Finding Limited Releases
June 4, 2010
So far this summer, no limited releases have managed to score a real taste of mainstream success. This is not really surprising, as very few wide releases have tasted success in limited release. It doesn't look like that trend will end this week, but the film with the best shot is Ondine.
Convention - Reviews
Finding Bliss - Buy from Amazon
Ondine - Reviews
Rajneeti - Reviews
Rosencranz & Guildenstern Are Undead - No Reviews
Speed-Dating - No Reviews
A political documentary that takes a look at the behind-the-scenes of the staging of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Obviously, since this represented the official nomination of Barack Obama, this is of historical significance. However, so far the film has earned no positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes; granted, there are only three of them, but it's hardly a selling point to say "Too few people have reviewed it to tell if it is that bad." Convention opens tonight at the IFC Center in New York City.
Leelee Sobieski stars in this semi-autobiographical film about a woman trying to make it in Hollywood as a filmmaker, but instead ends up editing porn. That's a good setup and there are many directions the filmmakers could have taken it, but it appears from the reviews they failed to capture its potential. Finding Bliss opens tonight at the Village East Cinema in New York City in New York City.
Colin Farrell stars as a fisherman who catches a woman in his net, Alicja Bachleda, as the titular Ondine. His daughter, Alison Barry, believes she is a mythical selkie, a seal-woman of legends. The film is written and directed by Neil Jordan and it has some star power behind it. It is also the best-reviewed limited release on this week's list, although it is barely above the overall positive level, so that's not much of a selling point. It will likely be the best on the per theater chart, but I'm not sure it will do well enough to expand significantly. Ondine opens tonight in a few theaters, mostly in the Los Angeles area.
The widest release on this week's list, Rajneeti is the latest Indian opening here. It is loosely based on the Indian epic Mahabharat, but set in the world of modern politics. There are only two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, both negative, but it is hard to judge how this will affect its run, as most similar films have no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Rajneeti opens tonight in more than 100 theaters, but that is likely as wide as it will go.
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a movie (and before that a play) about two minor characters from the Shakespeare play, Hamlet. This movie obviously takes its name from that movie / play, but it tells the story of a director trying to put on a performance of Hamlet with his best friend and ex-girlfriend, but discovers the play wad actually written by a vampire, a vampire that has decided to turn the cast into the undead. There are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but I did find a few online that are mostly positive. That said, this movie will likely struggle theatrically and will likely have to wait till the home market to find an audience. Rosencranz & Guildenstern Are Undead opens tonight at the Village East Cinema in New York City in New York City.
Three bachelors take their passion for meaningless dating and their need for cash and combine them into a speed-dating scheme. It won the Audience Award at the 2010 Pan-African Film Festival, but there are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. This is not a good sign, as more people have heard of Rotten Tomatoes than they have the Pan-African Film Festival. Speed-Dating opens tonight in Chicago at the Ice Theater on 87th Street before expanding over the coming weeks.
Filed under: Limited Releases, Speed-Dating, Ondine, Raajneeti, Finding Bliss