Showing posts with label WTTR Review. Show all posts

Welcome to the Rileys is the only special screening I tried to get into at New Orleans Film Fest but could not, due to how quickly it sold out (that fact made me take no chances with 127 Hours and The Black Swan).

My primary interests in the film were that it was set mostly in New Orleans, and all of us here love to see how our city is shown on the big screen, and that director Jake Scott is the son of Ridley Scott.

As with David Lynch’s daughter Jennifer, I was curious to see what someone from that kind of family background would do with a debut film. After hearing all the positive chatter about this movie at other showings around the festival, I made a point to see the movie before it left theaters around here (I think it is still lingering in a few theaters elsewhere, if you haven’t seen it and want to). 

It’s a film with essentially three cast members: James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo (who has been seen most recently on HBO’s Treme), and Kristen Stewart; all the other faces are basically pieces of staging. Gandolfini plays a businessman attending a conference in New Orleans, away from his neurotic wife (Leo) who has not left their house since the tragic death of their daughter. He encounters a young runaway working as a stripper (Stewart) and takes her under his wing. His decision to stay in New Orleans prompts his wife to finally overcome her agoraphobia and come after him, only to be drawn into the strange relationship with “Mallory,” herself. 

Storywise, the film is fairly predictable. I would not go so far as to call it cliché, but once it got onto the main plot highway, there weren’t really any twists. But that was fine, because it was a movie about characters and emotions, not events. I thought all of the three did an excellent job. Gandolfini projected the sense of unreality and almost comic disbelief at this surreal situation wonderfully, and the moments that showed his darker, deeper emotions—the pure grief, the exhaustion—were touching. 

I particularly enjoyed Leo’s performance as the fragile, vulnerable, yearning mother after seeing her hard-edged efficiency on Treme. I know I would have enjoyed her performance here on its own, but against the other it seems downright brilliant. Stewart was the best I have ever seen her, hands down. I think I’d have been slightly more impressed if I hadn’t seen her use the same stutter-method in Twilight, but at least Jake Scott answers for me one of the questions I’ve had about her as an actress since that first atrocity in the “saga”: what can she do with a competent director helping her characterize? She played surly, frightened, helpless-yet-determined-to-fight-it with aplomb. 

The directing was seamless, but this was not really a movie that focused on the director. I will point out that drawing high-caliber performances with nuance and power from three people is a big statement from a first-time director about his abilities to connect his cast to his vision. The subject matter is dark (not appropriate for younger Stewart fans; this movie is rated R for a reason)–as I mentioned above, she is a stripper, and several of the events of the story underscore the darkness of that world. 

In a way it becomes a fish-out-of-water story for both Gandolfini, entering her world of the night, and her, having someone around who is actually looking out for her. My one complaint about this movie, and it is an aesthetic complaint and many people would probably disagree with me here, is that it didn’t go full bleak at the end. There is an epilogue, of sorts, that for me that removed any emotional or projecting-myself-into-that-situation impact the story would otherwise have had. 

I think it would have been a weightier film if we were left wondering, because that would have put us in the same place as the Rileys are, wondering. But if the intent was a redemption story, it works as a realistic one (the ending is still not fairy-tale, just not full bleak), and it’s just my personal taste that would have preferred the other. 

Bottom line on this is that it’s a thoughtful, emotional movie.Definitely worth watching if you’re a fan of any of the three, or Ridley or Tony Scott, or indie movies in general, even if it’s not a mind-blower. I’m certainly curious to see what Jake Scott does next, and this was beyond competent for a first effort.

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Parents whose children have died cope with their losses in many different ways. Doug Riley hires a teenage prostitute. 

For the record, the prostitute (Kristen Stewart) is mostly a stripper and Doug (James Gandolfini) doesn’t want to have sex with her. 

Let’s dispel the ick-factor right away: James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart do not do the nasty. At least not with each other. 

Welcome to the Rileys isn’t easy to watch, but it’s not as shocking as some people have made it out to be. Kristen Stewart is surprisingly believable as a fiercely independent, socially awkward youngster using her adolescent private parts to make her way in the world. 

