:
Jordan Gelber,
Jordan Gelber,
Bridget Barkan,
more...
:
Jim McKay,
Jim McKay
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: HBO Home Video
: Drama, Independent
: 90 min.
: English, Spanish, French
: English, Spanish, French
see additional details...
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Independent filmmaker Jim McKay (Girls Town) writes and directs the ensemble film Everyday People, produced in part by HBO Films. The story revolves around a neighborhood eatery in Brooklyn called Raskins, a Jewish-owned-and-operated restaurant with an almost exclusively black clientele. After years of faithful service, owner Ira (Jordan Gelber) contemplates selling out to a corporation as part of the city's urban renewal. Everyday People premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
 Critically acclaimed director Jim McKay is a master observer, writing and filming the people he sees in the world around him, which is usually New York and usually focusing on people of color. His new film, Everyday People, which premieres on HBO June 26th, impressively tells multiple stories and viewpoints, unerringly capturing the real America rarely seen in TV movies. He spoke with us about the challenges in making real stories into a dramatic piece of work, about research, music, his future projects, and even his favorite writers. Full article >>
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| Good Enough
by juliemiller1
April 30, 2005 - 9:38 AM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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| Everyday People shows a well-integrated neighborhood in the midst of transition, and how long-timers try to deal with changing times. The movie never really hit a peak, but just kept moving along quietly. I found the ending unsatisfying, as it left lots of questions unanswered, but it was worth watching and thinking about. |
| How a Neighborhood Changes
by talltale
January 18, 2005 - 7:08 AM PST
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2 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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After seeing Jim McKay's "Girls Town" and "Our Song" (both shot VERY cheaply on video), I was totally unprepared for the beauty of EVERYDAY PEOPLE. It's gorgeously shot and edited and looks like a million bucks. Considering that it's mostly about a depressed Brooklyn neighborhood, this is all the more amazing. Whether this is due to the cinematographer, to writer/director McKay, or just--at last--to a bigger budget via HBO, I don't know. But congrats to all concerned.
The movie itself is as wonderful as anything McKay has yet done. A landmark Brooklyn eatery looks like it's going out of business to make way for gentrification, and we viewers get to meet and spend some time with the owners and waiters, their relatives and friends, and even some of the "gentrifiers." The mix is bracing. Nobody ends up hero or villain, and if the movie never reaches the heights of great tragedy, comedy or romance, it also never overdoes anything. Scenes last only as long as they need to, each performance is real and exact, and by the end I'll bet you'll have chuckled often, (almost) shed a tear or two, and certainly better understood what a changing neighborhood means to a host of different people.
As simple as "Everyday People" appears to be, this kind of ensemble of characters and social issues is rarely pulled off without undue soapboxing. But McKay, his cast and his crew have done just that. (And Billoah Greene, who plays Samel, should be going places fast: Quietly charismatic, he gives one hell of a performance.) |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.63)
27 Votes
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