Rent my 1st feature “107 Street” at Amazon only $1.99. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/107-street/dp/B0080VAIOY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341507156&sr=8-2&keywords=107+street+film
Don Quixote and the reality of casting an actor
Published January 31, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a CommentThis update is about a Quixotic character in the film and the casting of the actor. I’ve always love the novel of Don Quixote and always wanted to have a character similar to Don Quixote in a film. The actor playing the role is John Gilleece a professor at Kingsborough Community College. Casting him was very interesting. The day that he came in was the first audition we had for the film. We had over 150 people that day. He was the last person that came in to audition. Jose Candelario one of the producers spotted him right away and although we didn’t auditioned him that day because we had too many people, we asked him to come back and the rest is history. He will next appear in my third feature “The Children of Hip Hop” playing again a very interesting character.
This update is of one of the key scenes in the film “107 Street”. In the scene most of what the main character Marcos is feeling is revealed in this scene. The two actors are Alfonso Madrid and Amin Joseph. Also I’m very proud of Amin Joseph he played the character Mark in the film. He was the main character’s best friend. Amin a few years ago left for Hollywood and is doing super well. He has a recurring role in the Cinemax series Zane’s Sex Chronicles. The series starts again in early 2010. Look for him there.
Check out his site:
http://www.aminactjoseph.com/AMIN_JOSEPH_WEBSITE.html
Also a few other actors from the film moved to LA and are actually working so that is a good sign. Enjoy the scene!
This update is an interview on NY1 cable channel in NYC. It was for the New York International Latino Film Festival. Myself and Jose Candelario an actor and producer for the film appear in the interview along with a clip from “107 Street.” Hope you enjoy it. In some points the audio is a little off but nothing that takes away from the clip. I actually transferred the clip from a VHS tape so the quality is not bad at all.
A review of the film”107 Street” by Matt Hudson
Published November 12, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTitle: 107 Street
Rating: 9 out of 10
I usually start out these reviews with ramblings from my personal life and how I find some connection to the film I’m about to review.
It doesn’t work here. Why? “107Street” is a different kind of film. Not so radical that I can find no connection to it, but different enough that I accept that it dwells in a world I do not really know. Actually, it dwells in a number of worlds, but overall, it resides in a place I do not know from first-hand experience. So the only major connection I have is that I don’t really have one.
Let me explain…
“107 Street” is a very urban film. Its setting is the Hispanic section of a large city. The characters and the story lines are all deeply connected to the setting. You might be able to set some of what happens in this film a smaller, rural setting, but you’d be hard-pressed to do so. I am, in spite of living in a couple of reasonably large cities, a rural boy until I die. I can watch movies set in urban sprawl, but I have seen few in which I can feel the deeper connection of character and story intertwined with the setting. “107 Street” does this, and that is the heart of this film.
What is it about? A guy who finds he can listen in on people’s phone conversation. A group of guys of all ages who have been warned by creatures beyond their wildest imagination of the destruction of their neighborhood. A beautiful woman finds her familial history of poor relationships is causing a crisis of faith concerning her fast-approaching wedding.
Each of these could stand on their own as the subject of a film. At least two of them should.
The strongest of the three tales is the one dealing with the men who have been told aliens will destroy their neighborhood. They question themselves, they question each other, and they question their faith in their sanity. They know they should tell everyone, yet they fear they will either cause panic or be thought of as being out of their minds. The story can be taken on so many levels. Science fiction. Horror. Social commentary. Comedy. And through these men, you see their families, their friends, and ultimately, their neighborhood and their world.
Then you have the story of the recently dumped young man who all but becomes a recluse in his apartment as he deals with his sorrow and depression. Then, he discovers by accident that he can tap into phone calls that are going on all around him. He becomes a phone voyeur, delving into the fears, joys and secrets of friends and strangers. He keeps files on each person. He watches as they pass his apartment windows. Are the voices real? Is it his imagination? Then one day he decides listening is not enough, and he reaches out to one of the people to whom he has been listening.
