{"id":7847,"date":"2010-02-21T20:59:05","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T04:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7847"},"modified":"2010-02-21T22:15:55","modified_gmt":"2010-02-22T06:15:55","slug":"ten-stories-tall-david-garrett-2010-usa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7847","title":{"rendered":"Ten Stories Tall (David Garrett, 2010): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Rowan-George Smith<\/a>. Viewed at the S.B. Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tovah Feldshuh leads the notably talented ensemble cast in David Garrett\u2019s Ten Stories Tall.\u00a0 His directorial debut feature film follows the lives of two close-knit New York families who share the loss of a mother and, a dear friend.<\/p>\n

Anna dies and life goes on for her children, Jackie (Ally Sheedy) and Charlie (Josh Hamilton.\u00a0 Grace (Tovah Feldshuh), Anna\u2019s dear friend controls her funeral and makes a startling revelation that no-one saw coming.\u00a0 Grace\u2019s supportive daughter, Josephine (Jennifer Regan), a recovering alcoholic, is on the path of figuring out her life and exploring love.\u00a0 Charlie receives unexpected news that drastically alters his outlook on life and challenges the relationship with his girlfriend Susan (Sherri Saum).\u00a0 Jackie desperately searches for answers, later she comes to terms with her mother\u2019s secret and makes peace with Grace.<\/p>\n

It was difficult to get into this film at the start.\u00a0 Grace is grieving for Anna.\u00a0 Then, cut to the funeral, the pace is slow and the scene, naturally depressing, and too long.\u00a0 The only thing keeping the viewers from tuning out already is the brilliantly flawless performance of Tovah Feldshuh as the control freak, divorcee, hot\/cold mother, Grace Parker.\u00a0 And, the scene gave a preview of Ally Sheedy\u2019s priceless comedic moments with her entrances\/exits, one-liners, in the role of Jackie, the grieving daughter of Anna.\u00a0 The funeral scene also sets up a preview of the well-developed dysfunctional characters in the film, and, at times, I thought I was watching the Walker family in an episode of Brothers & Sisters.\u00a0 Another memorable scene where Sheedy shines is later in the film, at her brother Charlie\u2019s gallery show.\u00a0 As I recall, I believe Jackie abruptly enters a scene here, says, \u201cHi\u201d and bolts, her delivery was classic.\u00a0 Sheedy\u2019s comedic timing, the characters walk and demeanor were priceless in this moment, and others, the director brilliantly captured her.\u00a0 Sheedy is great with the dramatics and impressive with humor too.\u00a0 An uneven performance from soap-star Sherri Saum as Susan, Charlie\u2019s girlfriend, however, this young actress has great potential \u2013 she\u2019s one to watch for.\u00a0 Her love scene with Josh Hamilton, as Charlie was beautifully acted and very intense and not for obvious reasons.\u00a0 However, Hamilton was banal in the role, he ought to have made observations of Peter Krause\u2019s work in Six Feet Under.\u00a0 Jennifer Regan as Josephine Parker, was solid in her performance, great chemistry with her screen mother, Feldshuh and actor Jim Gaffigan as Simon in the small role as a gallery shop owner.\u00a0 Overall, great casting from New York casting director, Adrienne Stern.<\/p>\n

David Garrett made an exceptional film about love, loss and life, and his sensitivity, strength, and personal struggles are evident in this moving piece.\u00a0 The scenes are dynamic, filled with complexity, and felt totally organic and honest.\u00a0 The film is ninety-seven minutes.\u00a0 Art is selection and arrangement, and once Garrett masters the craft of cutting out ho-hum material, he\u2019s definitely got a great future as a filmmaker.\u00a0 Garrett is on his way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Rowan-George Smith. Viewed at the S.B. Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Film Festival. Tovah Feldshuh leads the notably talented ensemble cast in David Garrett\u2019s Ten Stories Tall.\u00a0 His directorial debut feature film follows the lives of two close-knit New York families who share the loss of a mother and, a dear friend. Anna […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}