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His brilliant feature debut Without, broke out in Park City….but at the neighboring, competing fest. From Slamdance onwards (BFI London, Deauville, Chicago, Locarno Film Fests) with indie cred nominations for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You (Gotham Awards) and Someone to Watch (Film Independent Spirit Awards) Mark Jackson firmly planted a flag pole for his brand of indie. And one of the most anticipated American indie films for ’14 isn’t shot on the west coast like he did with his debut, but of all places Sicily. Supported by the Cinereach folks, War Story will count as Kristin Gore’s first official screenwriting cred (Nailed is collecting dust) and Jackson managed to lasso Catherine Keener, Hafsia Herzi and Ben Kingsley as his main trio, works once again with musical whizkid Dave Eggar and cinematographer/Park City habitual Reed Morano.

Gist: Lee (Keener) is a war photographer who...

More from the Garden State: De Rosa Searchs For Romantic Eccentricities

Director Carlo De Rosa’s debut feature is yet another addition to the long list of films about a down-on-his-luck guy who falls for a quirky girl who miraculously gets him out of his comfort zone and saves him from a life of loneliness. Finding Joy is plagued with cliches so much that it would be easy to refer to it as Garden State 2.0 or Seeking a Friend for the End of the World minus the imminent, probably redemptive, destruction of the planet. In fact, the two protagonists uncannily resemble Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. De Rosa desperately tries to create the illusion of having well-developed characters by adding random eccentricities to each one of the supporting roles.

The premise is basic. Kyle (Josh Cooke) is a writer who hasn’t found much success and must go back home...

Liane Balaban made an impression as Dustin Hoffman’s sweetly sad, set-to-wed daughter in “Last Chance Harvey,” and will be recognizable to plenty of folks from her recurring role on the small screen’s “Supernatural.” In her latest film, however, Balaban gets to channel a wild, daffy femininity whose unhinged, slightly damaged siren call will strike a chord of familiarity in many a guy. In the vein of “Mad Love” and “Sweet November,” “Finding Joy” finds disillusioned author Kyle (Josh Cooke) returning home and having to cope with various indignities tossed his way by his estranged father (Barry Bostwick) and new stepmother (Lainie Kazan), when he meets Balaban’s spunky bohemian title character. Frustrated, [ Read More ]

The post Exclusive: Liane Balaban Talks Finding Joy, Sexual Knuckling and Menstruation appeared first on Shockya.com.

Like the kid who discovers Silly Bandz are cool and comes to class wearing a sleeve of them, the creators of Finding Joy seem to have gotten whatever memo is encouraging Zooey Deschanel-style "quirkiness" to be worn as a badge of honor. Carlo De Rosa's comedy bears some resemblance to Garden State, although it's a little less depressing and more random in its oddities. Kyle (Josh Cooke), a "boy next door gone wrong" writer, struggling with his second book, comes back home when he can no longer mooch off his friends. That means staying with his "wacked" family, who he hasn't visited since his mother's death: his agoraphobic father, dad's sex-addicted ladylove, a closeted cross-dressing brother, a shrew of a sister-in-law, and, the only sane one, his aspiring novelist niece...

A flailing writer seeking to relive the success of his first novel returns to his childhood home and eccentric family, only to fall in love with a dying woman in desperate need of an obituary. We have an exclusive clip from the upcoming romantic comedy Finding Joy, which is in theaters and on VOD June 7. Watch as the pompous and self-absorbed Kyle Livingston (Josh Cooke) returns to his roots for a life experience he could have never predicted.

Finding Joy - Exclusive "Kyle Comes Home"

Finding Joy comes to theaters June 7th, 2013 and stars Josh Cooke, Liane Balaban, Barry Bostwick, Lainie Kazan, Tyler Bunch, Kiki Harris, Arielle Hoffman, Carmen Lopez. The film is directed by Carlo De Rosa.

Lainie Kazan, Elliott Gould, Richard Kind, Ian Alda, Keith Robinson, and Andrea Bowen join Jonathan Bennett, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Nadia Bjorlinto round out the cast of the romantic comedy Divorce Invitation. This project will mark critically acclaimed Indian director S.V. Krishna Reddy's U.S. directorial debut. Krishna Reddy, Bala Rajasekharuni, and Robert Naturman wrote the screenplay. Venkat will produce with Ram serving as an executive producer. M.S.P. Srinivas Reddy is co-producer. Shooting will commence this month in Los Angeles.

Divorce Invitation centers on happily married Mike Christian, who runs into his high school sweetheart Alex and sparks fly. Mike is convinced she is his soul mate. But he has one huge problem - he signed an iron-clad pre-nup, and his wife Dylan will not let him out of the marriage.

Kazan's many credits include Beaches, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and most recently a recurring role on Season 7 of Desperate Housewives.