Main Cast: Heather Matarazzo, Zach Braff, Michael Weston, Bebe Neuwirth, Mark Blum
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
Premiering in the dramatic competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Getting to Know You is director Lisanne Skyler's first narrative feature, following her 1995 Sundance Film Festival documentary No Loans Today. The film takes place in one afternoon at a bus depot where Judith (Welcome to the Dollhouse's Heather Matarazzo) and her brother Wesley wait for the bus. There Judith meets Jimmy (Michael Weston), a kid with a great imagination and nowhere to go. Jimmy tells Judith stories about the lonely people who are sitting at the depot, and his tall tales become flashbacks in the film. As the story progresses, Jimmy and Judith start falling in love and finally reveal the secrets of their own lives: Jimmy's father was a cop who was killed in a simple domestic disturbance call, and Judith lives with her aunt following a spousal argument that put Judith's father in prison and her mother (Bebe Neuwirth) in a mental institution. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
Review
Skillfully adapted from short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, this feature succeeds in its heartfelt, detailed depiction of crumbling families and how their effects can take a toll on the young. The wonderfully natural Heather Matarazzo creates a firmly identifiable teenage focus, and with the aid of a top-drawer cast, effortlessly etches out Oates' themes of loneliness and abandonment. Director Lisanne Skyler finds the right note in virtually every scene (except for a few obvious passages), and her restrained direction keeps the film on target, especially in the use of flashbacks, a device that often mars the narrative of similar pictures. The tone of the stories has an exactitude that's hard to fake; it sometimes feels as if the filmmakers actually lived in the bleak, barren towns the movie depicts. But the soulful rendering of the tales makes the film anything but bleak and barren. Getting to Know You enjoyed acclaim at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival but never picked up a distributor, leaving its director to explore grassroots methods of getting the film seen. The film was ultimately released independently, but only to a handful of theaters throughout the nation. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
Bo Hopkins - Officer Caminetto; Sonja Sogn - Irene; Tristine Skyler - Lynn; Chris North - Sonny; Kevin Black - Brady; Mary McCormack - Leila Lee; Jacob Reynolds - Lamar Pike Jr.; Leo Burmeister - Lamara Pike Sr.; Celia Weston - Bottle Lady; Craig Anthony Grant - Ticket Clerk
Credit
Jordan Beswick - Casting, Luis Perez - Choreography, Roger Baerwolf - Co-producer, Astrid Brucker - Costume Designer, Michael Lerman - First Assistant Director, Lisanne Skyler - Director, Anthony Sherin - Editor, Julie Janata - Editor, Scott Rosenfelt - Executive Producer, Larry Estes - Executive Producer, David Skinner - Executive Producer, Petra Hoebel - Location Manager, Per Melita - Line Producer, Michael Brook - Composer (Music Score), Susan Reilly - Makeup, Jody Anes - Production Designer, Jim Denault - Cinematographer, Per Melita - Production Manager, Laura Gabbert - Producer, George LaVoo - Producer, Antonio L. Arroyo - Sound/Sound Designer, Tristine Skyler - Screenwriter, Lisanne Skyler - Screenwriter, David Harges - Grip, Peter Thorell - Second Assistant Director, Brian Elwell - Set Decorator, Blake Busby - Title Design
