Films

Smart People

Directed by Noam Murro

Starring Dennis Quaid, Elliot Page, Thomas Haden Church, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

With Ashton Homes, Christine Lahti, David Denman, Patrick Sebes, and Camille Mana.

Miramax Films

Sundance, American Film Festival of Deauville, Chesapeake Bay Film Festival

New York Times Critic’s Pick

“…the great virtue of “Smart People,” attributable to Noam Murro’s easygoing direction as well as to Mr. Poirier’s wandering screenplay, lies in its general preference for small insights over grand revelations. There is a fairly busy plot, and some of its developments — an unplanned pregnancy, a flicker of quasi-incestuous sexual interest, the acceptance of a poem by The New Yorker — clatter onto the screen like carelessly flung darts. But to a greater extent than in most comedies, the narrative seems more like background or scaffolding than like the engine that drives the characters, who are propelled instead by their own colliding, confusing, idiosyncratic energies.” — A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Goats

Directed by Chris Neil

Starring David Duchovny, Graham Phillips, Vera Farmiga, and Ty Burrell

With Keri Russell, Justin Kirk, Dakota Johnson, Anthony Anderson, and Olga Segura

Image Entertainment

Sundance, Nantucket Film Festival

“…credit first-time director Christopher Neil (and screenwriter Mark Poirier, adapting his own novel) for never exaggerating his protagonist’s plight or resorting to grow-up-or-die histrionics. While such restraint robs the film of any purposeful thrust, its ambling pace and Ellis’s academic successes allows for a more fine-grained exploration of the adults that fail him. Farmiga persuades as a kooky monster of a matriarch, while Javier is an ideal vessel for Duchovny’s laconic line readings (he’s grown into an even more deadpan Bill Murray). Goats may cover an all-too-familiar terrain, but at least it grazes it well.” —Eric Hynes, TimeOut

Hateship Loveship

Based on the Alice Munro’s short story, “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage”

Directed by Liza Johnson

Starring Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Halee Steinfeld, and Nick Nolte

With Christine Lahti, Sami Gayle, and Jennifer Jason Lee

IFC Films

Toronto International Film Festival, MoMA

“Director Liza Johnson does a phenomenal job of getting great performances out of her cast. She lets us sit back and slowly discover new things about the characters, never quite knowing which direction the film will take. The film has an incredible soundtrack by Dickon Hinchliffe, with most of the music in the film is provided by songs played on radios that perfectly match the moods and emotions of the scenes they are in. The screenplay, written by Mark Poirier, never gives us too much at one time and lets the characters speak through their actions more than their words. It's a film where the audience hopes that each character in the film can find love and peace, and maybe with Wiig's Johanna  at the center of the action, they will find it.” —Michael McKinney, CW Atlanta

Father Daughter Dance (short)

Written by Owen King and Mark Jude Poirier

Directed by Mark Jude Poirier

Starring Robert Anthony Peters, Jennifer Lafleur, Coco Mayo, and Jerry Rocha

With Ed Cahill

San Pedro International Film Festival, Arizona International Film Festival, Yonkers Film Festival