But the movie avoids any graphic depiction of sexual violence or predation—it’s teenage-hooker lite. I try not read too much into genetics, but the fact that Ridley Scott's son was able to create a movie of such subtle beauty really surprised me. Jake Sco tt has made a movie that is unaffected and elegant and pretty much avoids being morose. 

Which, given the subject matter, is probably this movie’s greatest triumph. 

The melancholy romp begins in Indianapolis, a connotation-less city, where Doug lives with his wife, Lois (Melissa Leo), an agoraphobe who has not left home since their daughter’s tragic death some years prior. 

At first, Doug finds solace in the arms of Vivian (Eisa Davis), a Waffle House waitress. But days before Doug is set to visit New Orleans (a city full of connotations) on business, Vivian dies, reigniting his grief. 

He meets young Mallory (Stewart) in a Nawlins strip club and decides to become her protector. He pays her to allow him to live in her ramshackle home, make repairs and act out his fathering instincts on her. Though he objects to her foul mouth and the way she wanders around with her “vagina hanging out,” he doesn’t try to keep her from stripping. 

He isn’t a fan of the trick-turning, however. 

Meanwhile, Lois has finally mustered the courage to leave her home and tentatively drive 800 miles to retrieve her AWOL husband. 

Just when the trio begin to resemble a family, Mallory remembers that she’s an underage stripper, not a stand-in for a dead girl.

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“Welcome to the Rileys” is a movie about life after death. Not the supernatural sort, but the life that those left behind choose to live after a loved one dies. Well cast and nicely acted, it’s another piece of the puzzle of what Kristen Stewart’s career might look like after “Twilight” turns dark. 

James Gandolfiini stars as Doug Riley, a sad, portly owner of an Indianapolis plumbing supply house who spends as little time as possible with his agoraphobic wife. Lois (Melissa Leo) keeps a perfect home, is meticulous about her hair, her cooking and everything else. But years before, their teenage daughter died. She hasn’t left the house since. 

So Doug has his poker games, an excuse to see his mistress at the pancake house. Without those outlets, he’d be sitting alone in the garage in the dark, smoking and grieving. 

Another tragedy, and seeing the tombstone Lois bought for them to share with their daughter, sets him off. 

“I don’t like having my name carved on a tombstone while I’m still alive.” 

Lois says she was just being practical, but in her 50s with her little girl gone, she’s just waiting to die and figures Doug is, too. 

But Doug’s sadness is interrupted by an out-of-town convention, and a chance stop in a New Orleans strip joint. Mallory (Stewart) is too skinny, too young and a little blitzed. Her lap dance sales pitch may leave Doug unmoved, but something in this scrawny teenager touches him. She is incurably coarse, living in filth in a house without power or running water. And she isn’t just a stripper. She’s turning tricks. 

Actor turned screenwriter Ken Hixon (“Inventing the Abbots”) beautifully sets the table for what comes next. Doug’s interest in Mallory — not her real name — is paternal, not sexual. Here’s a teenager, living on her own, who needs help. And when you’ve got plumbing and wiring issues, there are worse things than having a plumbing supply guy take you on as a project.

 Doug sees in her all the simple how-to-get-by life lessons he never got to pass along to his own daughter. Mallory can’t open her mouth without cursing. He’s not judgmental except in that regard. It makes her seem “cheap and immature and uneducated. And that may be the truth, but why advertise it?” 

So Doug decides to stick around New Orleans and invest himself in her future. Not that he tells Lois that when he says he’s not coming home. And that sends Lois into a panic, one that might get her out of the house after nine years. 

For all its sordid darkness, “Welcome to the Rileys” is a hopeful film. Stewart’s normal mannerisms — in film after film, she can’t stop playing with her hair — perfectly fit this lost, ungrateful and defiantly independent young woman. She’s a wreck, all dirt, bruises, sleepy eyes and chapped lips. Stewart and Gandolfini’s scenes have an edge, but her scenes with Leo have a moist-eyed warmth that give the film its heart. 

