Loren Cass
{{Short description|2006 American film directed by Chris Fuller}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Loren Cass
| image = Loren Cass (film poster).jpg
| caption =
| director = Chris Fuller
| producer = {{ubl|Frank Craft|Chris Fuller|Kayla Tabish}}
| writer = Chris Fuller
| starring = {{ubl|Kayla Tabish|Travis Maynard|Lewis Brogan|Jacob Reynolds|Mike Glausier|Din Thomas|Blag Dahlia|Keith Morris}}
| music = Jimmy Morey
| cinematography = William Garcia
| editing = Chris Fuller
| released = {{Film date|2006|08|25}}
| runtime = 83 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
}}
Loren Cass is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Chris Fuller. The film is about adolescents coming to terms with their lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, following the riots that took place in 1996. Loren Cass took ten years to complete.{{cite news |first=V.A. |last=Musetto |title=MAKING A LOT OUT OF LITTLE |url=https://nypost.com/2009/07/24/making-a-lot-out-of-little |newspaper=New York Post |date=July 24, 2009}}
Plot
The story follows Nicole, Jason and Cale and secondarily The Suicide Kid, The Punk Kid and The Fight Kid, among others through the aftermath of the '96 riots.{{cite web |author=Nathan Lee|title=Down and Out (and Disaffected) in St. Petersburg |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/movies/24loren.html?ref=movies |work=New York Times |date=July 23, 2009 }} It features several notable St. Petersburg landmarks including the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the St. Petersburg Pier, St. Petersburg High School and the house where Jack Kerouac lived prior to his 1969 death.
Cast
It stars Kayla Tabish, Travis Maynard, Lewis Brogan, mixed martial artist/UFC veteran Din Thomas and Jacob Reynolds with narration by Keith Morris (of the band The Circle Jerks) and Blag Dahlia (of the band The Dwarves).{{cite web |title=LOREN CASS Press Book |url=http://www.kino.com/press/lorencass/Loren_Cass_pressbook.pdf |publisher=Kino Lorber |access-date=2015-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212211353/http://www.kino.com/press/lorencass/Loren_Cass_pressbook.pdf |archive-date=2015-02-12 |url-status=dead }} The film also includes a live performance by New York punk band Leftöver Crack, which was the first show that included drummer Brandon Kolling in the lineup. Kolling died shortly after shooting wrapped.
In February 2006, independent film-making consultant Robert Hawk joined the film's crew to oversee its release effort. Bob Hawk is best known for discovering Kevin Smith's 1994 comedy Clerks.
Public reception
In 2006 and 2007 the film was screened at Dennis Hopper's CineVegas Film Festival{{cite web |author=Jason Guerrasio |title=Director Chris Fuller on Loren Cass |url=http://filmmakermagazine.com/4739-chris-fullers-loren-cass-by-david-lowery |publisher=Independent Filmmaker Project |date=July 29, 2009}} and was selected as one of only 2 non-studio American independent films to screen at the 60th anniversary of the Locarno International Film Festival{{cite web |author=Derek Elley |title=Locarno Intl. Film Festival 2007 lineup |url=https://variety.com/2007/scene/markets-festivals/locarno-intl-film-festival-2007-lineup-1117968344 |publisher=Variety |date=July 11, 2007}} where it was called "the discovery of the festival" by ARTE Television. Screenings were held at the Helsinki International Film Festival, the Viennale, the Ljubljana International Film Festival, the Gijon International Film Festival, and the Starz Denver International Film Festival.
The film was nominated for an IFP Gotham Award for "Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You"{{cite web |author=Brian Brooks |title="Loren Cass" Goes to Kino for Late July Release |url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/loren_cass_goes_to_kino_for_late_july_release |publisher=Indiewire |date=July 7, 2009}} and won the One+One Music Award for use of music in a feature film at Janine Bazin's EntreVues Film Festival.{{cite web |title=Awards and Jurys 2007 |url=http://www.festival-entrevues.com/en/awards-and-jurys-2007 |publisher=Entrevues Belfort }}
It was referred to in Variety as: "A starkly radical film debut of uncommon power and artistic principle, Chris Fuller's Loren Cass announces a genuinely original film-making talent who literally pulls no punches in his depiction of teen angst and racial warfare on the streets of 1996 St. Petersburg, Fla. Suffused with pessimism and an overarching sense of the loneliness of modern American life, the pic affirms a vital alternative to the usual adolescent drama, making even Larry Clark look tame by comparison."{{cite web |author=Robert Koehler |title=Review: 'Loren Cass' |url=https://variety.com/2007/film/reviews/loren-cass-1200558580/ |publisher=Variety |date=June 13, 2007}} The film was noted for its sequence on top of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and for using footage of the 1987 suicide of R. Budd Dwyer.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2007/film/reviews/loren-cass-1200558580/|title=Loren Cass|date=14 June 2007}}{{cite web |author= Aaron Hillis |title=For All Its Fucking/Boozing/Fighting, Loren Cass Is a Radical Film |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-22/film/for-all-its-fucking-boozing-fighting-loren-cass-is-a-radical-film |publisher=The Village Voice |date=July 22, 2009}} The New York Times was also very positive about it and called it "overtly, ingeniously experimental in form" and talked about "the bruised lyricism" of the film being "rooted in intense, even discomfiting, empathy."{{cite web |author= Nathan Lee |title=Down and Out (and Disaffected) in St. Petersburg |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/movies/24loren.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 23, 2009}} "Remarkable stuff for a debut film, all the more impressive in that Mr. Fuller wrote the screenplay at 18 and shot the film at 21."
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://lorencass.com}}
- {{IMDb title|0464098|Loren Cass}}
- {{Rotten Tomatoes | 1217993-loren_cass }}
Category:2006 directorial debut films
Category:2000s English-language films
Category:English-language drama films
Category:Films set in St. Petersburg, Florida