bmcnelis
0 comments
Joined: 24-MAR-06
Last Online: MAR 30 2006 10:32AM
- Film: East of Sunset
- Listing: 2006 Silver Lake Film Festival
Film Description:
- My Friends
wab-audience
Friend Since: May 08, 2007
Last Online: 5:02 pm, September 07, 2007
Blog View |
Add or Edit Blogs
Film Production Blog "EastofSunset"
* FILM REVIEWS *
Mar 24, 2006 10:32AM
URB
Hot young people like to get high and fuck. But what if one gets high on smack and the other on Xanax? THat is the probing question behind the indie film East Of Sunset. Set in Silverlake (L.A. hipsters, whut!?), actress Emily Stiles has the best lips ever, and she frequents a bar where house band [the] Caseworker plays nothing but 25-year-old Tom Waits tunes as reinterpreted by Low. Forget szzyrup, this is what real narcotics sound like.
......
Rotten Tomatoes
Built up in a stylistically minimal fashion around covers of Tom Waits songs from between 1973 and 1983, EAST OF SUNSET tells of the understated romance that unfolds between a young pill-popping teacher and a bartender who is just getting over a heroin habit--sort of. Carley (Emily Stiles) is a young LA woman still grieving over her father's death; she finds solace in the arms of Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley). Their time together brings each a kind of redemption, while their relationship remains plagued by the perils of addiction. Carley becomes Jim's muse, but when he begins to receive recognition for his work, he teeters on the brink of relapse. The moody score features artists such as Lydia Lunch, Pete Shelley, Alex Chilton, The Wedding Present, Dave Alvin, Drugstore, and many others.
RottenTomatoes.com
......
Film Threat
As an experiment in minimalism, "East of Sunset" has got its priorities tamped down perfectly. Using no more than a few locations to symbolize a world full of sparsity, this also stretches out to the characters. Carley (Emily Stiles) and Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley) have lived out those days that require them to be the kind of people walking along the streets, worrying about family, jobs, and life in general. They've put themselves away from those crowds, living the days east of Sunset in Los Angeles, going through different motions. She's in charge of classes at a junior high school when her presence is required. He bartends at the club she frequents. And they cross paths one night when she's outside smoking a cigarette and he startles her.
So begins one of the quietest romances ever conjured up in indie film, with many complications along the way. They like each other. Somehow, some way, she's become his muse as he's an artist looking to make his work known. But he likes her for what she is, someone different, someone who smells a flower a different way, drinks a different way. Oh, she drinks all right. She's not an overly ambitious boozehound but in an unnecessarily elongated sequence at the beginning, she takes out the liquor and the pills. He on the other hand is just getting over a drug habit, which threatens to kick back up violently during his relationship with her. It comes down to the matter of addiction and a loved one in how to handle it. You love the person but the addiction is even more of a lover.
In making everything sparse, with dialogue kept to a low minimum, director Brian McNelis has also taken to using early Tom Waits music sung by other musicians. The songs contribute to that dank, darker world that these characters live in. However, the world falters when it's looked at outside of being the stimulating experiment in sparseness. For example, Carley's sister Carrie (Lucia Sullivan) visits and in a wildly overacting manner (can those eyes get any bigger?) suggests firmly that she move on because she and her mother have already. So we're to believe that her current attitude toward life is due to the death of her father. When it comes to Los Angeles, it's hard to believe that only one thing affects a person. Carley and Jim's friends (Dikla Marshall and George Garritano) are only there because it's assumed that to watch both these main characters navigate their relationships would be boring without some kind of support. And that's briefly true. People like these need some kind of support. But more often, they act like a barometer to the audience, on how we should be reacting to this chain of events, rather than being actual characters themselves, full flesh and blood that we can believe.
Therein lies something else. Later on towards the end of the movie, a lot transpires. Jim's work is accepted at a New York art gallery and he has to fly over there to meet some artistic big shots and later on a dealer who has taken a huge liking to his work. With what happens after that, the minimalistic quality of this production becomes a hindrance because it's hard to feel anything at all towards these characters that would resemble what Carley goes through. We can only watch, and never participate. "East of Sunset" makes it as a glimpse into little lives in a huge city, but is never entirely involving.
- Rory L. Aronsky, FilmThreat.com
......
Baby Sue
An unhealthy love affair between two unhealthy individuals. Emily Stiles plays Carly, an emotionally cold, distant, selfish, demanding, gaunt young woman addicted to Xanax...who falls in love with a gaunt young artist/bartender named Jim (played by Jimmy Wayne Farley)...who just happens to be a heroin addict. Although the two seem to be doomed from the very start, for some unknown reason they both seem unable to stay away from one another. Their unstable relationship weaves and twists in a startlingly familiar fashion, as the film realistically portrays the lives of two drug addicted alcoholics.
The soundtrack is (appropriately) provided by a variety of artists covering Tom Waits songs (an audio CD of the tracks is included with the DVD). Things take a turn for the worse when Carly takes another man home to her apartment. Jim's roommate happens to see the two leave the bar together so he calls Jim and tells him, which then leads to Jim's death. To cope, Carly drinks more than normal and takes even more Xanax. Like the two lead characters, this film moves very, very slowly. Although East of Sunset is a low budget film, some real pros worked on the project (Brian McNelis, Chris Squires, Chris Boscardin). As a result, the film is visually very slick and professional and has a really nice flow.
