The Moveable Fest

Interview: Jess Weixler & Jay Gammill Dish On Savoring the Sour in the Otherwise Sweet Comedy "Free Samples"

Although a far different existential crisis than the one faced by the lead in his first film “Free Samples,” Jay Gammill encountered a crossroads while going to film school. As a storyteller, his sensibilities drifted towards the comedic while a desire to be taken more seriously pushed him in the direction of drama, so when it came time to direct his feature debut, he was pleasantly surprised to discover a kindred spirit in screenwriter Jim Beggarly, whom he had met at a film festival and had passed along an idea about a young woman who is surly well beyond years.

“Thankfully, there’s a world where you can make that comedy-drama film,” says Gammill. “It’s like I get to have fun and enjoy it, but I also get to connect with characters, which is why I like watching movies.”

Parked firmly between those two genres, “Free Samples” offers up a “Waiting for Godot”-esque tragicomedy set during this golden age of food trucks, where Jillian, a recent dropout of Stanford Law School ponders her future in between handing out cups of an unidentified frozen dessert for a company trial to a parade of eccentrics, old acquaintances or some combination thereof. Anchored by the reliably radiant Jess Weixler as the taciturn Jillian, the movie’s revolving door of customers and passerbys lends itself to an impressive ensemble that includes Weixler’s “Peter and Vandy” co-star Jason Ritter, Haley Feiffer, Jesse Eisenberg, Matt Walsh, “House of the Devil”’s Jocelin Donahue and Tippi Hedren, who in particular shines as a former actress who knocks some sense into Jillian by describing her own life as a shut-in once she felt her best years were behind her.

Clearly, that’s not the case for either Gammill or Weixler, who recently took the time to talk about “Free Samples” a year removed from its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on the eve of its day-and-date theatrical and VOD release, reflecting on the unusually smooth way the film came together through friends and the sweaty days they spent on the truck during a short shoot in Los Angeles.

Review: Be Thankful Sarah Polley Shares 'Stories We Tell'

It's hard to think of a public figure that I've felt closer to than Sarah Polley and I'm not even from her native Canada where she is truly beloved. As an actress, Polley was once a permanent resident in my household every week as I was when "Avonlea" ran on the Disney Channel and like a childhood friend you don't see quite enough, she checks in from time to time, leaving just enough evidence with every intimate performance to lend credence to a narrative that's comforting even if it certainly isn't true of the actual person.

While Polley's public persona is one of the few narratives that isn't directly picked apart by Polley's remarkable third film "Stories We Tell," it creates a fascinating context around what's a deeply personal story for Polley, one that you may have heard is best left unspoiled in advance. However, the revelation that Polley shares about her family with the audience isn't nearly as surprising as the ways in which she's able to process it as a filmmaker, presenting a loving portrait of her parents as told by their children whose occasionally fuzzy recollections and emotionally shaded memories become as much fact in what they share as the things they can all agree upon definitively.

Katie Aselton Scales “Black Rock,” But Not Without Some Bumps Along the Way

The same reasons that make Katie Aselton's second feature "Black Rock" hard to embrace are the same ones that make it admirable. A completely unexpected turn from her 2011 debut "The Freebie," which was as utilitarian as indie first features come by centering on a couple who give each other a free pass for one night in Los Angeles, her latest spans a timeframe not too much longer. Yet by moving the action - with a real emphasis on action - to an island in New England where a group of three young women try to escape the clutches of some newly delisted soldiers from Afghanistan after both parties come looking for a little R & R, Aselton challenges herself to make a physically brutal thriller that's successful on a visceral level if not a logical one.

Interview: Matthew Bonifacio on Good Luck Being on His Side in Building "Fortune House"

The first time I spoke to Matthew Bonifacio back in 2011, the filmmaker had been nominated for Spirit Award for his feature debut “Lbs.,” a drama that was shot over the course of nearly two-and-a-half years so that its lead to could lose an astonishing amount of weight to play a character trying to overcome his addiction to meatball hoagies and subsequently sat on the shelf for five years after its Sundance debut because of legal entanglements. While patience proved to be a virtue in the case of “Lbs” from conception to distribution, it’s a good thing for audiences that Bonifacio appears to have far less of it these days, making it an unofficial tradition to bring a new short film to the Tribeca Film Festival each year.