With two meaty storylines like that, the portrait of the young bride doubting herself, her groom and and love itself receives the short end of the film. You see and hear her, as well as her friends and family members, pass through the other two stories, but there just isn’t enough space in the running time to give this tale the room and slower pace that it would take to let it grow. And that is a bit of a shame. Given enough attention, this story would be as strong as the other two.
Helping this film’s various overlapping stories draw you in is the universally solid acting by almost everyone. Most actors seem comfortable, as if they are playing themselves. Oh, there is the occasional faulty scene here and there for some of the actors in the smaller roles, but nothing ever pulls your attention from the interaction of the characters or what they are going through. And that speaks well for Antonio De La Cruz, the writer and director, who has put together more in one film than most filmmakers end up putting into their entire careers.
The best thing I think I can say about “107 Street” is that even though I watched this film some time ago, it still crosses my mind every other day or so. So many films fade before I have a chance to take them out of the player. I still find myself thinking about the characters and the story structure and the perfect connection to the environment of the film. You really can’t beat a movie that keeps playing in your head and you never get tired of it.
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Matt Hudson reviews movies for a number of magazines. This review is from May 2003. At the time he was reviewing films for The Dog Pile. The film has been reviewed by a number of magazines including Variety. I thought this review was important because Matt comes from a totally different place in Topeka, Kansas. So I’m glad he felt so strongly about the film.
Below you will find another review By Diogenes Rodriguez from the Immigrant Times. The review is in Spanish. The Immigrant Times is a paper from the Tri-State area. It’s so incredible to me how Diogenes and Matt had very similar feelings about the film. Diogenes is from New York City and has lived in the city most of his life.
Review -Spanish
THE IMMIGRANT TIMES – JULY EDITION 2004
107 Street, La Gran Sorpresa del Festival Latino de Cine en Nueva York
Por Diógenes Rodríguez
“107 Street”, un filme hecho en Nueva York por el dominicano Antonio de la Cruz, fue una de las más gratas sorpresas del Festival Latino Internacional de Cine de Nueva York donde se presentaron más de 60 filmes de Latino América y Estados Unidos.
Lo admirable fue ver cómo De la Cruz pudo crear una joya cinematográfica con un presupuesto de menos de $15,000, de los cuales $3,000 se determinaron para rentar el equipo de cine. “107 Street” reafirma así la eterna ley del carbón y el diamante: donde hay presión, fuego, tenacidad y talento, un brillante hermoso surgirá de la tosca hulla.
El filme consiste de tres historias separadas que ocurren en el trasfondo de la calle 107, el barrio aledaño a Broadway y Ámsterdam en Manhattan. Este trasfondo hilvana cultural, geográfica, panorámica, política y espiritualmente los tres sucesos y el filme se desplaza por parques, escaleras de edificios, apartamentos, iglesias, restaurantes, bodegas, y como si eso fuera poco, por el Parque Riverside donde una madrugada se aparece una nave extraterrestre. “Los Jugadores de Dominó”, “El Milagro Secreto” y “Un Punto de Vista” tratan sobre crisis en relaciones – entre amigos jugadores al dominó cuya preocupación es la visión apocalíptica del fin del mundo; entre la viuda matriarcal agobiada por la crianza de los nietos de dos hijas libertinas, pero cifrando sus esperanzas de salvación familiar en su hija mayor que planea sus bodas en la Iglesia católica de la Ascensión de la calle 107; y por último, entre las diferentes personalidades que chocan en el psíquico de un joven “Voyeur”, quien tras romper relaciones con su novia, se la pasa espiando a los vecinos con sus binoculares y teléfono habilitado para escuchar conversaciones inalámbricas privadas, dramatizando sus fantasías sexuales.
En las tres historias la realidad y la ilusión; el despertar y el sueño se intercalan constante y rítmicamente, como si el sueño fuera el oasis que calmara la sed de un desierto de incomprensión, y por consecuencia, de soledad y de desesperación.
