lchadbou-326-26592
"Stephanie Daley" is the kind of little indie that is often better than the more heavily publicized Hollywood product it competes for attention with. In this case, director-writer Hilary Brougher has created an interesting tension between pregnant psychologist Tilda Swinton (whose character has previously had a stillborn child) and Amber Tamblyn's 16 year old, charged with killing her own baby. The setting, a conservative,religious small town, is convincingly created from a composite of three different places in upstate New York. Brougher is not afraid to have her cinematographer shoot in a naturalistic way, sometimes leaving figures in darkness. I especially liked the conception in the supporting roles of Satin, a skeptical pudgy schoolmate,played by Caitlin Van Zandt (I hope we will see more of her) but there is also good support from Timothy Hutton as Swinton's husband, and (as expected) Melissa Leo as Tamblyn's mother. I am not surprised that this was a good movie, as usually anything with Tilda Swinton's name on it (she also executive-produced) is worth trying.
sisterdebmac
I watched it Saturday, along with all the special features. It was a tough movie. If you don't like indie film, you might have a hard time with it. If you do, it's an astonishing achievement. All the acting is uniformly excellent. I don't mean to undercut the obviously painstaking work Tilda Swinton did in creating her character......but this is Amber Tamblyn's movie. Period. Anyone who watched Joan Of Arcadia already knew she could act her heart out. But what she does here is nothing short of phenomenal. She gets every nuance of Stephanie --- someone VERY different from her own flaky, artsy hippie-chick personality --- absolutely right. There's not one minute of "acting" in her time on screen. I promise you that if you give yourself to this story you will not come out of it the same.And you will not soon forget it.
killerbeez
It's funny, at the average video store, it's really a hit or miss game - you can't tell anything by the cover art. Picking up random titles is something of a habit, some hit, most miss, and with some you really have to wonder if the people who released the film have actually watched it. Every so often, however, you get a very pleasant surprise, and Stephanie Daley is one of the reasons I love the movies. Hilary Brougher is an extraordinary talent, and experiencing the performances by some of the finest actors working today was inspiring.Spending an evening with this film was a breath of fresh air and a treat - thank you!
trlrtrax
FINALLY! April 20 in NY and then it moves around the country. It's about time that this movie gets played in movie theaters.Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy Hutton, Melissa Leo, et al turn in very special performances. Amber won Best Actress at Locarno, was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award and it was well-deserved. The screenplay won at Sundance. It's a tragic story, but one that needs to be told, so that people talk about this issue and how to deal with the education and support of young girls who have similar experiences.Don't miss this. Also, note that it will only go out to a few screens at first and those who don't go on opening weekends will miss the chance to see it the second weekend. Small indie films like this rely totally on word-of-mouth and opening weekends.If you want to see it in your town, you MUST ask your local art house theater owner to request it from the distributor.Unfortunately, this seems to be so under marketed that there is no website yet, so you must go to Regent Releasing, http://www.regentreleasing.com for any information.