Some might complain that the film goes nowhere...but in the end, that is exactly why it succeeds. By portraying people as they really are, the film shows how dreary and meaningless the lives of alcoholics and drug addicts can be. Stark, depressing, and lonely... (Rating: 4++++)
BabySue.com
......
CalgaryMovies
"East of Sunset" originally caught my interest because of the all Tom Waits-soundtrack, so it should't have come as a big surprise that the film is both artsy and very depressing. However, I wasn't quite prepared for just how heavy a flick this was - there's not really a start, middle, and end, but instead we're given a glimpse into the life of the main character and how she finds love (as well as many more heart-wrenching things) with her new man. It's definitely an artsy flick - and have mentioned that it's a downer? - but it's an interesting watch that is an ambitious and ultimately intriguing film.
It's very much an independent, with acting and dialogue to go along with it, and special mention has to be given to the soundtrack of Tom Waits tunes (performed by many artists you've never heard of befoe). In fact, the soundtrack should get credit as a co-star, since it plays such a pivotal part in the film and takes the place of dialogue in many scenes to convey the emotions of a scene. Interesting, artsy and heavy - that about sums it up.
CalgaryMovies.com
......
Pop Entertainment
East of Sunset is the story of two alcoholic drug-users who fall in love in the slightly bedraggled Silverlake section of Los Angeles. This may sound like a dismissal of the film, but it is nothing of the sort. While I'd be hard-pressed to call East of Sunset a really good film, it does have an immediacy, a skid row vibe which makes it frequently fascinating. If the film sometimes suffers from a surplus of ideas, a scarcity of happy characters and a lack of money, it is still a charming little story.
Emily Stiles deserves the acclaim (including winning the Best Actress Award at the Method Fest 2005) that she has received for playing Carley, a numb, rather miserable barfly whose life is a series of one night stands, depressive episodes, Xanax, alcohol and weed.
......
Now Playing
An angst-ridden tale set in the trendy Silverlake region of Los Angeles,East of Sunset centers around Carley (Emily Stiles), a girl who tripsthrough life in a blur of despair and self-negating behavior. Pills, divebars, uncommitted sexual encounters — they're all there, and then some.When Carley hooks up with Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley), however, an artistwith recreational heroin issues, she's finally forced to face down heravoidance of intimacy and own drug use. It's only through glimpsing andrealizing a worse pattern of behavior in someone else up close andpersonal that Carley is able to start to recognize the dysfunction of herown life.
While the film's narrative proper reeks of a too-familiar stretch for toomuch indie cred (the script, by Heather Miller, also struggles with convincing dialogue), East of Sunset does feature solid acting, and nonetheless achieves a success courtesy of its solid execution. It picked up the Maverick Award for Best Feature Under $500,000 at this year's Method Fest, and scored Stiles, not undeservingly, a Best Actress prize as well. While given free reign here, Stiles still exhibits considerable chops, and, watching her, you wish even more nuanced material to come her way; she deserves a better fate than guest starring stints on television procedurals like CSI: Miami and Law & Order, which is frequently where indies like East of Sunset land actors.
Nicely shot by Chris Squires and rooted in a real sense of place by a fantastic, melancholy soundtrack that's centered around covers of Tom Waits tunes, the film benefits from director Brian McNelis' keen ability to convey both the ambivalent allure and inner anguish of barfly, come-what-may life. The music, again, helps give the movie a shifty, despondent vibe and energy, perfect for such a downbeat narrative.
Supplemental material on this release, anchored by a 5.1 surround audio mix, includes an audio commentary track with McNelis (a producer on the well regarded Better Living Through Circuitry), a music video and a special bonus CD soundtrack that allows viewers to better get to know Frente, Lydia Lunch, Drugstore, Botanica and [the] Caseworker — the unusually named latter an intriguing "slow-core" band from the San Francisco Bay. B- (Movie) C+ (Disc).
- Brent Simon, NowPlayingMag.com
......
Pulse Etc
Part modern junkie tragedy, part self-styled vehicle to introduce a newgeneration of music lovers to the works of gravel-voiced singer/songwriter Tom Waits, "East Of Sunset" manages to outdo itself on both counts. Written by Heather Miller (who was recruited specifically to pen a tale around the music, haunts and desperate lifestyles of the denizens of the Silverlake area of L.A. and chose to use her own life experiences as the basis of the script), directed by Brian McNelis and produced by Evan Cohen, this film is not only relentlessly honest and brutally direct, but also surprisingly endearing.
Revolving around the dysfunctional, pill-and-booze-addled life of Carley (stunningly portrayed by the gifted and inspiring actress Emily Stiles), a 20-something barfly with a penchant for painkillers and vodka breakfasts, "EOS" tempers its explorations of the emptiness inherent in modern living with an almost tender overview of the damaged souls experiencing it. When Carley meets up-and-coming artist Jim (played by Jimmy Wayne Farley) in a local dive, their paths intertwine and become the main focus of the
proceedings.
