Themes: Self-Destructive Romance, Creative Block, Bohemian Life
Main Cast: Mark Curry, Michele Harris, Paulina Mielech, Fred Parnes, Heather Roop
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
A pair of like-minded artists find their personal lives are suffering at the hands of their creative disappointments in this independent drama. Roper (Fred Parnes) is a documentary filmmaker who loves music and is obsessed with the blues; his latest project has been a film about veteran blues artists, but Roper's inability to find a distributor for the project is making him impossible to live with, which is straining his relationship with his girlfriend, Lily (Paulina Mielech), herself a musician, to the breaking point. Roper's anxieties are also putting a damper on his relationship with his young son, Augie (Anton Yelchin). Meanwhile, Roper's close friend and neighbor, Andy (Chris Rydell), has problems of his own; while Andy is a gifted sax player, he's stuck in a rut he can't seem to get out of, and after inheriting a nest egg from his grandmother, Andy prefers to smoke dope and hang out with his friend, Jeff (Mary Curry), rather than work on his music, which frustrates his girlfriend, Jamie (Heather Roop). Roper's dilemmas doubtlessly rang true for star and director Fred Parnes, who himself directed an acclaimed documentary on the celebrated R&B a cappella group the Persuasions. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