Less successful is the effort to make Lois’s venture back into the great, wide world something comical. The levity is welcome, but the jokes — she’s forgotten how to drive — are thin. 

There may be a metaphor about New Orleans itself in this story of ruin and loss and redemption. But the pleasures of “Welcome to the Rileys” are in the simplest human message of all. Take an interest in somebody who needs help and the life you save may be your own. 

See for Yourself 

“Welcome to the Rileys” 

Cast: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Leo 

Director: Jake Scott 

Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes 

Rating: R for strong sexual content, brief drug use and pervasive language involving a teenager

source / via: @vonch

At first glance, "Welcome to the Rileys" - the feature film debut from Jake Scott, son of Ridley and nephew of Tony - seems like a warmed-over casserole of cliches. 

 

A middle-age man, stuck in an emotionally cauterized marriage, seeks rejuvenation in the company of a stripper/prostitute who, underneath her foul-mouthed exterior, isn't so bad after all. 

 

 Yet the movie is a reminder that good, or at least intriguing, things can come in what seem to be predictable packages. Informed by a couple of understated yet powerful performances and a twist on the usual hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold storyline, the flawed yet somberly powerful "Welcome to the Rileys" ends up packing an unexpected punch. 

 

James Gandolfini is Doug Riley, an Indiana businessman whose relationship with wife Lois (Melissa Leo) has turned numb since the death of their teenage daughter in a car crash. While in New Orleans for a convention, he drowns his troubles at a local strip club only to find his fatherly instincts awakened by one of the very young strippers, Mallory (Kristen Stewart). 

 

Abruptly, he decides to stay in New Orleans and help her clean up her circumstances. Meanwhile, back home, Lois - turned agoraphobic in her grief - struggles with not only with the loss of her daughter but possibly her husband and her entire life. 

 

What she decides to do may be unrealistic but it ends up giving the story added heft. But what really makes the film are Gandolfini and Leo, who play their parts with an exquisite sense of quiet pain. 

 

Never mind that the film should have been shorter or that Stewart, a long way from her days as the tortured "Twilight" teen, is a bit one-note. 

 

"Welcome to the Rileys" is a welcome surprise. 

 

WELCOME TO THE RILEYS 3 stars (out of 5)

 

 

source / WTTR Saturday

Kim Bowen, costume designer for the film Welcome to the Rileys, is interviewed in the latest "Industry Interview" for Southern Gothic Productions. Bowen talks about working with director Jake Scott and actors Kristen Stewart, James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo, to create costumes for this dark film. She also shares stories about tranforming Stewart into the teenage runaway, turned stripper, she portrays.


Go HERE to listen to the audio. 




via: @KstewAngel / via: pattinsonstew

From Chicagoreader 

A conservative Indianapolis businessman (James Gandolfini) heads to New Orleans for a convention and, still grieving over the death of his only daughter eight years earlier, takes a cynical 16-year-old prostitute (Kristen Stewart) under his wing. 

Meanwhile, his carefully coiffed but badly agoraphobic wife (Melissa Leo) summons the courage to leave their suburban home, get behind the wheel of a car, and come after him. The hero's psychological transference is so blatant that even the characters begin commenting on it after a while, yet this modest three-hander is capably acted and genuinely touching.

Jake Scott (son of Ridley, nephew of Tony) directed 

a script by Ken Hixon (City by the Sea, Inventing the Abbotts). by J.R. Jones


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*WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* 

By: MARIUSZ ZUBROWSKI 

Ask a parent what their biggest fear is and most will reply, “That my child dies before me.” It’s just inbred in us: the security of knowing that one day, our children will take care of us, even bury us when need be. But what happens when the natural order of things is disrupted? What happens when your child has a serious, debilitating disease, and dies at the age of 10? What happens when your daughter kills herself after a long bout of depression? What happens when you see their cold, empty corpse just sitting in front of you, for the last time? Of course, it is the mother and father, their love, their mindset, and their future that takes the strain. 