Throughout the drunken afternoons, bleary nights and hung-over days following their introduction, Carley and Jim form a nebulous, chemically-fueled bond (he's an on-and-off heroin chipper) while still proceeding to blindly destroy their slow-blooming relationship at every turn. Carley fights her urges to settle down and hang up her red shoes for Jim, while he scrambles to balance his burgeoning art career with his growing habit and his affection for a woman who's as perfectly, assuredly doomed as he himself is.
The cast of characters here is at a minimum, leaving the bulk of the task to Stiles and Farley, both of whom ably accomplish the formidable goal of carrying the movie. Filmed in 2004 on location in some of the seediest joints in Silverlake, and featuring house band [the] Caseworker (a hugely talented San Fran slo-core outfit who gamely mime their ingenious, respectful Waits interpretations onstage throughout the film), the tale admirably takes on the shadowy hue of such classics as "Taxi Driver" and "Midnight Cowboy" while incorporating a decidedly more modern worldview.
The ending of a junkie drama isn't hard to predict, but there are plenty of intricate twists and turns and some unbelievable camera work (especially considering the tiny budget this film had) along the way. The inclusion of selections from Waits' early '70s/'80s repertoire redone by such acts as Lydia Lunch, Frente, Botanica and the aforementioned [the] Caseworker only crystallizes the director's aim of transporting the viewer inside of the lonely, dim atmosphere the film's characters inhabit and is
just as important here as the story itself.
Lots of great extras with this package, as well, including a CD of the soundtrack, director's commentary (which is a must-see; McNelis and Cohen break down every relevant frame and discuss at length the importance of the soundtrack to the film itself) and a promotional video for the song "Old Shoes." A must-see for Waits fans, budding junkies and students of top-notch, low-budget indie film.
PulseEtc.Com
......
Kaffine Buzz
East of Sunset reminds me of my life in New Orleans. It's all booze, drugs, and skinny pale people set to a Tom Waits soundtrack. Not to mention those artists, spooky kids, depression, pills, and bourbon. I both relate to it and hate it.
Mostly, it's because I'm unsure if they're trying to make any sort of statement. Is there really any point other than making a movie about pretty hip romantic junkies and pill-poppers over remade Waits tracks? They seem to want to say something about love and what happens when you're scared of it, but then the end of it doesn't do that--or does it? I like to think that there's some sort of point made, that this life was kind of empty, but I am not completely sure. The kicker is thatI don't feel like the director knows either.
Carley (Emily Stiles) is a lanky, pretty pill-popper who hides her Xanax in a happy-face cookie jar and likes to take home lanky, pretty boys from Los Angeles bars that seem smoky (even though you have to smoke outside, at least 10 feet from the exit). Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley) is an artist/bartender with a "recreational" heroin habit and a serious jones for Carley. He drinks bourbon, paints, lives in a huge loft, and always has unwashed hair and a bit of stubble. Nonetheless, he is endearing, even when saying lines such as: "I want you to ride me until your knees buckle." Carley's got commitment issues, and Jim has heroin issues. Three guesses as to what happens.
No, I'm not going to TELL you. You can watch it, listen to the new versions of Tom Waits classics (my favorite being Lydia Lunch's "Heart Attack and Vine") and you even get a soundtrack disc with it. You can enjoy pretty, skinny people having pretty, skinny, bruising sex, and watch a movie where for once the girl is the one running from falling in love, and the guy is patiently wearing her down. You can be annoyed by the moralizing, coming from a girl who pops pills and seems to subsist on cigarettes and booze; hell, you can be slightly annoyed, as I was, that the girl who wants to own her sexuality is revealed as usual to be kind of a mess, and secretly looking for love.
Probably 90% of the film is between Carley and Jim, with a few minor characters, mostly their respective best friends. Emily Stiles does a good job with a marginally sympathetic character--a girl who seems to do nothing with her life but take pills and push out everyone who cares about her. She does a great job of conveying the lies that Carley's told so often she's made herself believe them, and what she feels like when that facade starts to crack. As I mentioned above, Jimmy Wayne Farley manages to make a guy who could easily be sleazy into the guy you really want Carley to fall for, the guy that seems like he could be something real. The lank-haired bartender who paints at night and shoots up while schmoozing in New York galleries is a wee bit of a cliché, and it takes skill to make a real person out of a shell.
Some of the editing, particularly the first love scene and a solo bit in Jim's apartment is particularly well-done. The loving, caressing shots of these pretty, bony people set up and cement the connection between them, which could be hard in an 87-minute film.
And yet it's somewhat unfulfilling--what really happened? Is it a film about love and how we jinx it by being afraid of it, intertwined with a morality tale about drugs that at times seems to be romanticizing the same drug abuse that it wants to confront? It's a film that clearly will not appeal to mainstream audiences--it was written and made by and for artsy types who may not flirt with drugs to the extent that its characters do, but certainly are not completely shocked by them. The problem with that is that it's easy to feel like there is no larger, universal theme to it because it's outweighed with its hipness and of course, the drugs. It's not like drug films haven't made it to large audiences and resonated with people whose experiences haven't led them down that road. I just don't think this one will.
