Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Today we speak to Nancy Savoca, the great filmmaker whose sophomore feature Dogfight is now available via Criterion. The digitally-restored, director-approved Blu-Ray includes new commentary from Savoca and producer Richard Guay, a new interview with Savoca and actor Lili Taylor conducted by filmmaker Mary Harron, and a great essay by film critic Christina Newland, among other features.
We speak with Savoca about Missing Movies, her mentors John Sayles and Maggie Renzi, her first film True Love, directing singular performers like River Phoenix and Lili Taylor, and the HBO creativity boom of the mid-to-late ‘90s (including Carl Franklin’s Laurel Avenue and Cher and Savoca’s If These Walls Could Talk), and lesser-seen gems of Savoca’s that...
Today we speak to Nancy Savoca, the great filmmaker whose sophomore feature Dogfight is now available via Criterion. The digitally-restored, director-approved Blu-Ray includes new commentary from Savoca and producer Richard Guay, a new interview with Savoca and actor Lili Taylor conducted by filmmaker Mary Harron, and a great essay by film critic Christina Newland, among other features.
We speak with Savoca about Missing Movies, her mentors John Sayles and Maggie Renzi, her first film True Love, directing singular performers like River Phoenix and Lili Taylor, and the HBO creativity boom of the mid-to-late ‘90s (including Carl Franklin’s Laurel Avenue and Cher and Savoca’s If These Walls Could Talk), and lesser-seen gems of Savoca’s that...
- 5/2/2024
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Through the lens of 2024, “Dogfight” plays like a subtle, personal film you would expect from indie director Nancy Savoca (“Household Saints”), but that’s not what Warner Bros. thought they were making.
“They were thinking ‘Porky’s.’ They thought it was a comedy,” said director Nancy Savoca while on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast to discuss “Dogfight,” which is entering the Criterion Collection on April 30.
At the end of the 1980s headed into the early ’90s, when Warners was developing Bob Comfort’s “Dogfight” screenplay, teen comedies were big business for the studios. Alongside the wild success of the classic slate of teen comedies John Hughes wrote, directed, or produced, the “Porky’s” trilogy came to define the sex comedies of the era. It’s through this lens the studio saw the dogfight competition in Comfort’s script: A group of young soldiers pick up the “ugliest” woman they can find, bring her to a bar,...
“They were thinking ‘Porky’s.’ They thought it was a comedy,” said director Nancy Savoca while on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast to discuss “Dogfight,” which is entering the Criterion Collection on April 30.
At the end of the 1980s headed into the early ’90s, when Warners was developing Bob Comfort’s “Dogfight” screenplay, teen comedies were big business for the studios. Alongside the wild success of the classic slate of teen comedies John Hughes wrote, directed, or produced, the “Porky’s” trilogy came to define the sex comedies of the era. It’s through this lens the studio saw the dogfight competition in Comfort’s script: A group of young soldiers pick up the “ugliest” woman they can find, bring her to a bar,...
- 4/18/2024
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Well, it’s over. Now that the 2024 film awards season is in the rearview mirror, the onslaught of prestige titles hitting digital platforms will come to a temporary halt. Thankfully, this week still brings a pretty decent crop of new releases.
The contender to watch this week: “Drive-Away Dolls“
Ethan Coen‘s second movie without Joel — his first was the documentary “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind,” which is streaming exclusively on Prime Video — has posted modest box-office returns, but the breezy road comedy seems destined for cult-favorite status. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan play friends who get caught up in a band of maladroit criminals during a road trip down South. Co-written with Tricia Cooke, who edited “The Big Lebowski” and other Coen-brother movies, “Drive-Away Dolls” also features Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, and newly minted Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. It’s available to rent or purchase on VOD.