Jake Scott’s (son of Ridley Scott) “Welcome to the Rileys” explores themes such as the loss of a child and the mending of the heart that follows such a death, through the story of Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois Riley (Melissa Leo), whose child’s demise is presented in the film’s opening scene – a shot of a wrecked car, with flames engulfing it. Both Doug and Lois have different coping mechanisms. Doug is a gambling man who regularly cheats on his wife with a young waitress, and then hides in the garage of his house, cries and smokes. Lois has developed a severe case of agoraphobia, refusing to leave the house for years, thus acquiring a dependency for prescription medication. Both continue to neglect their marriage. 

There is a juxtaposition between Doug, whose loss at the hands of destiny makes him strive for absolute control over anything and everything he can, and Lois, whose newly-found fear forces her into blind obedience and paranoia. However, Doug meets Mallory (Kristen Stewart), a teenage runaway-turned-stripper, in New Orleans. With Mallory — who appears to be a scantily-clad, foul-mouthed, under-educated resurrection of their daughter, Emily — the dynamic equilibrium is quickly disrupted. 

Mallory is neither the anti-thesis nor compliment of either Doug or Lois; in fact, she retains features from both characters. She maintains the need for power, which she gets through sexuality, while still having the destructive paranoia of Lois. This balance makes both Doug and Lois, who ultimately conquers her fears in an attempt to rejuvenate her failing marriage, equally important in their journey to lead Mallory towards a brighter future. 

It’s hard not to commend Stewart for venturing into even darker territory than “The Runaways,” but it’s even harder not to praise her performance as Mallory, to which she gives it her all, thus making the character accessible to the audience, even through the tough subject matter. This makes her work in the “Twilight” series, though initially profitable, a professional blunder that will hurt Stewart’s credibility in the long-run. 

However, Gandolfini and Leo also have had their fair share of bad performances (“All the King’s Men,” “The Taking of Pelham 123,” “Everybody’s Fine,” “Righteous Kill”). Nevertheless, they both bring an immense level of talent to the film, working off the chemistry between the three characters — although Doug’s compulsive need for control makes his relationship to Mallory a tad creepy at times, which retracts from otherwise excellent acting. However, that is due to a script which could have used some fine tuning and revision. 

Penned by Ken Hixon, “Welcome to the Rileys” has its moments of flat dialogue, which almost border on laughable, and a cliché ending. But there is enough dramatic buildup and the great performances compensate for the less than polished screenplay. However, make no mistake, there are a couple of fantastic scenes, namely when Doug visits the cemetery were his daughter is buried and the camera focuses on three tombstones, two being reserved for Lois and himself, and one for their daughter, whose death date has already been marked. 

It’s scenes like these that really propel the film past Hixon’s rickety script and Scott’s bland direction. Admittedly, the overall film is beneath the standards that its leading performers set, but luckily, there is just enough for “Welcome to the Rileys” not to fall into the realm of Lifetime specials (aka faux-family dramas) and to satisfy its audience.



source / via: @luacheia99 / via

Ridley Scott's son, signed at 45, his second feature film. 

So far Jake Scott, son of the great Ridley, especially distinguished himself by carrying ads or video clips of rock bands, U2, REM, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Oasis and Massive Attack. 

After a first film and MacLeane Plunkett (1999) came out quietly, he signed at age 45, a second feature film, Welcome to the Rileys , who offers James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano the former series of David Chase) one of the most exciting roles in his career. The story tells how a couple of fifties (James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo) is unable to recover from the death of their daughter. During a trip to New Orleans, Doug Riley met by chance a young prostitute (Kristen Stewart) who reminds him of his daughter ... " In the beginning, Doug was not to be played by James Gandolfini, Jake Scott reveals, however, with a half smile. For me, Gandolfini has always been Tony Soprano. But I met him and I immediately realized it would be perfect in the role. He has this incredible potential, the force that can be destructive. I remember one day on set, dissatisfied with his performance, he started screaming, rocking stuff and eventually push the wall of a punch. 