Los amigos del dominó entre mano y mano reafirman su fe de haber visto la aparición extraterrestre, y su creencia de que el fin del mundo se acerca, los alienta a compartir, a departir y a convivir. Para la novia, la realidad de una boda en una iglesia con un traje blanco es tan incomprensible, que palpa en su imaginación que nunca sucederá, que su novio la va a dejar plantada. La pesadilla de una ilusión inalcanzable la precipita a asirse de la realidad del traje blanco; y el “voyerismo” del joven solitario, atiza su fantasía sensual y sexual, a tal punto que logra llegar a lo recóndito de su desesperada soledad, incitándolo a tratar de entablar conversación con las gringas de su fantasía. Por ultimo decide dejarle un mensaje telefónico a su ex novia: “Nuestro problema fue que no nos supimos comunicar.”
Toda esta acción queda enmarcada con las conversaciones de la gente de la calle 107 que giran en torno a cómo los gringos le compraron tal apartamento a tal vecina por poco dinero, “nos están quitando el barrio”; y cómo la policía arresta a los pequeños vendedores de marihuana de la 108, mientras las gigantescas super droguerías, Rite Aide, CVS, y Diet Rite, se combaten impunemente entre sí por endrogar a la comunidad.
El elenco completo fue bien seleccionado y cumplió a cabalidad. Notables fueron Alfonso Madrid, el “voyeurista,” que interpretó clara y definidamente un personaje muy complejo; Natasha Yannacañedo, en cuyo rostro siempre podía adivinarse sutilmente el mar profundo de dudas y temores que agobiaba a la novia; y John Gilleece, quien interpretando a un enajenado vecino quijotesco, hizo de su rol fugaz, una inolvidable presencia. Por lo demás vale hacer mención de la magnífica cinematografía de David Ferrara, y la rítmica y sincrónica edición fílmica de Nyle Cavazos, y de todo el equipo técnico y de actuación de 107 Street.
Nos gustaría que talentos tan extraordinarios como el de Antonio de la Cruz y el equipo de “107 Street”, puedan en el futuro obtener un presupuesto más vasto, ya que, si con $15,000 pudieron lograr una obra de envergadura, qué no harían con más dinero.
But The Best review was from a German girl that saw the film in a small theater in Germany and she sent this email to my producer/actor Jose Candelario. For someone to write from that far and make a comment says a lot about the film.
Hi guys!
It was super! What can I say. I never really gave New York much attention. I had a bad experience in my youth ( A Year out scheme with camp America) and have been around the states several times but never back to New York. Until Sept 11.
The politics surrounding the people make it very difficult to see beyond the majority (in the Southern conservative states) but your film has clearly reminded me that, this type of discrimination is all too apparent in New York. I thought the film captured a fragmented society- very well.
I wish you all the success.
Good Luck
Ninita
Hey, people my film “107 street” is finally available on DVD. It’s available on indieflix.com. http://www.indieflix.com/film/107-street-24850/
This will be the home for my film “107 Street”. The film was shot entirely in New York City on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Exactly on 107 Street between Amsterdam and Broadway. Looking back the film captured what was a neighborhood in transition. If you go back now to the neighborhood you will find that many of the places that we shot in are no longer in the neighborhood. So much for Continuity. I think it says that New York city is a place that is always in transition. That can be good but at the same time sad because life is about memories and our connection to a certain city or place in most instances. And one more final note, we started shooting this film a few days after September 11, 2001, In my mind that helped the film immensely because everyone around us was very helpful in making the film possible. There was a closeness in everyone living in the city that I had not seen before or haven’t seen since.
I alone, I know what I can do. To others I am only a perhaps. STENDHAL, The Red and the Black
I begin with the quote from the novel by Stendhal because I think it says a lot about humanity. In the film “107 Street” the viewer will experience many things. But the most important aspect of the experience will be understanding the different characters and their point of view. Point of view is what the film is about. As a writer and filmmaker I try to respect as much as possible the point of view of each character. I strongly believe that I accomplished that in the film but of course is up to the viewer to say if I did or not. The film no longer belongs to me it belongs to the viewer and you are the most important person in the experience.
"107 STREET" FILM/movie 