Jaglom, Henry

Deja Vu

Dana (Victoria Foyt) and Sean (Stephen Dillane) are strangers yet they have a strong sense of belonging together. They also have no interest in upending their lives and long-term romances so they part instead of following their hearts. But love may not be so easily denied.Running Time: 117 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085393677220

So romantic and haunting is Déja Vu's premise, it cries out for a director with more magic than Henry Jaglom can muster. Just before a long-engaged woman (Victoria Foyt, Jaglom's collaborator and second wife) slips into a serviceable marriage with a nice, if rather dull, guy (Michael Brandon), a chance encounter with an older Frenchwoman--a ghost?--derails her. After confiding memories of a dead-ended World War II love affair, the mysterious lady disappears, leaving behind a ruby pin that signifies one should never settle for less than the love of one's life. Drawn into the woman's past, Foyt travels from Paris to the White Cliffs of Dover--the WWII song, promising happy endings, is reprised at every turn--where she discovers the (married) love of her life (Stephen Dillane). Should they ruthlessly follow the dictates of their hearts? Or reject serendipitous passion in favor of familiar, safe lives? The star-crossed couple's dilemma comes into dramatic focus during a house party, when the guests (especially the charismatic Vanessa Redgrave) share tales about defining emotional moments, seized or allowed to pass. Director Jaglom likes to let a movie "happen" during such get-togethers, with family or friends improvising on often intimate themes (e.g., Babyfever's shower, 1994; Eating's birthday celebration, 1990). Such cinéma vérité can pay off in the freshest kinds of insights about the human condition--or it can be like getting cornered at a cocktail party by a pack of garrulous solipsists. Look for some of both in Déja Vu. --Kathleen Murphy

National Lampoon's Movie Madness

Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 03/27/2007 Run time: 89 minutes Rating: R

Always

The many mysteries of marriage are explored in Always, a movie from love-him-or-hate-him writer-director Henry Jaglom. Jaglom himself plays David, who's about to get divorced from his wife, Judy (Patrice Townsend). But when a notary comes to sign the papers, David and Judy are so affectionate that the notary insists they reconsider over the Fourth of July weekend--a weekend that turns out to be filled with botulism, visiting friends, infidelity, barbecue, and lots and lots of talk about happiness and love. Jaglom's films are notorious for their psychobabble, but generally, just when you think you can't take another moment of narcissistic self-indulgence, something happens--sometimes something surprisingly moving, sometimes something joltingly funny. Jaglom has an ear and an eye for genuine human behavior; his characters can be annoying, but they rarely seem false. By the end, Always may prove to be unexpectedly involving. --Bret Fetzer

Deja Vu

Synopsis: Dana, a young American woman traveling on business n Jerusalem, meets a mysterious older French woman at a café who shares a fascinating story of lost love revolving around the expensive antique ruby pin she s wearing. The woman exits the café abruptly, leaving the pin behind and Dana, who is on her way to meet her fiancé in London, finds herself forced to reschedule her trip and her life as an unexpected but expected stranger crosses her path. OR HAS HE ALREADY?

Tracks

Wherever Jack Falen goes, the war goes with him. Acclaimed actor Dennis Hopper stars in this searing psychological drama as Falen, a burnt-out Vietnam vet escorting the body of a fallen pal on a train trip home, or is he? Written and directed by Henry Jaglom (Someone To Love, New Year's Day), Tracks is a powerful showcase for Hopper's dynamic talents. His Falen is paranoid, bent with rage - the kind of character that's been the Oscar.-nominated actor's forte in Easy Rider, River's Edge, Blue Velvet and more. Journey with him across America... and into one man's private hell.

Venice Venice

For over three decades, Henry Jaglom has been traveling a cinematic path unlike any other director's: his noodling, searching, utterly un-commercial pictures (with dialogue largely improvised) are as personal as novels. Venice/Venice is vintage Jaglom, which will spell pleasure for his many fans and exasperation for nonbelievers. Jaglom plays a movie director visiting the Venice Film Festival--with footage captured during one of his visits there--whose romantic fling contrasts with his home life back in Venice, California. Jaglom's needy persona, and his unseemly tendency to linger over close-ups of his own teddy bear face, become tiresome here (he's wisely put others center-stage in subsequent films). But for all the dorm-room philosophizing, there is something dreamlike that emerges from this film as it nears its end. All the self-indulgent nattering does lead to something personal, and though the journey is something annoying, at least it's an authentic journey. --Robert Horton

A maverick film director is surprised that his most recent film has been chosen as the Official U.S. entry at the Venice Film Festival. In the midst of all the festival madness, the viewer must confront the wide divergence between things as they really are and things as they seem to be, both on-screen and off.