At the same time, his gentleness, his kindness, his care for others are obvious when it occurs. His character, Doug, has the same qualities. Doug has great principles. His manners define it. His gentleness and dignity too. "In Welcome to the Rileys, Gandolfini co-starred with Kristen Stewart, the face of the Twilight saga. " He was fascinated by it, says Scott. On the set, James has always been very caring, he always looked after her. "With the critical success of this film, the young director already preparing a thriller filmed in Scotland, Transit, a dark tale of revenge, and a second film based on the book by Jonathan Green, Murder in the Himalayas, located in Tibet. To be continued ... 

Sensitive, moving, just...

During a business trip to New Orleans, Doug Riley (great James Gandolfini), who has yet to mourn the death of his daughter after ten years, meets Mallory (Kirsten Stewart), a stripper in a club in town. The paternal affection he feels for it disrupts his life ... When a grieving father trying to save a girl from the streets. Chronic sensitive, touching and just signed the son of Ridley Scott, Welcome to the Rileys magnifies the unlikely meeting of two hearts and beautiful adrift. 

Welcome to the Rileys, Jake Scott with Drama: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Leo. Duration: 1 hour 50.

source / via: @RKDaily 

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“Welcome to the Rileys” takes a premise that sounds like a bad gag — married man befriends a teenage stripper — and spins it into a powerful character drama.


Jake Scott (Ridley’s son) directs sensitively, with an eye for nuance and an absence of exploitation, and the downtrodden post-Katrina New Orleans setting amplifies the grim stasis that’s overtaken the lives of protagonists Doug Riley (James Gandolfini) and Mallory (Kristen Stewart).

The joy has seeped out of Doug’s marriage to Lois (Melissa Leo) after the tragic death of their daughter. The Indianan — a strong-willed, dignified man in the Big Easy on business — finds a new purpose in helping shape up Mallory, a scarred 17-year-old spending her days in a crumbling slum and her nights performing scantily clad in a seedy club.

These are complex, believable characters, wholly deglamorized and bestowed with the layered complications that define real life. The actors bring great conviction to their parts, deftly conveying deep-seated emotions without veering toward easy, obvious choices.

As the characters’ lives are renewed, and a shared sense of hope in the future is reborn, it’s hard to be anything but deeply moved, no matter any initial skepticism.


Source / via: @vonch

Regardless of topic, themes or pedigree, a film starring Kristen Stewart is certain to draw a crowd. The programming staff at the 2010 Brisbane International Film Festival certainly think so, whilst incessant internet chatter does little to prove the proposition wrong.


Of course, the majority of hype that surrounds Stewart’s work has been generated on the back of her involvement as Bella Swan in the Twilight series, with Stewart-mania sweeping the teen demographic alongside the equally catchy and inexplicable Robert Pattinson craze.

In her latest film, Stewart shares the spotlight with two other actors also well-known for stand-out roles (James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in New Jersey gangster opus The Sopranos, and Melissa Leo as Kay Howard in the under-appreciated classic cop series Homicide: Life On The Streets), in a feature from a director with his own share of entertainment baggage as well (Jake Scott, son of Robin Hood-helmer Ridley, and nephew of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 filmmaker Tony).

Indeed, it is apt that reinvention is the name of the game in the film in question, withWelcome To The Rileys unravelling as an earnest and endearing feature that showcases the best of all involved.

Stepping out of his father’s shadow in his second effort, Scott (director of 1999′s Plunkett And MacLeane) delves into a world of second chances in a premise brimming with redemptive potential. Similarly, despite Stewart, Gandolfini and Leo having proven themselves as quite capable thespians in a range of previous efforts (Stewart in Into The Wild and Adventureland, Gandolfini in The Man Who Wasn’t There and In The Loop, and Leo in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and her Oscar-nominated performance in Frozen River), each too finally wades out from underneath the weight of the work that they are best known for.


One can only hope that the Welcome To The Rileys will make inroads into changing the public perception of the director and key cast, with each deserving of acclaim and attention in an exploration of the road less travelled for a trio of personalities united by grief but otherwise painfully alone.


After thirty years of marriage Doug and Lois Riley (Gandolfini, Where The Wild Things Are, and Leo, Dear Lemon Lima) are caught in limbo, unable to move on from the sudden death of their daughter years earlier. Doug turns to gambling (a weekly poker match) and adultery (a local waffle waitress, played by Law And Order‘s Eisa Davis), whilst Lois channels her grief into her home, with infrequent visits from her hairdresser, pastor and sister (Ally Sheedy, Life During Wartime) her only outside contact.


On a business trip to New Orleans, a strip club sojourn causes Doug to meet sixteen year old Mallory (Stewart, The Runaways), a streetwise runaway who wears her own share of hardships on her sleeve. Desperate for money, Mallory attempts to lure Doug in as a client, yet despite his refusal an unlikely bond forms between the plumbing salesman and the stripper.


Unable to return to his strained, static life with Lois, Doug offers Mallory $100 a day to stay with her, an offer that will have a profound effect on his marriage, her well-being, and his wife’s ability to process their loss and move on.

Under a layer of emotional padding that is never forced nor false, at its core Welcome To The Rileys is a coming of age story about a grieving couple and a self-destructive sex worker.
Although slow-moving at first, Ken Hixon’s (Inventing The Abbotts) script paints a deliberate and delicate picture of tortured souls (mourning for loved ones as well as for that sense of self that each has lost) and tragic paths, intersecting and connecting courtesy of inertia and fate.
As the film progresses, from humble beginnings the manifestation of latent possibility within each character becomes known, with perception (the cheating husband, the unresponsive wife, the cheap stripper) and reality (the father in suspended animation, the mother wracked with guilt, the little girl lost but too proud to admit it) augmented to poignant effect.


Heightened by outstanding performances from the three central actors (each worlds away from their better-known stereotypes), as well as considered and patient direction from Scott, though the themes may be familiar the end result is surprising, in a solid and sweet, honest and heartfelt examination of the mysteries of broken hearts and absent minds.
Welcome To The Rileys screens on November 6 and 13, 2010 at the Brisbane International Film Festival.


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4 out of 5 STARS


As the son of one of the most famous filmmakers in the world, some would think that you would have an easier time at becoming a filmmaker yourself than say the average guy on the street. Jake Scott, son of Ridley Scott (Gladiator) is releasing his second feature film ten years after his first, Plunkett & Macleane which was a disaster in the eyes of the press. While Plunkett & Macleane admittedly has many, many flaws, you wonder if this first time filmmaker was not the son of Ridley Scott if he would have been judged in such a harsh manor.

My guess is the film would have received bad reviews and then Jake Scott and his film would have been quickly forgotten, rather than the repeated lashings he received in the press.


Either way I am happy that he has dusted himself off and decided to give it another try, after all we learn the most from our failures. Welcome to the Riley’s is the absolute polar opposite to Plunkett & Maclean, the Riley’s is an intimate portrait of three characters who are coping with the tragedy of death. The Riley’s, Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois (Melissa Leo) are trying to make it through daily life after the loss of their daughter. Doug a plumbing contractor suffers silently while Lois has locked herself in her own house. Doug while on a business trip to New Orleans meets Malory (Kristen Stewart) a runaway stripper who may be sixteen. Doug is drawn to Malory and the memory of his daughter and decides to save her.


Jake Scott sticks to small intimate shots for the film, despite the tempting backdrop of New Orleans. He is able to create a very intimate portrait of these three characters, while avoiding the pitfalls of the material by keeping the film form being too melodramatic. The story could have been filled with repeated scenes of sobbing but thankfully this is not the route Scott has taken. . Ken Hixon’s screenplay instead unfolds much like real life, with out a clean tidy package at the end, it is truer to life. The characters are kept real, their reactions are not magnified for the sake of the camera. The result is a connection with each character that hooks you into the film.


The casting for the film is simply brilliant. Gandolfini just has to smile and you like the guy, this was always a mystery to me, especially as I would find myself oddly drawn to his character Tony Soprano, who despite the many acts of violence he inflicts on screen is someone I like. It is that Ganolfini charm that makes the misguided Doug so lovable even as he shacks up with a sixteen year old runaway. Jake Scott has managed to captures the raw performances of James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart.