KaffineBuzz.com
......
Tom Waits Fan
I loved the film, the characters were "real", believable and in depth.The blend of Tom Waits songs add to the movie. It flows perfectly.
- Josiah Jensen, TomWaitsFan.com
......
Hot young people like to get high and fuck. But what if one gets high on smack and the other on Xanax? THat is the probing question behind the indie film East Of Sunset. Set in Silverlake (L.A. hipsters, whut!?), actress Emily Stiles has the best lips ever, and she frequents a bar where house band [the] Caseworker plays nothing but 25-year-old Tom Waits tunes as reinterpreted by Low. Forget szzyrup, this is what real narcotics sound like.
......
Rotten Tomatoes
Built up in a stylistically minimal fashion around covers of Tom Waits songs from between 1973 and 1983, EAST OF SUNSET tells of the understated romance that unfolds between a young pill-popping teacher and a bartender who is just getting over a heroin habit--sort of. Carley (Emily Stiles) is a young LA woman still grieving over her father's death; she finds solace in the arms of Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley). Their time together brings each a kind of redemption, while their relationship remains plagued by the perils of addiction. Carley becomes Jim's muse, but when he begins to receive recognition for his work, he teeters on the brink of relapse. The moody score features artists such as Lydia Lunch, Pete Shelley, Alex Chilton, The Wedding Present, Dave Alvin, Drugstore, and many others.
RottenTomatoes.com
......
Film Threat
As an experiment in minimalism, "East of Sunset" has got its priorities tamped down perfectly. Using no more than a few locations to symbolize a world full of sparsity, this also stretches out to the characters. Carley (Emily Stiles) and Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley) have lived out those days that require them to be the kind of people walking along the streets, worrying about family, jobs, and life in general. They've put themselves away from those crowds, living the days east of Sunset in Los Angeles, going through different motions. She's in charge of classes at a junior high school when her presence is required. He bartends at the club she frequents. And they cross paths one night when she's outside smoking a cigarette and he startles her.
So begins one of the quietest romances ever conjured up in indie film, with many complications along the way. They like each other. Somehow, some way, she's become his muse as he's an artist looking to make his work known. But he likes her for what she is, someone different, someone who smells a flower a different way, drinks a different way. Oh, she drinks all right. She's not an overly ambitious boozehound but in an unnecessarily elongated sequence at the beginning, she takes out the liquor and the pills. He on the other hand is just getting over a drug habit, which threatens to kick back up violently during his relationship with her. It comes down to the matter of addiction and a loved one in how to handle it. You love the person but the addiction is even more of a lover.
In making everything sparse, with dialogue kept to a low minimum, director Brian McNelis has also taken to using early Tom Waits music sung by other musicians. The songs contribute to that dank, darker world that these characters live in. However, the world falters when it's looked at outside of being the stimulating experiment in sparseness. For example, Carley's sister Carrie (Lucia Sullivan) visits and in a wildly overacting manner (can those eyes get any bigger?) suggests firmly that she move on because she and her mother have already. So we're to believe that her current attitude toward life is due to the death of her father. When it comes to Los Angeles, it's hard to believe that only one thing affects a person. Carley and Jim's friends (Dikla Marshall and George Garritano) are only there because it's assumed that to watch both these main characters navigate their relationships would be boring without some kind of support. And that's briefly true. People like these need some kind of support. But more often, they act like a barometer to the audience, on how we should be reacting to this chain of events, rather than being actual characters themselves, full flesh and blood that we can believe.
Therein lies something else. Later on towards the end of the movie, a lot transpires. Jim's work is accepted at a New York art gallery and he has to fly over there to meet some artistic big shots and later on a dealer who has taken a huge liking to his work. With what happens after that, the minimalistic quality of this production becomes a hindrance because it's hard to feel anything at all towards these characters that would resemble what Carley goes through. We can only watch, and never participate. "East of Sunset" makes it as a glimpse into little lives in a huge city, but is never entirely involving.
- Rory L. Aronsky, FilmThreat.com
......
Baby Sue
An unhealthy love affair between two unhealthy individuals. Emily Stiles plays Carly, an emotionally cold, distant, selfish, demanding, gaunt young woman addicted to Xanax...who falls in love with a gaunt young artist/bartender named Jim (played by Jimmy Wayne Farley)...who just happens to be a heroin addict. Although the two seem to be doomed from the very start, for some unknown reason they both seem unable to stay away from one another. Their unstable relationship weaves and twists in a startlingly familiar fashion, as the film realistically portrays the lives of two drug addicted alcoholics.
The soundtrack is (appropriately) provided by a variety of artists covering Tom Waits songs (an audio CD of the tracks is included with the DVD). Things take a turn for the worse when Carly takes another man home to her apartment. Jim's roommate happens to see the two leave the bar together so he calls Jim and tells him, which then leads to Jim's death. To cope, Carly drinks more than normal and takes even more Xanax. Like the two lead characters, this film moves very, very slowly. Although East of Sunset is a low budget film, some real pros worked on the project (Brian McNelis, Chris Squires, Chris Boscardin). As a result, the film is visually very slick and professional and has a really nice flow.
