F-0225

Title:

Sunday

Category:

S

Produced:

1997

Country:

USA

Released:

Film: Aug 1997 (USA)
DVD: Sep 2002
VHS: Feb 1999

Director:

Jonathan Nossiter

Writer:

James Lasdun (also story Ate, Memos or the Miracle); Jonathan Nossiter

Actors:

Arnold Barkus (Andy); Jared Harris (Ray); Bahman Soltani (Abram); Willis Burks II (Selwyn - as Willis Burks); Joseph Sirola (Joe Subalowsky - as Joe Sirola); Henry Hayward (Sam); Kevin Thigpen (David); Chen Tsun Kit (Himself); Lisa Harrow (Madeleine Vesey); Larry Pine (Ben Vesey); Yeon Joo Kim (Suky Vesey); Fran Capo (Judy, Madeleine's Friend); Spencer Paterson (Johnny O); Joe Grifasi (Scottie Elster); Jimmy Broadway (Himself)

Description:

This film concerns two mysterious characters who meet on a Sunday in Queens. Madeleine the most unsettling creature of that name since "Vertigo" is a middle-aged, moderately successful actress. Oliver/Matthew is either a homeless man or a famous film director or both. Madeleine hails him on the street as the latter, launching a bizarre chain of events that includes a conversation in a diner, a very unromantic sexual encounter, the arrival of Madeleine's odd husband and unsuspecting daughter, and a child's birthday party. The film also compassionately tracks the daily rounds of Oliver/Matthew's fellow denizens of the homeless shelter, some of whom will be recognizable to New York audiences. (Remy Holzer)

Writer-director Jonathan Nossiter's first feature film is a moody exploration of assaults upon, and shifts in, personal identity. The movie's action all takes place on a Sunday in a poor section of the New York City borough of Queens. Oliver (David Suchet) is a newly homeless middle-aged man who was downsized out of his job as a mid-level functionary at a computer corporation and lost his wife and family because of his employment troubles. Out walking in the borough, Oliver collides with Madeleine Vesey (Lisa Harrow), an out-of-work British actress who is in the process of breaking up with her American husband, Ben (Larry Pine). Madeleine mistakes Oliver for Matthew Delacorta, a famous film director, and Oliver goes along with the mistake, hoping that it will help him to escape his misery. Madeleine hopes that she can make an impression that will land her a film role, so she invites her new friend up to her apartment. When Oliver tells her his life story, she mistakes it for an invented movie plot because Madeleine lives her life in a fantasy world, pretending reality is a film. After the two lost souls have sex without emotion, Ben shows up. He tells Oliver that his recent open-heart surgery wounds were caused by a knife attack from Madeleine. Oliver leaves as the estranged couple argues, but he returns to retrieve his precious winter coat, and he becomes further entangled in the fantasy of a new identity. Sunday won the Grand Jury prize at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. (Amazon.com)

Language:

English

TT:

91 min / 94 min (Argentina) / 87 or 93 min (DVD) / 93 min (VHS)

J.S. Bach's Music:

Partita for solo violin No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002
Arthur Gramirez (Violin) (Arthur Grumiaux ?)
Coutesy of Philips Classics Production/Polygram Special Markets

Format:

Film: Color, Ultra Stereo
DVD: (PAL, Widescreen, Dolby, Region 2)
VHS: (Color, NTSC)

Company:

Film: Goatworks Films; Ocelot Films Inc.; Sunday Productions; double A Films
DVD: MK2
VHS: Eaton Entertainment

Comments:

Watch selections:

Buy movie at:

DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
VHS: Amazon.com

Source/Links: IMDB
Contributor: Aryeh Oron (November 2007)