Sherry is a young woman with a history of drug abuse & emotional turmoil. Just out of prison she finds herself struggling against all odds to reconnect with her estranged 5-year-old daughter while trying to readjust to the outside world. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/23/2007 Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal Brad William Henke Run time: 96 minutes Rating: RA disturbing film about a recovering drug addict trying to regain control of her life,
Sherrybaby succinctly depicts what can happen when want and desire aren't offset by control. In this bleak indie film, Sherry Swanson (Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Stranger Than Fiction,
Secretary) has just been released from a three-year stint in prison. Dressed in her inappropriate uniform of a halter top and oh-so-high platform heels, she goes to brother's house to see her 5-year-old daughter, Lexie (Ryan Simp! kins). Sherry is determined to be a mother to her child, but without a home, job, or any other form of stability, she grows frustrated and jealous of her brother and sister-in-law's roles in Lexie's life. Tall and willowy, Gyllenhaal brings a sad desperation and simmering sexuality to the role. Sherry's middle-class childhood was a blur of sex and drugs, and she seems incapable of breaking out of that destructive trap. While the script by first-time feature film director Laurie Collyer isn't wholly original, the picture moves at a good pace, giving insight as to why Sherry's resigned to using sex to get what she wants. While the family secret doesn't come as a complete surprise, it is somewhat perplexing that no one addresses it. Ultimately, it's Gyllenhaal who makes you care about a character that most people would've given up on.
--Jae-Ha KimLee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has a few strikes against her when she applies for a secretarial position at the law office ! of E. Edward Grey (James Spader). At first the work seems quit! e normal but soon, in between typing, filing and coffee making, Lee and Mr. Grey embark on a more personal relationship together, crossing the lines of conduct that would give any human resource director the vapors!This kinky love story features a standout performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal, an offbeat young actress in her first starring role. Gyllenhaal plays Lee, a nervous girl who compulsively cuts herself, who gets a job as a secretary for Edward, an imperious lawyer (James Spader, an old hand at tales of perverse affection). Edward's reprimands for typos and spelling errors begin with mild humiliation, but as Lee responds to his orders--which are driven as much by his own anxieties and fears as any sense of order--the punishments escalate to spankings, shackles, and more.
Secretary walks a fine line. It finds sly humor in these sadomasochistic doings without turning them into a gag, and it takes Lee and Edward's mutual desires seriously without getting self-right! eous or pompous. Certainly not a movie for everyone, but some people may be unexpectedly stirred up by this smart and steamy tale of repressed passion.
--Bret FetzerJohn C. Reilly, Diego Luna and Maggie Gyllenhaal navigate the con-or-be-conned world of the L.A. grift in a clever caper directed by Gregory Jacobs and produced by Jacobs, George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh. A $750,000 one-night score awaits Richard and Rodrigo if they can flimflam an antique-currency collector (Peter Mullan) - a ruse soon packed with more twists than a box of pretzels. For suspense, surprise and a wow ending, catch this Criminal!Richard Gaddis (John C. Reilly) catches young Rodrigo (Diego Luna) conning some casino waitresses out of chump change and decides the guy is just the right chump to help him run other local scams. The slyest thing about this diverting remake of the 2000 Argentinian heist flick
Nine Queens is, in fact, how much everybody seems to have a scam in the wor! ks--there isn’t a single honest soul in sinful, sunbeaten Lo! s Angele s. Richard and Rodrigo soon get caught up in a big swindle concerning some counterfeit currency, a game that ensnares Gaddis’ angrily estranged sister Valerie (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the concierge of the hotel that’s hosting the guys’ main mark (Peter Mullan, coolly brutish). What happens next isn’t really anything new--
The Sting, anyone?--and the requisite final twist might not hold up to closer inspection, but director Gregory Jacobs knows how to lie back and it keep it gliding affably along (he served as an assistant director on nearly all of Steven Soderbergh’s films). The performers all hook into the low-key vibe: Reilly’s schlub persona fits snugly into his small-time grifter role, while Luna and Gyllenhaal seem more simmering and sexy in each new shot. The movie is as entertaining and inessential as L.A. itself.
--Steve WieckingJames Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in the dark comedy Secretary. Praised as “daring, funny and quirkily erotic!â! € (Glenn Kenny, PREMIERE) and “sexy and highly stylized†(GEAR magazine), Secretary is the story of Lee Holloway (Gyllenhaal), a young woman with a few strikes against her after a brief stay in a mental hospital, who accepts a secretarial position working at the law office of E. Edward Grey (Spader). The work seems normal at first, but somewhere between the typing, filing and coffee-making, Lee and her new boss cross the line of their professional relationship and enter into a Human Resources nightmare!This kinky love story features a standout performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal, an offbeat young actress in her first starring role. Gyllenhaal plays Lee, a nervous girl who compulsively cuts herself, who gets a job as a secretary for Edward, an imperious lawyer (James Spader, an old hand at tales of perverse affection). Edward's reprimands for typos and spelling errors begin with mild humiliation, but as Lee responds to his orders--which are driven as much by his own ! anxieties and fears as any sense of order--the punishments es! calate t o spankings, shackles, and more.
Secretary walks a fine line. It finds sly humor in these sadomasochistic doings without turning them into a gag, and it takes Lee and Edward's mutual desires seriously without getting self-righteous or pompous. Certainly not a movie for everyone, but some people may be unexpectedly stirred up by this smart and steamy tale of repressed passion.
--Bret FetzerHAPPY ENDINGS - DVD Movie"It's a comedy, sort of," a title card announces at the start of
Happy Endings--just after Mamie (Lisa Kudrow) has been hit by a car. So it is, but talk about an unhappy beginning! Never fear, writer/director Don Roos will fulfill the promise of that title in several unexpected ways. The story then flashes back to 1983 for Mamie's life-altering encounter with her stepbrother. Mamie and Charley (Steve Coogan) will struggle with its consequences for the rest of the film. Does her teen pregnancy explain the fact that she became an abortion co! unselor or that he came out of the closet? Roos doesn't say, but nor does he judge. He loves his characters--foibles and all--in his ambitious, Altman-esque follow-up to the acerbic, yet heartfelt
The Opposite of Sex. As before, Kudrow is the center around which the other plotlines revolve (and her uptight, yet likable Mamie couldn't resemble TV’s Phoebe less). In the end, though, Maggie Gyllenhaal's seductive Jude and Tom Arnold's sensitive Frank are Roos' most inspired creations. Their relationship is one of contemporary cinema's oddest and most touching. The happy ending for one will be real, the other imaginary, but everyone will earn the one they get.
--Kathleen C. FennessyHigh quality import edition, manufactured in Brazil . Sound in English with Optional Portuguese subtitles ,easy to turn off. -~~~~Strip Search follows several parallel stories examining personal freedoms vs. national security in the aftermath of 9/11; two main subplots involve an Amer! ican woman detained in China and an Arab man detained in New Y! ork City
