坐擁憐憫SfD影評集合貼

Szeki

好像找到發行商了！yeah!

<snip>
WME Global expected to conclude a domestic deal for Adrian Grenier’s popular documentary Teenage Paparazzo by Monday or Tuesday, and was anticipating a mid-week deal on Mark Ruffalo’s feature directorial debut Sympathy For Delicious.

Ruffalo’s film has received a number of offers from traditional distributors and will screen back in Los Angeles to faith-based distributors, some of whom have entered the fray aggressively at the eleventh hour.
<snip>

http://www.screendaily.com/festi ... end/5010243.article



SfD拿了一個特別評審獎呢。恭喜Mark導

Szeki

'Sympathy For Delicious': Wannabe a rock god? How about an ACTUAL god?

A paralyzed deejay discovers he has achieved the power to heal, but not himself.

It's a cool premise, and an imaginative step above a lot of indie movies, where the starting and ending point might have been: A paralyzed deejay ... is paralyzed.

Mark Ruffalo, who co-stars as a well-meaning, but ethically challenged priest, is directing for the first time, partly because he feels a deep connection to this story. It was written by his friend, Christopher Thornton, who is an actual paraplegic (he was hurt in a rock climbing accident 18 years ago) and stars in the film as the title character.

I imagine that life without the use of your lower limbs has its own daily dramas and challenges, but these guys made this movie specifically because they didn't want Thornton, an actor by trade, to be held back. They didn't set out to tell his story, they set out to tell a story, and so they've left realism behind for something a lot more magical.

Is it a perfect film? Not by any means. There's a coda to the film that I would rather see eliminated entirely, and the climax frays a bit at the end. I'm not sure a courtroom was the most creative place to take this tale, particularly after it begins with so much imagination.

But for me, the flaws in Sympathy For Delicious were as easy to forgive as they were to detect. Many critics at Sundance have focused only on the weaknesses, however, pulverizing this movie. Is it the best of the festival. No, I wouldn't say that. But it's easily the most underrated.

There are extreme tonal shifts that some found unforgivable: realism blending with mysticism, heartbreak with comedy, personal pathos with social satire. I can't speak for the man, but my guess is the late Kurt Vonnegut Jr. would have dug this movie. His books did the same thing. Ruffalo has been savaged for not picking on direction, and it's true -- he hasn't. But these disparate pieces still felt connected to me, and I was happy to go on the journey to a place more surreal than real.

The title is meant to evoke, of course, the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil (which Ruffalo joked he could never afford to actually license for the film.) Delicious D is not a sympathetic character. You like him, but when he starts healing the sick at a skid row mission, and negotiating with Ruffalo's penniless priest for $50 a day in payment, you start to see how this miracle gift could quickly become a curse.

He can heal the ailing poor for pennies ... or he can enrich himself by focusing his efforts on those willing to cut a fat paycheck. (In many ways, this movie is the perfect satire for the health-insurance debate: A company possesses the power to heal, but prefers to do it only for profit.)

Delicious belongs to a terrible punk group (with Orlando Bloom and Juliette Lewis as somewhat over-the-top disbelieving bandmates). You want to be a rock god? How about being an ACTUAL god? Laura Linney turns up as an ice-cold music executive, ready to launch "HEAL-a-palooza" to bring this miracle to the masses (along with sky-high ticket prices, T-shirts and whatever else she can pimp.)

That's the kind of line some critics slammed for being unintentionally funny. All I can say is, it worked for me. And after the movie, Ruffalo said, yes, indeed it is supposed to be a joke.

Maybe his skills as a director are too green to effectively convey that to everyone. Okay. Still, I see more about this imaginative debut to praise than to scorn.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/livefr ... -an-actual-god.html

Szeki

SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS is another movie that I really enjoyed at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It marks the directorial debut of Mark Ruffalo, who also stars in the film, and is written by Christopher Thornton, who stars as the main character.

Sympathy for Delicious tells the story of DJ "Delicious" Dean (Christopher Thornton), a recent paraplegic who one day wakes up to find he has the power of healing, the only thing is, he cannot heal himself. From there the movie shows how Dean's life changes and the different people that want to us his power for different reasons. One of them, a priest (Mark Ruffalo), who works at the shelter Dean goes to, wants him to use his gift to heal the people from the neighborhood, but doesn't want to pay him for it. Dean also gets involved with a rock band who wants to use his power as a schtick for their performance. We then the consequences of the decisions he makes and the journey he goes on and how this new gift impacts his life and the people around him.

I found this story to be really original and beautiful. It has so many complex layers to it, because when you think about it how would you act if you knew someone who had healing powers or if you had healing powers? Who would you choose to heal? How do you decide? Do you charge for it? Do people that have more money get priority over others? Nowthe film doesn't claim to have an answer to any these questions, it merely shows you the story of one specific character, Dean, and how his life is changed.

Christopher Thornton who plays Dean is incredible. I hadn't seen him in other films before, but within 10 min of Sympathy for Delicious I was sold on his performance. He really just gets the character and all his complexities, and I have a feeling we might be seeing more of him soon.

Orlando Bloom is pretty hilarious, and even though he has a small part in the film, he is definitely memorable as the lead singer of the rock band.

Juliette Lewis plays the part of Ariel Lee, a member of the rock band who brings Dean in.

Laura Linney is really great as the band's manager, Nina Hogue. I have seen her in a lot of different parts and once again, she is able to shine in the few scenes she's in.

Finally, Mark Ruffalo not only does a great job of bringing this story alive as a director, but also produces another great performance. The relationship between the priest and Dean has a great dynamic and is a very important part ofthe film.

Overall, Sympathy for Delicious is a really inspiring and touching film. The story doesn't always go where you expect it to go, which makes it even more interesting to watch. If the story is something that interests you I recommend you check it out when it comes out to theaters.

Final fun fact, after the screening, Christopher Thornton and Mark Ruffalo got a standing ovation from the audience, and what I didn't know (and I'm guessing most of the audience didn't either) is that Christopher Thornton is really paraplegic in real life.

http://www.daemonsmovies.com/201 ... dance-movie-review/