Duane Hopwood

The prelude couldn’t be clearer. Even before the main titles have faded out we understand that Duane Hopwood, portrayed by David Schwimmer (yes, all-decent-Ross in Friends), won’t have a winter season full of hot chocolate and Christmas tree decorations with the kids. Don’t take that as a dissuasion, however. On the contrary. Mulhern’s second feature is a warm story in a cold Atlantic City, where the camera invites us to sympathize with the struggling Duane. Against all odds, as the story goes, at least if you want to create drama. But Duane’s story is not one about great heroes moving mountains, instead - Duane Hopwood is a story about finding one’s way home. Mulhern succeeds in navigating on the right side of realism. The film was written in 1998 but has since remained untouched. It wasn’t until David Schwimmer put his name to the project one year ago that this low budget production was made. And talking of Schwimmer; it’s always great to see someone you believe to be a lost case, after having been cast in the same mould for a decade, show that he can break free. ADOLFO DIAZ LAMPINEN

Premiärstatus
Internationell premiär: Medverkande
David Schwimmer, Janeane Garfalo,Judah Friedlander: Producent
Lemore Svan, David T. Friendly & Marc Turtletaub: Manus
Matt Mulhern: Foto
Mauricio Rubenstein: Musik
Michael Rohayton: Talat språk
English