Some might complain that the film goes nowhere...but in the end, that is exactly why it succeeds. By portraying people as they really are, the film shows how dreary and meaningless the lives of alcoholics and drug addicts can be. Stark, depressing, and lonely... (Rating: 4++++)
BabySue.com
......
CalgaryMovies
"East of Sunset" originally caught my interest because of the all Tom Waits-soundtrack, so it should't have come as a big surprise that the film is both artsy and very depressing. However, I wasn't quite prepared for just how heavy a flick this was - there's not really a start, middle, and end, but instead we're given a glimpse into the life of the main character and how she finds love (as well as many more heart-wrenching things) with her new man. It's definitely an artsy flick - and have mentioned that it's a downer? - but it's an interesting watch that is an ambitious and ultimately intriguing film.
It's very much an independent, with acting and dialogue to go along with it, and special mention has to be given to the soundtrack of Tom Waits tunes (performed by many artists you've never heard of befoe). In fact, the soundtrack should get credit as a co-star, since it plays such a pivotal part in the film and takes the place of dialogue in many scenes to convey the emotions of a scene. Interesting, artsy and heavy - that about sums it up.
CalgaryMovies.com
......
Pop Entertainment
East of Sunset is the story of two alcoholic drug-users who fall in love in the slightly bedraggled Silverlake section of Los Angeles. This may sound like a dismissal of the film, but it is nothing of the sort. While I'd be hard-pressed to call East of Sunset a really good film, it does have an immediacy, a skid row vibe which makes it frequently fascinating. If the film sometimes suffers from a surplus of ideas, a scarcity of happy characters and a lack of money, it is still a charming little story.
Emily Stiles deserves the acclaim (including winning the Best Actress Award at the Method Fest 2005) that she has received for playing Carley, a numb, rather miserable barfly whose life is a series of one night stands, depressive episodes, Xanax, alcohol and weed.
......
Now Playing
An angst-ridden tale set in the trendy Silverlake region of Los Angeles,East of Sunset centers around Carley (Emily Stiles), a girl who tripsthrough life in a blur of despair and self-negating behavior. Pills, divebars, uncommitted sexual encounters — they're all there, and then some.When Carley hooks up with Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley), however, an artistwith recreational heroin issues, she's finally forced to face down heravoidance of intimacy and own drug use. It's only through glimpsing andrealizing a worse pattern of behavior in someone else up close andpersonal that Carley is able to start to recognize the dysfunction of herown life.
While the film's narrative proper reeks of a too-familiar stretch for toomuch indie cred (the script, by Heather Miller, also struggles with convincing dialogue), East of Sunset does feature solid acting, and nonetheless achieves a success courtesy of its solid execution. It picked up the Maverick Award for Best Feature Under $500,000 at this year's Method Fest, and scored Stiles, not undeservingly, a Best Actress prize as well. While given free reign here, Stiles still exhibits considerable chops, and, watching her, you wish even more nuanced material to come her way; she deserves a better fate than guest starring stints on television procedurals like CSI: Miami and Law & Order, which is frequently where indies like East of Sunset land actors.
Nicely shot by Chris Squires and rooted in a real sense of place by a fantastic, melancholy soundtrack that's centered around covers of Tom Waits tunes, the film benefits from director Brian McNelis' keen ability to convey both the ambivalent allure and inner anguish of barfly, come-what-may life. The music, again, helps give the movie a shifty, despondent vibe and energy, perfect for such a downbeat narrative.
Supplemental material on this release, anchored by a 5.1 surround audio mix, includes an audio commentary track with McNelis (a producer on the well regarded Better Living Through Circuitry), a music video and a special bonus CD soundtrack that allows viewers to better get to know Frente, Lydia Lunch, Drugstore, Botanica and [the] Caseworker — the unusually named latter an intriguing "slow-core" band from the San Francisco Bay. B- (Movie) C+ (Disc).
- Brent Simon, NowPlayingMag.com
......
Pulse Etc
Part modern junkie tragedy, part self-styled vehicle to introduce a newgeneration of music lovers to the works of gravel-voiced singer/songwriter Tom Waits, "East Of Sunset" manages to outdo itself on both counts. Written by Heather Miller (who was recruited specifically to pen a tale around the music, haunts and desperate lifestyles of the denizens of the Silverlake area of L.A. and chose to use her own life experiences as the basis of the script), directed by Brian McNelis and produced by Evan Cohen, this film is not only relentlessly honest and brutally direct, but also surprisingly endearing.
Revolving around the dysfunctional, pill-and-booze-addled life of Carley (stunningly portrayed by the gifted and inspiring actress Emily Stiles), a 20-something barfly with a penchant for painkillers and vodka breakfasts, "EOS" tempers its explorations of the emptiness inherent in modern living with an almost tender overview of the damaged souls experiencing it. When Carley meets up-and-coming artist Jim (played by Jimmy Wayne Farley) in a local dive, their paths intertwine and become the main focus of the
proceedings.
