Rhode Island filmmaker Laura Colella’s latest work Breakfast With Curtis is a DIY labor of love. Colella wrote, directed, produced, and co-starred in the film, which takes place in her own multifamily townhouse and the neighbor’s house next door in Providence, RI. The film also stars her friends and neighbors.
The film follows Curtis, an awkward fourteen year old, who, despite being incredibly intelligent, has trouble communicating and interacting with others. His older neighbor Syd, a bookseller, enlists Curtis to help film and edit a video monologue blog for his online book business entitled ‘Breakfast with Syd.’ Throughout the project, Curtis slowly emerges from his shell, while reuniting his parents and the neighbors, whose relationship crumbled five years earlier in a confrontation over a petty threat. From the blossoming of Syd and Curtis’s friendship emerges intimate views of characters in everyday moments of their lives.
The sometimes underplayed moments that come from utilizing untrained actors is often times equal parts off-putting and charming. There’s a lot of love within the film, and Colella pulls off a multidimensional character as well as an overall polished yet wonderfully raw film. With fans like Paul Thomas Anderson, this modest film will appeal to the indie crowd, as well as anyone looking to celebrate women like Colella who are making progress in the film industry.
Breakfast With Curtis opens today, December 4th at the IFC Center in NYC, and December 20th at the Downtown Independent in LA.
For more information, visit the official website.
Thanks to BOND Strategy and Influence and Abramorama
Image courtesy of the New York Times
