The Night Listener (2006) - Robin Williams leads strong cast in twisted, edgy late-nighter

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Stars look less than hopeful on this dark and gloomy poster for Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener

A prominent radio host storyteller in New York gets dumped by his younger boyfriend and comes into connection with a 14 year-old boy, who has been abused. - But is the boy real?

 

The Night Listener is written by Terry Anderson (The Young Graduates (1971, original story)), Armistead Maupin (Babycakes (1984, novel)) and co-writer/director Patrick Stettner (The Business of Strangers (2001)). It is an adaptation of the same-titled 2000 novel by Maupin, and is based on a true story that presented itself to Maupin.

It is a very dark and sombre Christmas movie, which benefits immensely from its strong actors: Robin Williams (Mork & Mindy (1978-82)) is credible in the protagonist role, and we more or less understand what makes him travel to Wisconsin to know for sure about the boy. Rory Culkin (Hick (2011)) is taunting in the central, controversial role as said boy; it is a 'grey zone' role involving scenes with sexual overtones that will strike some as off-putting, (although the two characters only speak on the phone together.) SPOILER Toni Collette (Knives Out (2019)) is central and chilling as the woman who invents incest stories (and a human being) to gain attention and sympathy.

The Night Listener is a disturbing 'late-night-watch'-type movie for grownups. 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 3 mil. $

Box office: 10.6 mil. $ 

= Big hit (returned 3.53 times its cost)

[The Night Listener premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 81 minutes. The story is based on Maupin's experience of getting sent an abuse story novel manuscript in 1992, allegedly from a 14 year-old boy, who turned out to be a creation of the woman Vicki Johnson. Williams was paid 65k $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place around April 2005 in New York and New Jersey. The film opened #10 to a 3.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it never achieved a higher rank and grossed 7.8 mil. $ (73.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.3 mil. $ (12.3 %) and Mexico with 577k $ (5.4 %). Stettner has only returned as writer/director of a TV-series episode in 2012 but has otherwise left filmmaking completely. Williams returned in RV (2006); Collette in Murderous Intent (2006); and Culkin in Lymelife (2008). The Night Listener is rotten at 40 % with a 5.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Night Listener?

City Island (2009) - Felitta's dramedy masterpiece

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+ Best New York Movie of the Year

A neat mix of photography and drawing that gives hints to the secrets of the characters in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

QUICK REVIEW:

Outside of New York City, on City Island, lives a family of convinced liars. The father hides his secret son in a shed and secretly attends acting classes in the city. The mother flirts with infidelity. The daughter strips. And the son has a kink. - And they all secretly smoke.

City Island is a wonderfully written gem of coming clean and finding a way to come together. Importantly, it never becomes viscid in any way, but retains realism throughout. It is incredibly well-acted: Particularly by Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife (2009-15)), Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and Andy Garcia (Rob The Mob (2014)) as the film's super-involved dream leader, who shows the way for the rest of the cast without shaking for a millisecond.
City Island is a highly engaging, funny, exciting modern dramedy classic. - Don't miss this masterpiece!
It is written and directed by New York-born filmmaker Raymond De Felitta, who debuted in 1995 with Cafe Society, after being Oscar-nominated for his short Bronx Cheers (1990). He has made other features and a couple of documentaries since, and most recently Rob the Mob, (regrettably) still to be found high on Film Excess' watch list.
Film Excess favorite Miller's turn in the long-awaited Madame Bovary (2014) has been released last year, but only very limited so far. This year he will be seen in Judd Apatow's much-anticipated Trainwreck (2015), - again  alongside Tilda Swinton, - and in the eerily sounding The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), alongside a slew of other young, happening actors. - Exciting!

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Andy Garcia brought down in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

The lovely Ezra Miller in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Andy Garcia studies Brando on this character poster for Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Julianna Margulies raises her glass on this character poster for Raymod De Felitta's City Island

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 7.8 mil. $
= Big flop
[The film won the Audience Award at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, but, unfortunately, it wasn't able to broaden its success out much. It made 6.6 mil. $ (85 % of the total gross) in the States.]

What do you think of City Island?
Have you seen other films by Raymond De Felitta? 
If so, tell about it/them