The contender to watch this week: “Drive-Away Dolls“
Ethan Coen‘s second movie without Joel — his first was the documentary “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind,” which is streaming exclusively on Prime Video — has posted modest box-office returns, but the breezy road comedy seems destined for cult-favorite status. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan play friends who get caught up in a band of maladroit criminals during a road trip down South. Co-written with Tricia Cooke, who edited “The Big Lebowski” and other Coen-brother movies, “Drive-Away Dolls” also features Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, and newly minted Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. It’s available to rent or purchase on VOD.
- 3/16/2024
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)
In The Animal Kingdom, an Un Certain Regard-selected science-fiction romp from France, human-animal mutations are the new norm. Director Thomas Cailley begins things in media res with a familiar disaster-movie scene: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher)––father and son, respectively––are stuck in traffic, making chit-chat, when something slowly begins capturing the attention of other drivers. An ambulance across the way begins to rumble. Then a man with a large winged arm bursts out, causing some damage before scurrying down a tunnel. Only mildly ruffled, François exchanges a jaded aphorism with another driver over: “Strange times.” – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli)
The ever-evolving nature of fame and infamy gets examined in Dream Scenario,...
The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)
In The Animal Kingdom, an Un Certain Regard-selected science-fiction romp from France, human-animal mutations are the new norm. Director Thomas Cailley begins things in media res with a familiar disaster-movie scene: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher)––father and son, respectively––are stuck in traffic, making chit-chat, when something slowly begins capturing the attention of other drivers. An ambulance across the way begins to rumble. Then a man with a large winged arm bursts out, causing some damage before scurrying down a tunnel. Only mildly ruffled, François exchanges a jaded aphorism with another driver over: “Strange times.” – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli)
The ever-evolving nature of fame and infamy gets examined in Dream Scenario,...
- 3/15/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With no new bust-out limited releases, repertory continues to do its part for the specialty box office, the latest a 4k restoration of Nostalghia. Kino Lorber said the Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 film, which opened Wednesday, will gross an estimated $22.87k at Film Forum in NYC for the five days.
It’s currently the top performer at the theater and will take in more than all other films screening there combined over that period. Two additional shows at the Roxie in San Francisco and the Austin Film Society bring combined grosses to about $29.4k. Expands next week to Philadelphia and Montreal with additional markets coming later. The film about a Russian poet and his interpreter, who travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century composer, stars Oleg Yankovskiy, Andrei Gorchakov, Erland Josephson, Domiziana Giordano and Patrizia Terreno.
Kino Lorber had success with the restored 4k re-release of Bernardo Bertolucci’s...
It’s currently the top performer at the theater and will take in more than all other films screening there combined over that period. Two additional shows at the Roxie in San Francisco and the Austin Film Society bring combined grosses to about $29.4k. Expands next week to Philadelphia and Montreal with additional markets coming later. The film about a Russian poet and his interpreter, who travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century composer, stars Oleg Yankovskiy, Andrei Gorchakov, Erland Josephson, Domiziana Giordano and Patrizia Terreno.
Kino Lorber had success with the restored 4k re-release of Bernardo Bertolucci’s...
- 2/25/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
"Please keep me from giving birth to a chicken." Kino Lorber has revealed a new trailer for a 4K restoration of this 1990s indie film called Household Saints, made by NYC-native filmmaker Nancy Savoca. This originally premiered at the 1993 Toronto Film Festival, and it screened again at this year's New York Film Festival for its 30th anniversary. Adapted from Francine Prose's novel of the same name, it's an unsettling drama about three generations of Italian-American women struggling to get by in post-wwii New York's Little Italy. Kino Lorber and Milestone Films are proud to present a new 4K restoration of Nancy Savoca's Household Saints, featuring a cast inclduing Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Judith Malina, and Michael Imperioli. The film has been digitally restored and remastered by Lightbox Film Center at University of the Arts (Philadelphia) in collaboration with Milestone Films with support from Ron and Suzanne Naples.
- 12/18/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the great restorations of the last year––in the sense that not only is it of pristine quality, but that it invites an underseen gem back into the conversation––is that of Nancy Savoca’s 1993 drama Household Saints, which was executive-produced by Jonathan Demme. Led by Tracey Ullman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Judith Malina, Illeana Douglas, and Michael Imperioli, the ambitious, carefully observed drama follows the courtship of an Italian-American family before expanding into a tale of religious conviction. Scripted by Savoca and Richard Guay based on Francine Prose’s novel, the new 4K restoration premiered at New York Film Festival and now Kino Lorber and Milestone Films will open it theatrically on January 12 at the IFC Center. Ahead of the release, we’re pleased to exclusively premiere the new trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “Based on Francine Prose’s fifth novel, Nancy Savoca’s comic chronicle of...
Here’s the synopsis: “Based on Francine Prose’s fifth novel, Nancy Savoca’s comic chronicle of...
- 12/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Kino Lorber, at the Lumiére Festival and International Classic Film Market (Mifc) in Lyon with a number of new restorations, including Stanley Kubrick’s “Fear and Desire,” will next release Bridgett M. Davis’ 1996 drama “Naked Acts” and a complete retrospective of Oscar Micheaux, the first black filmmaker.
Also headed for release is “The Dragon Painter,” a rare, 1919 silent film with an all Asian cast, with the feel of an old Japanese film but entirely shot in the San Francisco area. It stars Sessue Hayakawa, who produced it himself, as well as his real-life wife Tsuru Aoki.
Kino Lorber is partnering with Milestone Films to release “The Dragon Painter” in 4K in 2024 with a new score.
Likewise set for a 4K release next year in partnership with Milestone is “Naked Acts,” which follows young Black actress Cicely, who is about to make her acting debut in a low budget film. As...
Also headed for release is “The Dragon Painter,” a rare, 1919 silent film with an all Asian cast, with the feel of an old Japanese film but entirely shot in the San Francisco area. It stars Sessue Hayakawa, who produced it himself, as well as his real-life wife Tsuru Aoki.
Kino Lorber is partnering with Milestone Films to release “The Dragon Painter” in 4K in 2024 with a new score.
Likewise set for a 4K release next year in partnership with Milestone is “Naked Acts,” which follows young Black actress Cicely, who is about to make her acting debut in a low budget film. As...
- 10/18/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
With its digital restoration world premiering at the 61st New York Film Festival tomorrow, we are publishing online for the first time Noam Christopher’s interview with writer/director Nancy Savoca about her Household Saints from our Fall, 1993 edition. Originally released by Fine Line Features, the new restoration is a Milestone Films release. — Editor Nancy Savoca made her directorial debut with True Love, an unsentimental, widely acclaimed look at love and marriage in the Bronx. The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1989 United States Film Festival, the film not only launched Savoca’s career, but the career of […]
The post “Sometimes I Think We Romanticize Not Having Enough Money for a Film”: Nancy Savoca on Household Saints first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Sometimes I Think We Romanticize Not Having Enough Money for a Film”: Nancy Savoca on Household Saints first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/6/2023
- by Noam Christopher
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
With its digital restoration world premiering at the 61st New York Film Festival tomorrow, we are publishing online for the first time Noam Christopher’s interview with writer/director Nancy Savoca about her Household Saints from our Fall, 1993 edition. Originally released by Fine Line Features, the new restoration is a Milestone Films release. — Editor Nancy Savoca made her directorial debut with True Love, an unsentimental, widely acclaimed look at love and marriage in the Bronx. The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1989 United States Film Festival, the film not only launched Savoca’s career, but the career of […]
The post “Sometimes I Think We Romanticize Not Having Enough Money for a Film”: Nancy Savoca on Household Saints first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Sometimes I Think We Romanticize Not Having Enough Money for a Film”: Nancy Savoca on Household Saints first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/6/2023
- by Noam Christopher
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Lincoln Center
NYFF Revivals continues with Abraham’s Valley, The Dupes, Household Saints, Un rêve plus long que la nuit, and shorts by Man Ray.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing Friday and Sunday with Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea on 35mm.
Roxy Cinema
The Double Life of Veronique, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Devil’s Rejects show on 35mm.