Throughout the drunken afternoons, bleary nights and hung-over days following their introduction, Carley and Jim form a nebulous, chemically-fueled bond (he's an on-and-off heroin chipper) while still proceeding to blindly destroy their slow-blooming relationship at every turn. Carley fights her urges to settle down and hang up her red shoes for Jim, while he scrambles to balance his burgeoning art career with his growing habit and his affection for a woman who's as perfectly, assuredly doomed as he himself is.
The cast of characters here is at a minimum, leaving the bulk of the task to Stiles and Farley, both of whom ably accomplish the formidable goal of carrying the movie. Filmed in 2004 on location in some of the seediest joints in Silverlake, and featuring house band [the] Caseworker (a hugely talented San Fran slo-core outfit who gamely mime their ingenious, respectful Waits interpretations onstage throughout the film), the tale admirably takes on the shadowy hue of such classics as "Taxi Driver" and "Midnight Cowboy" while incorporating a decidedly more modern worldview.
The ending of a junkie drama isn't hard to predict, but there are plenty of intricate twists and turns and some unbelievable camera work (especially considering the tiny budget this film had) along the way. The inclusion of selections from Waits' early '70s/'80s repertoire redone by such acts as Lydia Lunch, Frente, Botanica and the aforementioned [the] Caseworker only crystallizes the director's aim of transporting the viewer inside of the lonely, dim atmosphere the film's characters inhabit and is
just as important here as the story itself.
Lots of great extras with this package, as well, including a CD of the soundtrack, director's commentary (which is a must-see; McNelis and Cohen break down every relevant frame and discuss at length the importance of the soundtrack to the film itself) and a promotional video for the song "Old Shoes." A must-see for Waits fans, budding junkies and students of top-notch, low-budget indie film.
PulseEtc.Com
......
Kaffine Buzz
East of Sunset reminds me of my life in New Orleans. It's all booze, drugs, and skinny pale people set to a Tom Waits soundtrack. Not to mention those artists, spooky kids, depression, pills, and bourbon. I both relate to it and hate it.
Mostly, it's because I'm unsure if they're trying to make any sort of statement. Is there really any point other than making a movie about pretty hip romantic junkies and pill-poppers over remade Waits tracks? They seem to want to say something about love and what happens when you're scared of it, but then the end of it doesn't do that--or does it? I like to think that there's some sort of point made, that this life was kind of empty, but I am not completely sure. The kicker is thatI don't feel like the director knows either.
Carley (Emily Stiles) is a lanky, pretty pill-popper who hides her Xanax in a happy-face cookie jar and likes to take home lanky, pretty boys from Los Angeles bars that seem smoky (even though you have to smoke outside, at least 10 feet from the exit). Jim (Jimmy Wayne Farley) is an artist/bartender with a "recreational" heroin habit and a serious jones for Carley. He drinks bourbon, paints, lives in a huge loft, and always has unwashed hair and a bit of stubble. Nonetheless, he is endearing, even when saying lines such as: "I want you to ride me until your knees buckle." Carley's got commitment issues, and Jim has heroin issues. Three guesses as to what happens.
No, I'm not going to TELL you. You can watch it, listen to the new versions of Tom Waits classics (my favorite being Lydia Lunch's "Heart Attack and Vine") and you even get a soundtrack disc with it. You can enjoy pretty, skinny people having pretty, skinny, bruising sex, and watch a movie where for once the girl is the one running from falling in love, and the guy is patiently wearing her down. You can be annoyed by the moralizing, coming from a girl who pops pills and seems to subsist on cigarettes and booze; hell, you can be slightly annoyed, as I was, that the girl who wants to own her sexuality is revealed as usual to be kind of a mess, and secretly looking for love.
Probably 90% of the film is between Carley and Jim, with a few minor characters, mostly their respective best friends. Emily Stiles does a good job with a marginally sympathetic character--a girl who seems to do nothing with her life but take pills and push out everyone who cares about her. She does a great job of conveying the lies that Carley's told so often she's made herself believe them, and what she feels like when that facade starts to crack. As I mentioned above, Jimmy Wayne Farley manages to make a guy who could easily be sleazy into the guy you really want Carley to fall for, the guy that seems like he could be something real. The lank-haired bartender who paints at night and shoots up while schmoozing in New York galleries is a wee bit of a cliché, and it takes skill to make a real person out of a shell.
Some of the editing, particularly the first love scene and a solo bit in Jim's apartment is particularly well-done. The loving, caressing shots of these pretty, bony people set up and cement the connection between them, which could be hard in an 87-minute film.
And yet it's somewhat unfulfilling--what really happened? Is it a film about love and how we jinx it by being afraid of it, intertwined with a morality tale about drugs that at times seems to be romanticizing the same drug abuse that it wants to confront? It's a film that clearly will not appeal to mainstream audiences--it was written and made by and for artsy types who may not flirt with drugs to the extent that its characters do, but certainly are not completely shocked by them. The problem with that is that it's easy to feel like there is no larger, universal theme to it because it's outweighed with its hipness and of course, the drugs. It's not like drug films haven't made it to large audiences and resonated with people whose experiences haven't led them down that road. I just don't think this one will.
KaffineBuzz.com
......
Tom Waits Fan
I loved the film, the characters were "real", believable and in depth.The blend of Tom Waits songs add to the movie. It flows perfectly.
