Footprints

I walked into this at a recent film festival, not expecting too much. The movie poster is a girl laying on the sidewalk...or maybe she is she sleeping. I couldn't tell. But, anyway, to the point. I LOVED this movie. It was sweet, imaginative, endearing... and most of all - REFRESHING. It has been so long since I've seen a film, even at a theater, let alone a festival, that has really stayed with me. But this one has. The writer/director delivers a very original and incredibly interesting take on show business, and all of her many pawns. Anybody who has a dream can get something out of this movie. It is truly inspiring.

I found "Footprints" to be an intelligent, beautiful, and compelling film. Confidently told, the film is not easily defined, which for me is one of it's many strengths. It evokes a world experienced "in-between-the-lines," a place of longing, unresolved issues, ambition, and hope. Somehow it looks both backwards to the nostalgia of old Hollywood, and forward to a new kind of ethereal, trans like film-making.

The writer/director did a great job on this unusual little gem. And I thought the performances were terrific. The lead actress especially gave a strong, nuanced and honest portrayal of a young woman lost and struggling between two worlds. The cinematography, scoring, and editing were also very good and helped the story tremendously. I really liked the music.

I'd love to see this film again in my local theater. When is it coming out?! I've already recommended it to my friends.

A unique, almost unclassifiable mixture of ghost story and poetic mood piece, writer/director Steven Peros's FOOTPRINTS opens on a dazed young woman (Sybil Temtchine) who comes to her senses in the forecourt of the Chinese Theater, then follows her as she wanders up and down the boulevard trying to piece together who she is, how she got there and what her future might be. Besides the Chinese, the film touches on many familiar landmarks (to Angelenos, at least) of the real, geographical Hollywood: the Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood Book & Poster Company, the Scientology Center, tour guides and street performers. In that sense FOOTPRINTS is very much a movie about the actual Hollywood, a gaudy and more than slightly seedy neighborhood where people live and work. Peros shows a real knowledge and affection for the neighborhood: you can almost smell the exhaust coming off the boulevard and hear the sounds of people jostling and hawking up and down the street.

On a deeper level, though, FOOTPRINTS is about the Myth of Hollywood, the dreams and delusions that young hopefuls bring there. Dreams that sustain them through years of rejection and disappointment, and dreams that in the end can break them. In an extremely savvy bit of casting, Peros draws on two Hollywood survivors -- actor H.M. Wynant (a familiar face to fans of classic 1950's and 1960's TV from appearances in "The Wild Wild West," "Playhouse 90," "Perry Mason" and many others) and actress Pippa Scott (THE SEARCHERS, AUNTIE MAME, "The Virginian") -- to play key roles in the story. Wynant and Scott both lend a quiet grace and rueful charm to their parts, and when they talk about Hollywood you get the sense it comes from a lifetime of hard experience.

It's not too much of a stretch to compare the film to THE WIZARD OF OZ, with Temtchine's lost, amnesiac lead character standing in for Dorothy as she wakes up in a strange wonderland filled with sometimes helpful, sometimes sinister characters, and trying desperately to find her way "home," wherever that may be. FOOTPRINTS is also a ghost story of sorts (although definitely not a horror film) -- and especially in an indie film world too often filled with overly literal, kitchen-sink dramas, it's really refreshing to see an independent film that's as poetic and haunting as this one is.

Footprints, written and directed by Steven Peros (who also wrote the Peter Bogdanovich film The Cat's Meow), is a modern day fantasy, set in a town inspired by fantasy, and filled with a great many broken dreams. Sybil Temtchine is very affecting as a woman who wakes up one sunny morning on the footprints of Hollywood's famous Grauman's Chinese Theater. Ironically, or, perhaps, expectedly (?), the first person to greet her in this Tinseltown landmark is a rather irate, if comical, homeless person.

Our Gal, Temtchine's name in the credits, embarks on a journey of sorts to try to find out who she is. Not necessarily a heartwarming story, Footprints certainly tugs at your heartstrings, especially when we arrive at it's revelatory moment. And, without giving anything away, it is one of those moments that stays in your mind.

See this movie! I wasn't sure how I would feel going in and was so happy to find myself on a funny, unique and surprising journey up and down Hollywood Blvd. I won't spoil any plot points but audiences will have something to talk about after they leave the theater.Cool stuff. Hearing the director,cast and crew speak about it after the screening I have to say this is a must see for filmmakers who are tired of waiting for someone else to say yes to their project. When you see the quality of the performances, locations, camera work, costumes, everything top to bottom you can't help but find yourself inspired by what they achieved. Decide you won't be stopped and get it done, oh, and write a great script!