For Ellen
United States
2012
93 Min
Color
2.40:1
English
Synopsis
After an overnight long-distance drive, Joby (Paul Dano) has a special meeting—with lawyers and his ex-wife. A struggling musician with the prerequisite tattoos, slimy hair, goatee, and his head firmly floating in the clouds, Joby hasn’t been around to be a dad. But now is his last chance to fight for shared custody of his daughter, Ellen.
Writer/director So Yong Kim takes this traditional situation and fills it with humanism. Joby becomes a fascinating character study—a wannabe rock star now turned into a human being—forced to care about something other than his dreams. Kim’s subtle filmmaking style captures real life and conveys emotion in both funny and touching ways. Dano takes a character we are used to laughing at and makes him genuine, completely immersing us in Joby’s journey to respectability, even though he may not make it there. –Sundance Film Festival
Director
So Yong Kim
Director and writer, So Yong Kim was born in Pusan, South Korea and immigrated to the US when she was twelve. She studied painting, performance, and video art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she earned her MFA. She has made several experimental short films including A Bunny Rabbit, shot by renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Kim also produced Bradley Rust Gray’s award-winning Icelandic feature, SALT, in 2003. In 2006, Kim was featured as one of the “25 Filmmakers to Watch” in Filmmaker Magazine.
Kim’s first feature, In Between Days, was acclaimed by critics and won the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival along with the International Critics’ Prize at Berlin. It was also awarded an LA Critics Prize and Best Film and Best Actress Prizes at Buenos Aires. Kino International and the Sundance Channel released the film in North America, and With Cinema released the film in Korea.
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Carlos Filipe Freitas
27Feb13
Its leisurely pace might drive off many viewers, but actually, it manages to show sensitivity without being corny. Review and Rating: http://alwayswatchgoodmovies.blogspot.com/2013/02/for-ellen-2012.html
Evan Schafer
22Feb13
This is a perfect example of a film that tries to be something when it isn't very much at all. Sadly, this picture was a startling disappointment, although I am fond of Paul Dano. The film felt like an attempt to be a more hip "Kramer vs. Kramer". Even the two hours the main character gets to spend with his daughter felt like an actual two hours. Too much space to do things, not enough chances taken, in my opinion.
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Ciprian David
31Jan13
Except for some more or less accidental moments and for Paul Dano, this film felt very artificial. // trying to remember all january films
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Berlinale 2012. Forum Lineup
By David Hudson on January 19, 2012
New work by Denis Côté, Rodrigo Plá, So Yong Kim, Thomas Heise, Heinz Emigholz, Philip Scheffner and more.
Review: So Yong Kim's FOR ELLEN
By Twitchfilm.com on September 5, 2012
So Yong Kim, one of the US’s finest filmmakers, celebrated by critic A.O. Scott in a 2009 New York Times article as a practitioner of American “neo-neo realism,” finds her inspiration in deeply autobiographical
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An outcast individual always striking the wrong cords on life presented in a brilliant film
By Eirini N on April 1, 2013
If his nails had been perfectly polished, Jody Taylor would have been a proper rock star. If he had been a proper rock star, he would have performed the song In the Still of the Night live on stage… read review
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