IFC Center
Frankenstein, The Holy Mountain, and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere play while Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: NYFF Revivals, The Deep Blue Sea, The Double Life of Veronique & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
Lincoln Center
NYFF Revivals continues with Abraham’s Valley, The Dupes, Household Saints, Un rêve plus long que la nuit, and shorts by Man Ray.
Museum of the Moving Image
Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, continuing Friday and Sunday with Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea on 35mm.
Roxy Cinema
The Double Life of Veronique, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Devil’s Rejects show on 35mm.
IFC Center
Frankenstein, The Holy Mountain, and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere play while Oldboy screens in a new restoration.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: NYFF Revivals, The Deep Blue Sea, The Double Life of Veronique & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 10/5/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
While it’s understandable that many’s most-anticipated films at a festival are also some of the biggest titles of the season––evidenced by the instant sell-outs of the latest from Hayao Miyazaki, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sofia Coppola, Andrew Haigh, Jonathan Glazer, and more at the 61st New York Film Festival––one of the true joys of the experience is seeing work one may never find again. For this year’s edition of Film at Lincoln Center’s annual celebration of world cinema, we’ve gathered eight recommendations that currently don’t have U.S. distribution. While we imagine news will be announced soon for some of these selections, a release might not occur until next year, so be sure to catch them if you can.
We should also make a special note for Revivals, NYFF’s lineup of restorations, which features Paul Vecchiali’s haunting, captivating portrait of alienation The Strangler...
We should also make a special note for Revivals, NYFF’s lineup of restorations, which features Paul Vecchiali’s haunting, captivating portrait of alienation The Strangler...
- 9/26/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
When curating the recent retrospective “NY Indie Guy: Ira Deutchman and the Rise of Independent Film” – a Columbia University exhibit honoring the 40-year career of a leading American independent film producer, marketer, and distributor – programmers Rob King and Jack Lechner made an upsetting discovery: Many of the films they picked to screen were unavailable in any form.
This sent Deutchman into detective mode, to discover what happened to many of the films he helped introduce to the world. He walked away from his initial examination shocked by the situation and with a grim assessment: We are in danger of losing many of the films that defined recent movements in American independent film.
“During the height of in the independent boom back in the ’80s and into the 90s, it was always considered the holy grail for independent filmmakers that to be truly independent they would eventually get back the rights or control the rights,...
This sent Deutchman into detective mode, to discover what happened to many of the films he helped introduce to the world. He walked away from his initial examination shocked by the situation and with a grim assessment: We are in danger of losing many of the films that defined recent movements in American independent film.
“During the height of in the independent boom back in the ’80s and into the 90s, it was always considered the holy grail for independent filmmakers that to be truly independent they would eventually get back the rights or control the rights,...
- 9/25/2018
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
When Roger was asked to start a film festival by Kim Rotzoll, the dean of the College of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, we had no idea it would exist 20 years later. The idea was to do a one-time festival as a follow up to the successful Cyberfest, the birthday party for Hal 9000, the computer in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” who says in the movie that he was born in Urbana, Illinois. Roger had something in common with Hal 9000, he too was born in Urbana. And so Roger agreed to undertake the task. Besides, Roger was a proponent of the civilizing effect that watching movies communally could have. He said that movies are a giant machine that generates empathy, letting us know about the different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears of others and helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.
- 4/18/2018
- by Chaz Ebert
- Variety Film + TV
Read More: Interview with Nancy Savoca: Co-Writer and Director of 'Union Square' The University of Michigan has announced that filmmaker Nancy Savoca will donate her personal archives to the school's Mavericks and Makes Indie Film Collection. The archives will include a diverse range of her work, including drawings, budgets, research documents, drafts of screenplays, audio and video interviews, press photos, props and even a few notebooks from her high school film class. Savoca will be the first female "Maverick" in the collection, which houses an immense range of material from fellow filmmakers such as Orson Welles, Robert Altman, Alan Rudolph, John Sayles and Ira Deutchman. Savoca has been an independent filmmaker, working with her husband and partner Rich Guay, for more than 25 years. Her works includes "True Love" (which won the Grand Jury Prize at the inaugural 1989 Sundance Film Festival), "Household Saints,"...