Kristen Stewart may be on the road to redemption as a credible actress after her repeated role as Bella in the Twilight series. I could not decide whether I should credit Gandofini with her improved performance, as he is on screen with her almost the entire time. But to be fair Stewart deserves to have her performance noted and as we have seen in The Yellow Handkerchief and The Runaways this year there are possibilities for Stewart beyond Twilight and perhaps a depth to her abilities to be discovered. Stewart has raised the bar.


Melissa Leo gives one of the most powerful yet subtle performances of her career. It is through very small gestures and the use of few words that she is able to convey a mothers morning and sense of guilt surrounding her daughters death. Her performance is riveting.


As with Scott’s choice to keep the camera angle intimate he also smartly makes this choice with the films score. While New Orleans is a city filled with fun party music Welcome to the Riley’s is not. Scott entrusts the score to Marc Streitenfeld who creates a score that is quite and full of emotion and subtle enough to not undermine the story.


I am so pleased that Scott decided to “have another go at it” Welcome to the Riley’s is one of the few films I have chosen to watch twice this year. Let’s hope we do not have to wait another ten years for the next one.



Source /via: WTTR Saturday Thanks!

Although completed in 2008, it wasn’t until after Sundance 2010 and a tour on the festival circuit that Jake Scott’s WELCOME TO THE RILEYS found a distribution home and will now be welcomed into theatres around the country.



A little gem of a film that’s faceted on many levels but still with a few rough edges, WELCOME TO THE RILEYS is an emotionally complex character study of a family in crisis, with an interesting introspective story, visually stimulating look and performances that are at times, off the charts excellent.


Lois and Doug look like your average upper middle class, Midwestern couple. Lois is slender, immaculately groomed and coifed and wears her June Cleaver pearls everyday while puttering around the family home. Her hairdresser even comes to the house. Furnishings in the home reflect a woman of quality and taste. She appears to want for nothing, yet always looks sad and terse. Doug, on the other hand, looks like your average blue collar Joe. A bit portly, khaki Dockers and plaid cotton button down shirts with pens and other assorted items in the shirt pocket are his daily dress. A sport coat gets tossed on for those really important days.


Starting out in life as a plumber, he now owns a chain of plumbing stores, but has retained his work ethic, routine and simple style. He hides in his workroom in the garage when he wants a cigarette and one night a week he gets together with the boys for a friendly game of poker. After poker, for at least the past four years, he goes to the local waffle house. He sits in the same booth, is waited on by the same waitress - Vivian, tells the same stories, orders the same food, and then goes home with Vivian. A kindly nice woman, she has been Joe’s mistress for some time, filling a cavernous emotional void that exists between Doug and Lois.


Eight years ago, Doug and Lois lost their teenaged daughter in a car accident. Ever since, Lois has been crippled with agoraphobia, shutting herself away in the house, never even stepping out the door. Doug, himself suffering the emotional scars of his daughter’s death, has forced himself to go on, to roll up his sleeves and move on, try and fix his broken heart and to live life (thus his mistress), but he has been further damaged by Lois’ self-imposed hibernation and indifference to him.


Heading off to New Orleans for a plumbing convention, Doug has every intention of bringing Vivian with him but is then is dealt another emotional blow. Showing up at the waffle house for his usual night of food and frolic, and to bring Vivian an early birthday present she can use on the trip, he learns that Vivian is dead. Lost and alone, Doug begs Lois to join him, but to no avail. So he does what he always does. He puts one foot in front of the other and although going through the motions, is more emotionally lost than ever; that is until he gets to the Big Easy and meets Mallory.


A young runaway now working as a stripper and hooker, Mallory has had no easy life. She is as fragile and broken as Doug, something with which he quickly connects; not to mention the fact she strongly resembles his deceased daughter. Seeing Mallory as something he can “fix”, rather than do what most guys would do in his situation, he embraces her with a fatherly love, taking her under his wing, healing himself and hopefully her, as well. But the relationship also sparks some rash decisions by Doug that have a domino effect, not the least of which is spurring Lois to try to save both her marriage and herself. What develops is nothing short of miraculous.