- Josiah Jensen, TomWaitsFan.com
......
Come See Us at the Silver Lake Film Festival!
Mar 24, 2006 10:09AM
Hi,
I'm the director of East Of Sunset and I'm writing to ask for your support of independent cinema by adding us as one of your friends at MySpace!
http://www.myspace.com/eastofsunsetthemovie
East of Sunset is an award winning film screening at the Silver Lake Film Festival with many other great independent films, large and small, starting next weekend.
The film is set in the Silver Lake community of Los Angeles and was made by people that live there.
We would all be very grateful if you would consider adding us as one of your friends.
Thank You,
The Filmmakers, Cast and Crew of
East Of Sunset
! THIS SATURDAY MARCH 25TH !
East Of Sunset Plays the Silver Lake Film Festival
Please join us in celebrating the arts with local filmmakers
http://www.arclightcinemas.com/homepage.jsp
www.silverlakefilmfestival.org
---------------------
EAST OF SUNSET
directed by brian mcnelis
The Award Winning
east side indie film
will be screening at
THE SILVERLAKE FILMFESTIVAL
The Arclight Hollywood
* Saturday March 25 - 2:45pm *
* Thurusday March 30 - 10:15pm *
http://www.eastofsunset.com/reviews.html
URB
Hot young people like to get high and fuck. But what if one gets high on smack and the other on Xanax? THat is the probing question behind the indie film East Of Sunset. Set in Silverlake (L.A. hipsters, whut!?), actress Emily Stiles has the best lips ever, and she frequents a bar where house band [the] Caseworker plays nothing but 25-year-old Tom Waits tunes as reinterpreted by Low. Forget szzyrup, this is what real narcotics sound like.
Please support indie-film.
Spread the word. Join us!
BUY IT AT AMAZON.COM:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009Y26OU/
All songs covers of Tom Waits 1970-1980.
Soundtrack Album included with DVD.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RE-POST AND REDISITRBUTE THIS INFO
MORE INFO ON THE SILVERLAKE FILMFEST
6th SILVER LAKE FILM FESTIVAL, March 23-31
L.A.'s Independent Film & Arts Festival brings flmmakers, cinephiles, musicians, multimedia artists, video gamers, Eastside Bohos and Hollywood celebrities together to watch, talk about, and celebrate independent film and video, with more than 200 screenings of the best in independent features, documentaries and shorts. For more information, visit www.silverlakefilmfestival.org.
Tickets on sale March 18 for Opening Night and March 20
for all other programming
I'm the director of East Of Sunset and I'm writing to ask for your support of independent cinema by adding us as one of your friends at MySpace!
http://www.myspace.com/eastofsunsetthemovie
East of Sunset is an award winning film screening at the Silver Lake Film Festival with many other great independent films, large and small, starting next weekend.
The film is set in the Silver Lake community of Los Angeles and was made by people that live there.
We would all be very grateful if you would consider adding us as one of your friends.
Thank You,
The Filmmakers, Cast and Crew of
East Of Sunset
! THIS SATURDAY MARCH 25TH !
East Of Sunset Plays the Silver Lake Film Festival
Please join us in celebrating the arts with local filmmakers
http://www.arclightcinemas.com/homepage.jsp
www.silverlakefilmfestival.org
---------------------
EAST OF SUNSET
directed by brian mcnelis
The Award Winning
east side indie film
will be screening at
THE SILVERLAKE FILMFESTIVAL
The Arclight Hollywood
* Saturday March 25 - 2:45pm *
* Thurusday March 30 - 10:15pm *
http://www.eastofsunset.com/reviews.html
URB
Hot young people like to get high and fuck. But what if one gets high on smack and the other on Xanax? THat is the probing question behind the indie film East Of Sunset. Set in Silverlake (L.A. hipsters, whut!?), actress Emily Stiles has the best lips ever, and she frequents a bar where house band [the] Caseworker plays nothing but 25-year-old Tom Waits tunes as reinterpreted by Low. Forget szzyrup, this is what real narcotics sound like.
Please support indie-film.
Spread the word. Join us!
BUY IT AT AMAZON.COM:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009Y26OU/
All songs covers of Tom Waits 1970-1980.
Soundtrack Album included with DVD.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RE-POST AND REDISITRBUTE THIS INFO
MORE INFO ON THE SILVERLAKE FILMFEST
6th SILVER LAKE FILM FESTIVAL, March 23-31
L.A.'s Independent Film & Arts Festival brings flmmakers, cinephiles, musicians, multimedia artists, video gamers, Eastside Bohos and Hollywood celebrities together to watch, talk about, and celebrate independent film and video, with more than 200 screenings of the best in independent features, documentaries and shorts. For more information, visit www.silverlakefilmfestival.org.
Tickets on sale March 18 for Opening Night and March 20
for all other programming
Film Maker's Blog
EAST OF SUNSET at SILVERLAKE FILM FESTIVAL
Mar 24, 2006 08:15AM
Hi,
I'm the director of East Of Sunset and I'm writing to ask for your support of independent cinema by adding us as one of your friends at MySpace.
http://blog.myspace.com/eastofsunsetthemovie
East of Sunset is an award winning film screening at the Silver Lake Film Festival with many other great independent films, large and small, starting next weekend.
The film is set in the Silver Lake community of Los Angeles and was made by people that live there.
We would all be very grateful if you would consider adding us as one of your friends.
Thank You,
The Filmmakers, Cast and Crew of
East Of Sunset
! THIS SATURDAY MARCH 25TH !
East Of Sunset Plays the Silver Lake Film Festival
Please join us in celebrating the arts with local filmmakers
http://www.arclightcinemas.com/homepage.jsp
www.silverlakefilmfestival.org
---------------------
EAST OF SUNSET
directed by brian mcnelis
The Award Winning
east side indie film
will be screening at
THE SILVERLAKE FILMFESTIVAL
The Arclight Hollywood
* Saturday March 25 - 2:45pm *
* Thurusday March 30 - 10:15pm *
http://www.eastofsunset.com/reviews.html
URB
Hot young people like to get high and fuck. But what if one gets high on smack and the other on Xanax? THat is the probing question behind the indie film East Of Sunset. Set in Silverlake (L.A. hipsters, whut!?), actress Emily Stiles has the best lips ever, and she frequents a bar where house band [the] Caseworker plays nothing but 25-year-old Tom Waits tunes as reinterpreted by Low. Forget szzyrup, this is what real narcotics sound like.
Please support indie-film.
Spread the word. Join us!
BUY IT AT AMAZON.COM:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009Y26OU/
All songs covers of Tom Waits 1970-1980.
Soundtrack Album included with DVD.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RE-POST AND REDISITRBUTE THIS INFO
MORE INFO ON THE SILVERLAKE FILMFEST
6th SILVER LAKE FILM FESTIVAL, March 23-31
L.A.'s Independent Film & Arts Festival brings flmmakers, cinephiles, musicians, multimedia artists, video gamers, Eastside Bohos and Hollywood celebrities together to watch, talk about, and celebrate independent film and video, with more than 200 screenings of the best in independent features, documentaries and shorts. For more information, visit www.silverlakefilmfestival.org.
Tickets on sale March 18 for Opening Night and March 20
for all other programming
I'm the director of East Of Sunset and I'm writing to ask for your support of independent cinema by adding us as one of your friends at MySpace.
http://blog.myspace.com/eastofsunsetthemovie
East of Sunset is an award winning film screening at the Silver Lake Film Festival with many other great independent films, large and small, starting next weekend.
The film is set in the Silver Lake community of Los Angeles and was made by people that live there.
We would all be very grateful if you would consider adding us as one of your friends.
Thank You,
The Filmmakers, Cast and Crew of
East Of Sunset
! THIS SATURDAY MARCH 25TH !
East Of Sunset Plays the Silver Lake Film Festival
Please join us in celebrating the arts with local filmmakers
http://www.arclightcinemas.com/homepage.jsp
www.silverlakefilmfestival.org
---------------------
EAST OF SUNSET
directed by brian mcnelis
The Award Winning
east side indie film
will be screening at
THE SILVERLAKE FILMFESTIVAL
The Arclight Hollywood
* Saturday March 25 - 2:45pm *
* Thurusday March 30 - 10:15pm *
http://www.eastofsunset.com/reviews.html
URB
Hot young people like to get high and fuck. But what if one gets high on smack and the other on Xanax? THat is the probing question behind the indie film East Of Sunset. Set in Silverlake (L.A. hipsters, whut!?), actress Emily Stiles has the best lips ever, and she frequents a bar where house band [the] Caseworker plays nothing but 25-year-old Tom Waits tunes as reinterpreted by Low. Forget szzyrup, this is what real narcotics sound like.
Please support indie-film.
Spread the word. Join us!
BUY IT AT AMAZON.COM:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009Y26OU/
All songs covers of Tom Waits 1970-1980.
Soundtrack Album included with DVD.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RE-POST AND REDISITRBUTE THIS INFO
MORE INFO ON THE SILVERLAKE FILMFEST
6th SILVER LAKE FILM FESTIVAL, March 23-31
L.A.'s Independent Film & Arts Festival brings flmmakers, cinephiles, musicians, multimedia artists, video gamers, Eastside Bohos and Hollywood celebrities together to watch, talk about, and celebrate independent film and video, with more than 200 screenings of the best in independent features, documentaries and shorts. For more information, visit www.silverlakefilmfestival.org.
Tickets on sale March 18 for Opening Night and March 20
for all other programming
| Sat, March 25, 2006 | ||||
| Time | Festival | Event | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2:45 pm | Silver Lake Film Festival - Los Angeles | East of Sunset | ArcLight Cinemas | |
| Includes: East of Sunset, The Pity Card | ||||
| Thu, March 30, 2006 | ||||
| Time | Festival | Event | Venue | |
| 10:15 pm | Silver Lake Film Festival - Los Angeles | East of Sunset | ArcLight Cinemas | |
| Includes: East of Sunset, The Pity Card | ||||
Things bmcnelis said...
346384663_l.jpg
My Friends & Favorites
-
wab-audience
Friend Since: May 08, 2007
Last Online: 5:02 pm, September 07, 2007
Leave a comment about bmcnelis