This year, Bonifacio delighted the New York crowds with the low-key charmer “Fortune House,” which centers on a man (Michael Aronov) with Asberger’s Syndrome who forms an unexpected bond with a waitress (Yuki Shibamoto) at his neighborhood Chinese restaurant. Under the auspices of the waitress’ doting mother who owns the restaurant, a friendship with the chance for romance develops for the two lonelyhearts, literally unfolding in simple gestures such as fortune cookie messages and the turning of tables between the pair. Shortly after the festival, I was able to catch up with Bonifacio to find out how his latest nine-minute movie, his longtime collaboration with its star Michael Aronov and how he initially got into filmmaking.

Review: Gerwig and Baumbach Get the Last Laugh With 'Frances Ha'

When books are written about American film in early 21st century, surely one of the more intriguing footnotes of what impact the Mumblecore movement had was the direct one that it had on Noah Baumbach, who brought name actors (Jane Adams, Josh Hamilton) onto Joe Swanberg's "Alexander the Last" in his capacity as an executive producer and took Greta Gerwig, Swanberg's leading lady of the mid 2000s, into the big time with "Greenberg."

That film, starring Ben Stiller as an aggrieved former rocker in Los Angeles, had all the trappings of the path Baumbach seemed ordained for following his rebirth with "The Squid and the Whale," chronicling the miseries of growing past the 20s he enshrined with "Kicking and Screaming" where anxieties could be cute to show the ugliness when they become ingrained. Gerwig, as the title character's lady in waiting, shined brightest, even in the sun-soaked photography of the late Harris Savides' lens, and so it is no surprise that she has been elevated to the lead in Baumbach's latest "Frances Ha" as well as a co-screenwriter, the effect of which appears to make Baumbach feel young again.

Kickstart This! Gabe Klinger's Filmmaker Portrait “Cinéma, de notre temps: James Benning & Richard Linklater”

After years of analyzing camera angles and editing technique as a respected contributor to Sight & Sound and Cinema Scope and as a cinema studies professor, Gabe Klinger reached a point while shooting his directorial debut, a documentary about the friendship between filmmakers James Benning and Richard Linklater, where all that knowledge might not matter.

“It Was Pornography”: Friedkin Closes the Book on the Missing 40 Minutes of “Cruising”

It would be difficult to describe William Friedkin as being in rare form last week when he presented a double bill of "Sorcerer" and "Cruising" to a sold-out house at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica last week since his appearance was part of the promotional tour for autobiography “The Friedkin Connection” in which his gregarious personality shines through. With previous stops across the country in New York and Chicago, Friedkin's been trying humility, often trotting out the adjective "bulletproof" as a way of explaining why he followed up his breakthrough one-two punch of "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist" with the far dicier twofer the folks at the Aero were onhand to see. Yet in relative terms to other filmmakers, few loom larger than life in the way Friedkin does when he’s in front of a crowd.

Watch It Now: "Family Tree" Comedienne Nina Conti Monkeys Around in "Her Master's Voice"

While we're excited about Christopher Guest's return to filmmaking with the HBO series "Family Tree" this week, his first original comedy since 2006's awards season send-up "For Your Consideration," we're equally enthused about the Stateside arrival of Nina Conti, the British ventriloquist who will be bringing along her foul-mouthed monkey Monk with her to steal scenes as one of the eccentric relatives of a man (Chris O'Dowd) who hits the road with genealogy as his guide.

Though Conti made a brief appearance in "For Your Consideration" as a TV anchor, it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before she became a featured player in one of Guest's productions after the "Waiting for Guffman" writer/director lent his name as an executive producer to her surreal 2012 documentary "Her Master's Voice," which follows the comedienne as she pays tribute to a former mentor. We adored the film when it premiered at SXSW - our review is here - and since it's now available to watch online via Hulu, you might want to catch up on the unique performer before her big debut on Sunday night.

Tribeca Film Fest '13 Review: No Need to Gild The Beautifully Understated Character Study "Lily"

Just as there are many ways people deal with cancer, there are many ways to make a film about those people handling it in their own way, often engineered to jerk the most tears rather than provoke the most thought. That is not the case with "Lily," the debut feature of Matt Creed which doesn't resort to upping the drama or the comedy for one to access the deceptively complex character study of a young woman in stasis following her recovery from something profound. 

Tribeca Film Fest '13 Review: Dave Carroll Forges a Heavy-Duty Debut With the Strongman Doc "Bending Steel"

Chris Schoeck likes to introduce his act by saying, "I'm interested in things that were done between 1890 and 1910 on Coney Island," a contradiction in modern times that’s proves to be only one of many for the diminutive strongman in Dave Carroll’s portrait “Bending Steel.” Given to grand statements such as "I get out of this steel what most people get out of personal relationships," he's got a long way to go if he wants to be a successful entertainer, as that specific statement would suggest, even without facing the considerable odds of making it as a performer of a bygone artform.