Apart From That New York Sneak Preview!
A dramatic feature by Jennifer Shainin & Randy Walker
A lovely and lighthearted feature-length drama about oddly intersecting lives, as three vulnerable individuals find their way through a dysfunctional world. PRESS RELEASE
September 7, 2006
8:30 - Live Music by Gretchen's Riverside String Band (click for details)
9:00 - Showtime
TRT: 2:08:19
On the roof of Downtown Community Television (DCTV) | DIRECTIONS
87 Lafayette, 2 blocks below Canal btwn Walker & White, Tribeca, Manhattan
Apart From That Apart From That is a subtle and stunning film which floats in and out of the lives of a small group of brilliantly conceived characters, who appear so natural and nuanced that we immediately laugh with them, not at them; we feel their anxieties and share their desires; we are surprised by their actions, but comforted by their familiarity.
The American theme of lives lived in quiet desperation is sensitively applied through each of the film's elegantly woven strands, all reaching a satisfying end without feeling neatly resolved...the film is a marvel, with a singular vision in mood, editing, design and look.
-Variety
At the beginning of Apart From That, we drift through a large, informal dinner party. Perhaps it's a birthday, maybe just a pre-Halloween party. Hard to tell. We chuckle with old friends, bicker with distant relatives, and make awkward small talk with odd newcomers. It's hard to keep track of who's who, and the disorientation is a bit unsettling. But the atmosphere is jovial, everyone is introduced, and the tone is set for this disarmingly simple and unexpectedly humorous drama.
Ulla rents a room in Peggy's home, and they don't talk much. They have very little in common, or so it seems; Ulla is an introverted student beautician who drives a Buick that doesn't belong to her, while Peggy has become too old to keep her driver's license and too lonely to care about her own reputation. In want of company, Peggy makes emergency phone calls to local fire departments, and when there is no fire to put out, she offers coffee and nudity in consolation. Meanwhile, when Ulla is recruited into an intervention for a fellow classmate of hers—someone whom she hardly knows—she is thrown into a new set of circumstances that derails her role as a guest in a foreign home full of sound and silence.
Leo, a Native American road striper for the department of transportation, remains haunted by something he can't talk about. While all of his co-workers come to him with their constant litany of everyday dilemmas, Leo chooses to avoid his ghosts in silence. Plus, he's afraid of cows. Leo's inability to face the impending death of his best friend is only frustrated by the seemingly endless army of distractions that he sets up for himself. In the end, when it becomes too late, what remains is not only regret, but also a strange glimpse at hope.
Sam works for a bank and is asked to fire Lee, a coworker who manages the marketing department. When Lee tries to explain to his family that he no longer has a job, Sam's son Kyle is stuck in the middle. Having lost Lee's son as a best friend, Kyle confronts his father about Lee's dismissal, and the divide between father and son grows increasingly irreconcilable as Sam attempts to distract the issue. Between Sam's desire to move on with life and Kyle's unrelenting efforts to reverse the events surrounding the lay-off, the pain and confusion that results cannot be cleanly resolved.
THE MUSIC: Gretchen's Riverside String Band: Lost during a powerful flash flood and thunderstorm last June, Gretchen's quirky band of musicians have found their way back from the raging waters, to once again, stream together the music of the ancestors.
