THE NEW TWENTY With emotionally vivid performances and nuanced characters, The New Twenty paints the portrait of a generation living the highs and lows of a Wall Street world destined to disappear overnight. The year is 2006 and prosperity seems unending: two of the five are investment bankers, another works in advertising, another does freelance database design, and only one of the five might be called a slacker. But they all suffer from, as loner Felix puts it, "a touch of existential malaise courtesy of late capitalism. You know, the usual." So if money isn't the root of their discontent, what is? Whatever they're searching for - love, meaning in work - they won't find it in each other. On TV, friendship lasts forever. In real life, not so much. |
CHOKING MAN Choking
Man is an intense blend of psychological drama and magical realism
that encapsulates the contemporary immigrant experience in America. Jorge
(Octavio Gomez Berrios) is a morbidly shy Ecuadorian dishwasher toiling
away in a shabby Jamaica, Queens, New York diner run by Rick (Mandy Patinkin).
He works all day long in the shadow of the ever-present Heimlich Maneuver
instruction poster which hangs in the diner kitchen. From his solitary
kitchen corner, Jorge gropes mutely for a bond with Amy (Eugenia Yuan),
the newly hired Chinese waitress and even though she tries to reciprocate,
the gulf that separates them may be too large. On the job he is continually
tormented by his coworker Jerry (Aaron Paul) and at home in his Harlem
boarding, under the psychological control of his domineering 'roomate,'
he battles his inner demons. Set in the vicinity of JFK airport, the most
culturally diverse neighborhood in the world, Choking Man captures the
feeling of claustrophobia and almost literal asphyxiation newcomers to
America experience as they struggle to find a place and purpose in this
strange land. |
DOWN TO THE BONE In
Down to the Bone, Irene (Vera Farmiga) is a working class
mother living in upstate New York. She struggles to keep her marriage
together and raise two sons while keeping her cocaine addiction a secret.
After a series of nearly fatal mishaps, and finally hoping to make a change
in her life, she decides to check herself into a rehab center. She knows
kicking the habit would be tough, but the experience proves even more
difficult than she could have anticipated. There, she meets and falls
in love with a fellow reformed addict (Hugh Dillon). When one of them
falls into a relapse with the addiction, their commitment to staying clean
– and to each other – shatters. This beautifully wrought film
accurately and authentically explores the wrenching road of recovery without
ever resorting to histrionics. |
