ballet between actors and a crew operating the smooth Steadicam comes off without a noticeable hitch. Actors never break from character; indeed, nearly all show remarkable skill in how they move and out of precious moments of epiphany or insight. Garcia and cinematographer Xavier Perez Grobet seldom wind up with an awkward frame or missed object. Each vignette has a wonderful flow.
There are minor flaws: The Sandra/prison sequence is inconsequential. The Sonia/True Confessions vignette feels contrived. Maggie and Maria's cemetery visit is a tad skimpy. But it is in the cumulative weight of these small tales that the film achieves its emotional impact. Garcia has told you a lot about these women's lives using only the slenderest of story threads.
NINE LIVES
A Mockingbird Pictures production
Credits:
Writer-director: Rodrigo Garcia
Producer: Julie Lynn
Executive producer: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Director of photography: Xavier Perez Grobet
Production designer: Courtney Jackson
Music: Edward Shearmur
Costume designer: Maria Tortu
Editor: Andrea Folprecht
Cast:
Ruth: Sissy Spacek
Diana: Robin Wright Penn
Sonia: Holly Hunter
Maria: Dakota Fanning
Maggie: Glenn Close
Camille: Kathy Baker
Lorna: Amy Brenneman
Alma: Mary Kay Place
Lisa: Molly Parker
Holly: Lisa Gay Hamilton
Samantha: Amanda Seyfried
Sandra: Elpidia Carrillo
Richard: Joe Mantegna
Henry: Aiden Quinn
Martin: Stephen Dillane
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 110 minutes...
Of course, some vignettes are more powerful than others. Sometimes the authorial hand is evident. But the sustained energy of each continuing tracking shot gives the film a pleasing dynamism, and most vignettes attain a beguiling poignancy. The film, which acquisition execs first saw here at Sundance, should perform well in upscale specialty venues that attract college students and young professionals. The name cast is a huge plus.
In reality, Garcia's career has pointed toward Nine Lives all along. A self-described miniaturist, Garcia has gone the vignette route in each of his previous pictures -- "Things You Can Tell Just Tell By Looking at Her" (five stories) and Ten Tiny Stories (10). This time each stands alone, although characters from one can drift into another, often in ways that cause you to re-examine the previous story. Garcia keeps you on your toes as new characters and dilemmas appear every 10 to 12 minutes. One forgets how infrequently movies turn into such an adventure.
The first episode introduces Garcia's theme. Sandra (Elpidia Carrillo) is in prison. Her only desire is to speak briefly to her visiting daughter. These women, Garcia declares, are all trapped by situations and predicaments in life, some of their own making and others out of their control.
Married and pregnant Diane Robin Wright Penn) confronts an old flame (Jason Isaacs) while on a mundane supermarket excursion. In her case, Holly Lisa Gay Hamilton) wants confrontation with a stepfather, who all but ruined her life -- and it may be very messy.
A seemingly innocent social occasion turns into an unwanted True Confessions for Sonia (Holly Hunter). Teenage Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) becomes a human pinball, bounced back and forth between her wheelchair-bound dad and long-suffering mom, who don't much care to speak to one another.
Lorna (Amy Brenneman) unwisely attends the funeral of her ex-husband's wife only to discover her own inadvertent role in the woman's suicide. Ruth (Sissy Spacek) ventures from married life for a tryst in a sad motel.Unexpected comedy emerges from anxiety over imminent, life-altering surgery for Camille (Kathy Baker). Finally, Maggie (Glenn Close) makes an annual pilgrimage to a gravesite with daughter Maria (Dakota Fanning).
The rigorous ballet between actors and a crew operating the smooth Steadicam comes off without a noticeable hitch. Actors never break from character; indeed, nearly all show remarkable skill in how they move and out of precious moments of epiphany or insight. Garcia and cinematographer Xavier Perez Grobet seldom wind up with an awkward frame or missed object. Each vignette has a wonderful flow.
There are minor flaws: The Sandra/prison sequence is inconsequential. The Sonia/True Confessions vignette feels contrived. Maggie and Maria's cemetery visit is a tad skimpy. But it is in the cumulative weight of these small tales that the film achieves its emotional impact. Garcia has told you a lot about these women's lives using only the slenderest of story threads.
NINE LIVES
A Mockingbird Pictures production
Credits:
Writer-director: Rodrigo Garcia
Producer: Julie Lynn
Executive producer: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Director of photography: Xavier Perez Grobet
Production designer: Courtney Jackson
Music: Edward Shearmur
Costume designer: Maria Tortu
Editor: Andrea Folprecht
Cast:
Ruth: Sissy Spacek
Diana: Robin Wright Penn
Sonia: Holly Hunter
Maria: Dakota Fanning
Maggie: Glenn Close
Camille: Kathy Baker
Lorna: Amy Brenneman
Alma: Mary Kay Place
Lisa: Molly Parker
Holly: Lisa Gay Hamilton
Samantha: Amanda Seyfried
Sandra: Elpidia Carrillo
Richard: Joe Mantegna
Henry: Aiden Quinn
Martin: Stephen Dillane
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 110 minutes...
- 1/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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