opens in NYC this Friday.">opens in NYC this Friday.">

Lovers of Hate Opens Friday at reRun

Get Tickets for Lovers of Hate, opening this Friday at the reRun Gastropub and Theater.

Read our own Ad Wasey’s interview with director Bryan Poyser here.

Watch the Trailer here.

One of my favorite films from the Rooftop 2010 Summer Series was Bryan Poyser‘s critically acclaimed Lovers of Hate. It’s a taut, brutal, and deeply dark comedy about sibling rivalry, longing, and betrayal.

And it seems I’m not the only one who liked it. The film has been nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards.

LA Weekly called it “…the most exciting American indie I’ve seen in a while,” and the New York Times described it as “viciously amusing.”

But Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle may have put it best when he said, “If you were ever wondering what Die Hard would have been like if Neil LaBute directed it as an art film, prepare to enjoy Lovers of Hate.”

So I’m pretty excited by the news that the film will open in New York. This Friday. At the reRun Gastropub and Theater. For one week only. So go see it.

Grab a ticket, grab a drink, and settle in for a truly savage piece of indie comedy.

Here’s what indieWIRE’s Eric Kohn wrote about the film for our program guide last year:

“Sibling rivalry can be alternately tragic and funny, but in Bryan Poyser’s Lovers of Hate, it’s both. The Austin-based director’s savage comedy centers on floundering writer Rudy (Chris Doubek, co-star of the 2010 Rooftop Films entry The Happy Poet) and his successful brother Paul (Alex Karpovsky, co-star of the 2010 Rooftop Films entry Tiny Furniture), a children’s book author who stole all of Rudy’s ideas. Jobless and living out of his car, Rudy convinces his crestfallen ex-girlfriend Diana (Heather Kafka) to pretend they’re still together when Paul passes through town on a business trip. Nevertheless, Paul figures out the trick and confronts his brother about his troubles, although there’s more to their relationship than meets the eye.

On a whim, Rudy travels out to Park City in the hopes of surprising Paul at his spacious vacation condo. But when his brother comes home with an affectionate embrace with a certain woman from Rudy’s recent past, he decides to keep his presence in the house a mystery. What follows is an ingenious filmmaking conceit: Rudy hides in the shadows, spying on Paul and Diana as they engage in a secret liaison and revel in candid pillow talk. Poyser repeatedly shifts perspective among his three characters, combining suspense with slapstick comedy and keeping us guessing whether Paul and Diana will notice their unexpected visitor. Over time, however, Rudy begins to confront the possibility that he has managed to remain invisible for so long because he always has been.

Predominantly shot on location in Park City, Lovers of Hate appropriately premiered in dramatic competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it was met with widespread critical acclaim. It followed up that premiere with an equally positive homecoming celebration at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Poyser, whose directorial debut Dear Pillow gained similar acclaim following its Slamdance Film Festival premiere in 2006, wins over audiences with his delectable blend of believable characters, comically awkward scenarios, and frank sexual dialogue. The bulk of the movie’s appeal comes from the explosive onscreen chemistry of Doubek and Karpovsky, himself a writer-director whose features The Hole Story and Woodpecker screened at Rooftop Films in previous years.”

So if you missed it at Rooftop last summer, go see it this Friday at reRun.

Tickets here.

Watch the trailer: