Jumping Off Bridges

I saw this film and I found that Michael is incredible. What an actor! I hope to see the film with subtitles in french.

OMG OMG OMG OMG

So I asked this question to popcandy at USA Today before getting the movie through my library - I'm sudo famous

USA Today Popcandy - OMG I'm SO excited!!!!

The Candy mailbag: Answering your questions

The mailbag is back! It has missed you!

I've spent the last few Fridays at crazy meetings and auditions and assorted weirdness, but this afternoon I'm all yours. I have bunches of questions to answer, so let's hop to it. If you have a question, drop me a line at popcandy@usatoday.com.

I have a new fascination with Michael Emerson and came across a preview of a movie he's in I would LOVE to see, but of course can't find it anywhere. It's called Jumping Off Bridges, and I know it was made a few years ago and even played at SXSW in 2006 or so. Who has this movie, and why can't I find it anywhere on DVD? -- Ali M.

You can find it on DVD ... if you buy it. You can purchase the film online or contact the filmmakers if you'd like to set up a screening. Perhaps if interest grows it may become more widely available.
Read more...
full link blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/



luv,
Ali

I asked my brother to bring it from the US, hopefully he'll remember 'cause I really want to see this one!

I haven't been able to see it, either. I couldn't believe that it'd be $35. My mother would flip out.

I asked my library about purchasing it, but they said that it "wasn't available for library purchase." I think they only order DVD's that are available on Amazon. I looked again and realized that libraries have to pay $100 for one copy, so I understand why they decided not to. I'm not that desperate to see it, anymore. From what I saw in the trailer and the clips, I felt that the young actors could've done a lot better, made stronger, emotional choices, so I think I would've been frustrated with the film. I feel that they acted too calm, bored and annoyed, not really angry enough. For example, I thought Zach should've said, "I'm not going in," firmly, not bored. I would've wanted to play it as equally matching Frank Nelson's anger.

The young actors didn't affect me at all. I feel affected when actors really are screaming, shouting, etc. and afraid when I hear real anger in their voice, exactly like I've heard in real life. Only Michael's performance in the car scene, his exploding anger, shocked and scared me, reminding me of my father: the very similiar words, spoken in exactly the same way with tightly supressed anger, the car door slam, and the way he quickly and firmly walked away from the car. Bravo, Michael.

I don't think she was commenting on the excellence of the movie, the importance of its topic or even on the whole movie. She was just stating her opinion on the level of the skills of the younger actors based on what she had seen in the promotional material.

I have just recently finally seen the movie and I agree with her. It is an important movie, its theme is important but the younger actors were not as strong as some I've seen. The acting was not bad but then I felt like I was watching them act. But Michael's performance! Yikes I had the exact same response to that car scene. You could feel Frank's anger and his response to his son's refusal to leave the car was so familiar. It made me feel so uncomfortable because it was so real and so confrontational. By nature I am a "fixer" and that type of parental response sort of unhinges me. I didn't get that sense of familiarity from the younger performers (with a few exceptions). I was in a pretty bad place myself when I was that age. I could recognize a parent in Michael but I could not recognize myself anywhere.

Don't get me wrong; it was a good movie. But if the younger performers had been as good as Michael and as good as the script, it would have been a great movie.

Actually, to equate Michael's performance to the young actors is like equating Evangeline Lilly to Judy Dench. Michael has far more experience than any of the other actors. And, to tell you the truth, I found that Michael's performance in the bed scene with his wife was very awkward and not well done.

However, for Stephanie to declare that she has seen all that she needs to see about the movie by basing on the trailer is being very snobbish. You can only really make a good critique of the movie if you see it. If after seeing it, you still feel that it was poor movie, then it is your opinion. But basing on the trailer alone is like basing the taste of lobster on a picture in the magazine.