Henry Jaglom's Someone to Love

Writer-director Henry Jaglom's 1987, ruminating romantic comedy Someone to Love has the historic claim to featuring Orson Welles' final screen appearance. Welles plays "Danny's Friend" (in real life, Welles and Jaglom, both independent filmmakers, were friends), experienced counsel to Jaglom's filmmaker character, who is in an existential dilemma over the inability of social institutions (particularly marriage and family) to gracefully accommodate a contemporary emphasis on personal fulfillment. Fascinated and bewildered by the seeming paradox of modern relationships, Danny invites a number of friends, especially women, to a condemned theater, where he films them answering his questions about such topics as loneliness and happiness. As with many Jaglom films, Someone to Love is both formed and formless, often seemingly improvised within a tight narrative structure. Jaglom himself, known to be a tough director on actors, comes across as charming and earnest, while the cast is adorned with the likes of Sally Kellerman, Andrea Marcovicci, Kathryn Harrold, Ronee Blakely, and Oja Kodar. --Tom Keogh

Henry Jaglom's moving exploration of the contemporary heart, Someone To Love is a wonderful comedy which centers around a movie director's puzzled search for romance and his attempt to find out why life hasn't worked out quite like anyone expected it to. Aiding in his quest is Orson Welles, in his last screen role, who serves as pundit, commentator and witty Greek chorus, "summing up with dazzling eloquence, the wisdom of a lifetime," says Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times. "'Someone To Love' is a whole wonderful movie unto itself." The movie also features fine and funny performances by the striking actress Sally Kellerman, angst-ridden, fast-talk artist Michael Emil and the beautiful and remarkable singer Andrea Marcovicci.

Henry Jaglom's Eating - A Very Serious Comedy About Women and Food

Long before Sex and the City, Henry Jaglom (Déjà Vu) directed this chatty exposé on women and body image. Sure, there's some talk about men and relationships, but the film's upper-class California females spend most of their time discussing weight and dieting (with stops along the way for plastic surgery, bulimia, and abortion). The occasion is a multiple-birthday party for Kate (Mary Crosby), who is turning 30, Helene (Lisa Richards), who is turning 40, and Sadie (Marlena Giovi), who is turning 50. Subtitled A Very Serious Comedy about Women and Food, Eating plays like a low-budget cross between The Decline of the American Empire and The Anniversary Party. As with the rest of Jaglom's oeuvre, the tone is as self-conscious as Woody Allen, the approach as loose as John Cassavetes. If it doesn't quite hit those heights, Eating provides--if you'll pardon the pun--plenty of food for thought. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

From Henry Jaglom (Going Shopping, Last Summer in the Hamptons), recognized by the Los Angeles Times as "the definitive independent, one of America's most important filmmakers," comes a sophisticated modern comedy about women, love, neuroses and the food that binds them all… Henry Jaglom's EATING! At a fashionable party in Southern California, a parade of women hilariously mingle and muse on their body image hang-ups, eating disorders, and the love-hate relationship between femmes and food.

Deja Vu

Is there love at first sight? A special soulmate for everyone? Dana (Victoria Foyt) and Sean (Stephen Dillane) are strangers, yet they have a strong sense of belonging together. They also have no interest in upending their lives and long-term romances, so they part instead of following their hearts. But love may not be so easily denied. Writer/director Henry Jaglom continues his explorations of the quest for love and fulfillment in this tale of romance and destiny also starring Vanessa Redgrave and Rachel Kempson (real life mother of Vanessa Redgrave), Noel Harrison and Anna Massey. It's a glowing story shot in Jerusalem, Paris, Dover, London and Los Angeles... and set in the yearnings of the human heart.

Last Summer in the Hamptons

Three generations of a large theatrical family come together for one last weekend at their East Hampton family estate. Oona Hart, an electrifying Hollywood movie star, manages to charm her way into this eclectic and extraordinary family full or writers, actors and directors. Her presence further complicates and confuses all the theatrical egos, sexual energies and raw emotions in what is already perhaps the world's most dysfunctional family. As the weekend plays out, the family's well kept cachet of secrets is pried open and all the hidden stories begin to reveal themselves.