Independent filmmaker Mark Rappaport paints a wicked picture of the New York Yuppie scene in Chain Letters. The story involves nine upwardly mobile Manhattanites, all of whom receive a chain letter. Depending on their decision to either pass the letter on or to break the chain, the various characters encounter romance, fulfillment—and sudden death. Mark Arnott, Reed Birney, David Brisbin and Randy Danson are the four letter recipients whom we’re supposed to care about most.
Mark Rappaport is an American independent/underground film director who has been working sporadically since the early 1970s. A lifelong New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Brooklyn College in 1964. His films are often marked by high camp, melodrama, deadpan humor, ennui, and a rather cavalier attitude towards copyright law and intellectual property, often using music, archival footage, and excerpts from Hollywood films without seeking permission.
Central to Rappaport’s work is the relationship between the audience and media, particularly pop culture, which is his most recurring theme. An example of this is his first feature, Casual Relations, released in 1973. It is a bricolage of unrelated scenes, often announced by intertitles. One such title informs us that a character decided she would spend all day watching television. The scene that unfolds, approximately seven minutes in length, features just that: the character, in one continuous shot… read more
New York's Anthology Film Archives introduces its series, The Films of Mark Rappaport, running today through Thursday: "Rappaport's career