I can think of no one who can bring the emotional and physical gravitas to the role of Doug but for James Gandolfini. He has a strength and power, balanced with a teddy bearish comfort and vulnerability that is embraceable. He makes you feel for Doug; feel his pain, his losses - losses that just keep on coming. You ache with him. On the flip side, he also draws you into Doug’s joyous moments. You smile with him.


Gandolfini brings a sense of pride and dignity to Doug that is almost touchable it’s so real. And his relationship with Kristen Stewart is brilliant. Seeing them on screen together, you find yourself believing this burly teddy bear of a man would be a great father - strict, but loving and kind. Surprisingly, where Gandolfini does falter is with his Indiana accent, which is intermittent at best.


If you have seen “The Yellow Handkerchief”, you have seen Kristen Stewart at her best - multi-faceted and textured, with emotional nuances one would never suspect she possessed had you only seen her in the “Twilight” movies. WELCOME TO THE RILEYS was lensed after filming of “Twilight” but before Stewart became a “star” and before “The Yellow Handkerchief.” It is evident that as Mallory, Stewart’s talents grow, serving as a stepping stone to her future work. You can see the transition and maturity of her performance from “Twilight” to “Handkerchief” through this performance as Mallory. With a defiant childlike innocence, like Gandolfini, Stewart also brings this vulnerability and emotional confusion to the part that not only serves as an interactive character catalyst but strengthens her bond with Gandolfini’s Doug. Watching Stewart, you feel her sense of fear - fear of life, fear of her past, fear of her future - all of which draws you deeper into the character. At the end of the day, you actually see that Stewart can act and steps it up when playing against superlative seasoned performers.


Melissa Leo gives one of her most textured and evocative performances as Lois. With a quiet awkward, uncomfortableness, midway in the film Lois blossoms with the exuberance of youth, like a kid in a candy store or ripping open presents on Christmas morning. Leo radiates joy and lightness and then slowly settles into a confident persona that you believe is how she would be had life not dealt her a bad deck of cards. Leo’s is perhaps the most fascinating and transformative performance of the group.


Written by Ken Hixon, WELCOME TO THE RILEYS is intriguing to watch unfold. Although cliched to an extent and often uneven and at times, unsettling in the pacing and story, the relationships and interpretations of the human condition are propelled by compelling performances that overcome the film’s pitfalls. With the relationship between Doug and Mallory at the heart of the film, the scenes between Gandolfini and Stewart are so powerful, it is impossible to turn away. You want to see what develops, how each impacts the other.


Enjoyable is Hixon’s insertion of cute comedic elements that are fed by the traits of Doug’s character. It’s easy to see any father of his generation toying with his daughter over use of foul language or playing “dumb” with words or situations, pushing her to think and come out of her own closed shell. Very endearing.


Fueling all of this is the direction by Jake Scott. Obviously calling on genetics for his visual eye (he is the son of Ridley Scott), Scott, along with cinematographer Christopher Soos, exhibit two very distinct looks, styles and energies; the first, the Riley home in Indiana - very cool, soft and soothing; the second, New Orleans and the world of Mallory which is post-Katrina, gritty, dark and nighttime neon. Lensing style in New Orleans also has a terse, hard, choppy look similar to many of Scott’s earlier music video works, while Indiana is shot with more fluid camera movements, particularly when concentrating on Lois. The camera truly celebrates Lois’ transformation throughout the film with almost and ethereal glow.


Surprising is Marc Streitenfeld’s score which is the complete antithesis of what we expect in a New Orleans set film. While staying true to the musicality of the region and its history, Streitenfeld brings a calming quiet to the score that is as uplifting and impactful as the performances of Gandolfini, Stewart and Leo.


With a subtle emotional build, intricately nuanced and believable performances that are deeply affective, touching the heart, WELCOME TO THE RILEYS rolls out the welcome mat to each of us.



Source / via: WTTR Saturday