Wow! "Have this washed and brought to my tent!" This movie will make you examine your mating and dating "rules". A good date movie if you want to break up or get engaged.
Finally got hold of a screening copy of this great little first work. If you like watching the early careers of great filmmakers you'll love Sex and Sushi by Rob Lawton.
The cheap opening titles and "too-clean" soundtrack. The limited lighting and camera budgets definitely show. But they are the price and privilege of watching a promising source of great film in earliest action.
Think Buffalo '66 for Vincent Gallo and Ms.45 for Abel Ferrara. It is much more cerebral than Ms.45, and more accessible. It is much leaner and more open than Buffalo '66, but not quite as emotionally charged.
The dialog is snappy and crisp. The characters are well-developed and mostly likable. The production, a little spare, but thank God the great lines are clearly recorded in very well-lit clean spaces.
Rob Lawton, the writer/director/main actor of Sex and Sushi plays a jaded young NYC Private Investigator "Bobby" and I really believed I knew his type.
Fast, arrogant, unemotional and unconcerned with anyone outside of his skin. An Upper East Side Prince turned profiteer. Using his own disenchantment with the possibility of "true love" as the basis for a lucrative and slimy profession. He captures or even traps his fellow humans in their own selfish desires.
*We get to watch him fall in love and lose his own love "Rachel" in his need to stay "unfooled"*
BTW -Rachel is a lovable foxy blonde with a wise and lovely mom. Ashley Carin, the sexy female star of this movie has several prior films that I will definitely seek out. She is fun to look at and a courageous girl.
Find a copy yourself and watch the handsome and mean "Bobby" love, lose, and ...? "Rachel" I don't want to ruin your viewing of this rare but rough gem.
His secretary "Jules" played by the very talented and engaging Julie Strope, and his humbler sidekick "Jay" played by the talented Jay Dedman often play tag-team "shrink" to the ever more unlikeable "Bobby".
Action scenes are out-weighed by conversation scenes in this obviously low-budget indie. But, the dialog is priceless -- a Mamet in the making.
It took me while to realize that this is not really happening. The actors appear to be actually thinking and responding to each other, but the dialog is clear. Rob Lawton, Jay Dedman, Julie Strope and the very beautiful Ashley Carin "Rachel" are all top-notch actors who have made me forget that I am not eavesdropping on private conversations.
There are a couple of kudos to prior filmmakers of note. They are kindly subtle and I will let you enjoy them yourself. Quotes from this film's dialog will definitely invade my conversation, and maybe future films.
Little tricks to help overcome the financial constraints of this film are noteworthy. One example is Joe Strummer. He appears in a graffiti backdrop to serious wall-side conversations between Steve and Bobby as they stake out one of their subjects the "love interest" of a concerned and vulnerable client. If there was a little more production money this would be a 9.8 film. The acting and writing are superb.
Watch out for Lawton, and the rest of this cast and crew.
