Themes: Nothing Goes Right, Prostitutes, Fathers and Daughters
Main Cast: Emmy Rossum, Mary McDonnell, Steven Bauer, James Badge Dale, Thom Christopher
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Nola (Emmy Rossum) is a Kansas teen who runs away to New York City to escape an abusive stepfather. Once she gets to the big town, she sets about looking for a job and for her father, whom she's never met. She attacks both tasks with fierce determination, but has little success, until she stumbles upon a greasy spoon near Union Square where the eccentric owner, Gus (Sam Coppola), immediately takes a liking to her. Soon, she's waitressing at the diner and crashing in a room upstairs with the handsome fry cook, Ben (James Badge Dale), who also goes to law school when he feels like it. Nola spends her spare time using the phone book in an effort to track down the man she knows only as "Hutch." Things look up for Nola when she meets the sassy owner of the diner, Margaret (Mary McDonnell), who also runs a very classy escort service. Margaret sees something in Nola, and hires the girl as her assistant. As Nola's relationship with Ben gets more intimate, she tells him about her dream of being a successful songwriter. But things take an ugly turn when one of Margaret's escorts, a transsexual named Wendy (Michael Cavadias) offends a rich and powerful client, Niles (Thom Christopher). Niles is determined to have his revenge, and tries to use his media contacts to have an exposé written about Margaret's business. But the reporter assigned to the story, Leo (Steven Bauer), turns out to be an old friend of Margaret's. Nola, the feature debut of writer/director Alan Hruska, a former trial lawyer, had its world premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Michael Cavadias - Wendy; Sam Coppola - Gus; Adam Le Fevre - Sam; Dominic Marcus - Slick; Bernie McInerney - Professor Cummings; Michael Medeiros - Flanders; Larry Pine - Max; Janis Dardaris - Nola's Mother; Lynne Matthew - Judge Belfray
Credit
Petina Cole - Associate Producer, Lina Todd - Casting, Alison E. McBryde - Casting, Melissa Toth - Costume Designer, Alan Hruska - Director, Peter C. Frank - Editor, Edmund Choi - Composer (Music Score), Sharon Lomofsky - Production Designer, Horacio Marquinez - Cinematographer, Rachel Peters - Producer, Jill Footlick - Producer, Coll Anderson - Sound/Sound Designer, Alan Hruska - Screenwriter
Nola is a 2003 romantic comedy film that depicts the struggle of a young woman trying to make it as a songwriter in New York City, while also trying to find her birth father. The film premiered in New York City on July 23, 2004.
After fleeing from her abusive stepfather, Nola (Emmy Rossum) travels to New York City searching for her biological father. She spends her first night sleeping in Central Park, but her luck changes when she is hired by the owner of a small diner. She ends up staying with the frycook/law school student Ben (James Badge Dale), until the real owner of the diner, and Ben's landlady Margaret (Mary McDonnell) hires Nola as her assistant for her escort service. Nola agrees, and a whirlwind of events lead her closer to finding her real father, but not without the help of a journalist (Steven Bauer) who is in need of a story on escort services. link title
