Broken Vessels
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| Broken Vessels | |
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| Directed by | Scott Ziehl |
| Produced by | Scott Ziehl Roxana Zal |
| Written by | Scott Ziehl David Baer John McMahon |
| Starring | Todd Field Jason London Roxana Zal Susan Traylor James Hong |
| Music by | Martin Blasick Todd Field Brent David Fraser Bill Laswell |
| Cinematography | Antonio Calvache |
| Editing by | Chris Figler David Moritz |
| Distributed by | Unapix Entertainment Productions |
| Release date(s) | April 18, 1998 |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $600,000 |
| Gross revenue | $13,493 |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Broken Vessels is a 1998 medical drama film directed by Scott Ziehl and written by Ziehl along with David Baer and John McMahon. The film debuted at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and marked Ziehl's directorial debut. It stars Todd Field, Jason London, Roxana Zal, Susan Traylor, and James Hong. The film follows a rookie paramedic and his hardened drug-addicted partner as they take calls and cruise L.A. in their ambulance.[1]
While the film did not do so well at the box office, it was generally well received by critics and was nominated for several awards when it was shown at film festivals in 1998.[2] Although it shares the same name as the book, it has nothing to do with the Andre Dubus essay collection of the same name.
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[edit] Plot
The film tells the story of a young man from Pennsylvania (Jason London) named Tom who travels to Los Angeles to start working for an ambulance company. There, he is paired with an utterly self-assured veteran (Todd Field) named Jimmy who has apparently gone through a many partners in his time. In the beginning, Tom is overwhelmed by the more skilled man's competence to deal with the high-pressure occurrences they stumble upon. Slowly but surely he discovers that Jimmy is not the cool and collected man he thought he was. While Jimmy seems to have everything under control on the surface, he gets through the traumatic effects of the job by heavy use of drugs and avoiding commitments. Before long Tom finds himself pulled into the same world and has to come to a decision about what direction he wants to take in his life.[3]
[edit] Box Office
Broken Vessels was a fairly large failure at the box office. It was made on a slim budget of only $600,000 and was released to mainstream audiences on July 4, 1999 in two theaters. The film brought in $3,722 in its opening weekend. By the time the film ended its theatrical run on August 15, 1999 it had only made $3,722.[4]
[edit] Critical reception
Broken Vessels got somewhat positive reviews when it was initially released in 1998. Broken Vessels currently has a 67% rating at rottentomatos.com[5] The film’s current score on imdb.com is 6.2.[6] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times said “What makes the movie special is the way both lead actors find the right quiet notes for their performances,” giving the film a three star rating. Now though, the film is somewhat forgotten by audiences as it was in 1998.
[edit] Awards
The film was nominated for awards at several different film festivals all over the world. At the British Independent Film Awards Broken Vessels was nominated in the category of Best Foreign Independent Film - English Language, at the Gijón International Film Festival director Scott Ziehl was nominated for the Grand Prix Asturias award in the category of Best Feature. Ziehl and co-producer Roxana Zal won the Audience Award in the category of Best Feature Film at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1998.[7]
[edit] Cast and Crew
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Todd Field | Jimmy Warzniak |
| Jason London | Tom Meyer |
| Roxana Zal | Elizabeth Capalino |
| Susan Traylor | Susy |
| James Hong | Mr. Chen |
| Patrick Cranshaw | Gramps |
| Brent David Fraser | Jed |
| Stephanie Feury | Jill |
[edit] References
- ^ Broken Vessels - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - New York Times
- ^ http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/current/brokenvessels/brokenvessels.html
- ^ allmovie ((( Broken Vessels > Overview )))
- ^ Broken Vessels (1998) - Box office / business
- ^ Broken Vessels Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Broken Vessels (1998)
- ^ Broken Vessels (1998) - Awards