- 2/4/2016
- by Mike Lown
- Indiewire
Review by Sam Moffitt
I was as shocked and saddened as anyone at hearing of the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Not that long ago I wrote a review of Jack Goes Boating for We Are Movie Geeks, directed by Hoffman and starring him in an amazing performance. I’m glad I did that as I had no way of knowing Hoffman wouldn’t be with us much longer. I cannot comment on the problems he had with addictions. I had my own substance issues for years. I never lost a job or stole anything to support any habit and I never had to go into rehab, I simply quit using anything. Two cups of coffee is about as wild as I get these days.
Of course the Hollywood haters came out on the internet and in newspaper letter columns slamming Hoffman and the entire Hollywood lifestyle. Again, I can...
I was as shocked and saddened as anyone at hearing of the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Not that long ago I wrote a review of Jack Goes Boating for We Are Movie Geeks, directed by Hoffman and starring him in an amazing performance. I’m glad I did that as I had no way of knowing Hoffman wouldn’t be with us much longer. I cannot comment on the problems he had with addictions. I had my own substance issues for years. I never lost a job or stole anything to support any habit and I never had to go into rehab, I simply quit using anything. Two cups of coffee is about as wild as I get these days.
Of course the Hollywood haters came out on the internet and in newspaper letter columns slamming Hoffman and the entire Hollywood lifestyle. Again, I can...
- 2/13/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Director James Wan has assembled a fantastic core cast for "The Conjuring," not filled with movie stars but with Class-a character actors like Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as The Warrens. Their counterparts are Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor as the heads of the large Perron family, who move into a farmhouse in Rhode Island that's haunted up the ass.
Of these four leads perhaps the most physically/emotionally challenging role went to Lili Taylor as Carolyn Perron, who begins to disintegrate under the stress of ghostly bombardment. Taylor's career spans decades, from early roles in "Say Anything…" and "Mystic Pizza" to ensemble pieces like "Short Cuts" and "Public Enemies." We sat down 1-on-1 with the actress for a lively chat about possessing Republicans, being underrated and throwing 1999's "The Haunting" under the bus.
In this movie you have a lot of kids, like five whole children. You grew up...
Of these four leads perhaps the most physically/emotionally challenging role went to Lili Taylor as Carolyn Perron, who begins to disintegrate under the stress of ghostly bombardment. Taylor's career spans decades, from early roles in "Say Anything…" and "Mystic Pizza" to ensemble pieces like "Short Cuts" and "Public Enemies." We sat down 1-on-1 with the actress for a lively chat about possessing Republicans, being underrated and throwing 1999's "The Haunting" under the bus.
In this movie you have a lot of kids, like five whole children. You grew up...
- 7/18/2013
- by Max Evry
- NextMovie
Mira Sorvino continued her commitment to the independent world agreeing to headline the drama about estranged sisters, “Union Square,” from veteran director Nancy Savoca. According to “Deadline,” Sorvino signed on to co-star opposite Tammy Blanchard as two estranged sisters who reunite with one about to get married and the other about to experience a nervous breakdown. Bronx native Savoca, who directed landmark indie melodramas like “Dogfight,” “Household Saints” and “The 24 Hour Woman,” co-wrote the script with Mary Tobler.
- 11/25/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Mira Sorvino continued her commitment to the independent world agreeing to headline the drama about estranged sisters, “Union Square,” from veteran director Nancy Savoca. According to “Deadline,” Sorvino signed on to co-star opposite Tammy Blanchard as two estranged sisters who reunite with one about to get married and the other about to experience a nervous breakdown. Bronx native Savoca, who directed landmark indie melodramas like “Dogfight,” “Household Saints” and “The 24 Hour Woman,” co-wrote the script with Mary Tobler.
- 11/25/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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