“I think I always make films about things that are the scariest for me to deal with,” says filmmaker Rodney Evans in the trailer for his latest work, an evocative exploration of sight and creativity titled “Vision Portraits.” The deeply personal documentary chronicles the filmmaker’s loss of vision due to a rare genetic eye disorder, as well as the practices of three other artists who have lost or are in the process of losing their sight.
“Vision Portraits” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in documentary competition and went on to screen BAMcinemaFest. It will also play queer film festivals Frameline and Outfest before premiering theatrically in August.
Evans is best known as the writer/director/producer of the feature film “Brother to Brother,” which won the Special Jury Prize in Drama at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and featured the screen debut of Anthony Mackie. The film explores the...
“Vision Portraits” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in documentary competition and went on to screen BAMcinemaFest. It will also play queer film festivals Frameline and Outfest before premiering theatrically in August.
Evans is best known as the writer/director/producer of the feature film “Brother to Brother,” which won the Special Jury Prize in Drama at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and featured the screen debut of Anthony Mackie. The film explores the...
- 6/25/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Given that the ubiquitous Neil Patrick Harris will be plenty busy in a wig and heels as the lead in the upcoming Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it was apparent he would not resume his envied tenure as Tony Awards Host Extraordinaire. But no fretting, as megastar Hugh Jackman (due back on Broadway next season in a new Jez Butterworth play) is picking up the baton for his fourth time as host. And it’s quite a year too, as the star quotient for the 2014 show is sky-high (Denzel Washington, Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Zach Braff, and...
- 2/15/2014
- by Jason Clark
- EW.com - PopWatch
In one of the first scenes in Rodney Evan’s film The Happy Sad, lovers Aaron and Marcus wake up the morning after their first threesome, refreshed. After six years together, they are considering an open relationship, a subject that the film explores deeply. A follow-up to his critically-acclaimed film, Brother to Brother (2004), The Happy Sad is based on Ken Urban’s play of the same name, and centers on the lives two interconnected couples in Brooklyn- one black and gay and one white and straight- as they redefine sexual identity and norms of monogamy. Marcus and Aaron, played by LeRoy McClain and Charlie Barnett provide complex portrayals free of tortured identity politics or...
- 1/8/2014
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
Moody indie dramas about pretty twentysomethings consulting their pretty navels about whether or not they should be happy are a dime a dozen. And you can’t swing a hipster by his mustache these days without hitting a film or show about the daily grinds of life, love, and career in New York City. But Rodney Evans‘s The Happy Sad manages to stand apart from the herd for a number of reasons, the most obvious of which is that the romance at its core is between two gay men of color.
Aaron (Chicago Fire‘s criminally adorable Charlie Barnett) and Marcus (Leroy McClain) are happy and in love. But after six years together they recently experimented with a threesome to rekindle the home fires and are considering trying an open relationship. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, straight – but as we will soon learn, far from narrow – couple Stan and Annie...
Aaron (Chicago Fire‘s criminally adorable Charlie Barnett) and Marcus (Leroy McClain) are happy and in love. But after six years together they recently experimented with a threesome to rekindle the home fires and are considering trying an open relationship. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, straight – but as we will soon learn, far from narrow – couple Stan and Annie...
- 8/16/2013
- by Brian Juergens
- The Backlot
The most revelatory, engaging aspect of director Rodney Evans's The Happy Sad (adapted for the screen by Ken Urban, from his original play) is actually its least showy detail. The gay black couple who comprise half the tale's quartet of bumbling lovers are neither tortured, scowling closet cases, nor wisecracking wannabe divas. They're not wealthy, insufferable materialists, nor are they mouthpieces for flatly rendered political agendas. In short, they're nothing like the cardboard figures normally trotted out in both mainstream and indie films (and TV) to rep black queer maleness. The audience is introduced to 29-year-old Marcus (LeRoy McClain) and 23-year-old Aaron (Charlie Barnett) the morning after they've had their first threesome. Though deeply in love, the duo are looking...
- 8/14/2013
- Village Voice
A Many Splendored Thing: Evans’ Sophomore Feature Candidly Explores the Nebulous Nature of Desire
It’s been nearly a decade since director Rodney Evans debuted his tenderly recuperative Brother to Brother (2004), though his resulting sophomore effort, an adaptation of Ken Urban’s stage play The Happy Sad, has been well worth the wait. A realistic exploration of the pressures and expectations of modern day relationships depicted through the main intermingling of two couples, one black and gay, the other white and heterosexual, there are perhaps one too many coincidental encounters upon which the furthering of the narrative depends (especially considering this is NYC). Nevertheless, you’ll be hard pressed to find a film that takes such care to explore the difficult issues of love, desire, and sexual fulfillment (as hurdles that every relationship must address) as equally well as it delivers engaging characters. In a world obsessed with labels and the idolatry of tradition,...
It’s been nearly a decade since director Rodney Evans debuted his tenderly recuperative Brother to Brother (2004), though his resulting sophomore effort, an adaptation of Ken Urban’s stage play The Happy Sad, has been well worth the wait. A realistic exploration of the pressures and expectations of modern day relationships depicted through the main intermingling of two couples, one black and gay, the other white and heterosexual, there are perhaps one too many coincidental encounters upon which the furthering of the narrative depends (especially considering this is NYC). Nevertheless, you’ll be hard pressed to find a film that takes such care to explore the difficult issues of love, desire, and sexual fulfillment (as hurdles that every relationship must address) as equally well as it delivers engaging characters. In a world obsessed with labels and the idolatry of tradition,...
- 7/22/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts Espa, the companys professional training school, has announced its Spring 2012 schedule of classes now open for enrollment. Espa will offer new classes including Musical Theater Repertoire, Dialects Intensive, Advanced Scene Study Chekhov in a Contemporary Climate, Musical Theater Collaboration, Directing and Producing for Film, Singing for the Non-Singer, and Solo Performance. New instructors Kelly AuCoin, Jack Doulin, Judy Gold, Daniel Goldstein, and Brian Lowdermilk will join returning faculty members Liz Duffy Adams, David Adjmi, Karen Braga, Bekah Brunstetter, Keith Bunin, Denis Butkus, Kara Lee Corthon, Jane Guyer Fujita, Jackson Gay, Randy Graff, Adam Gwon, Josh Hecht, Lila Rose Kaplan, Kait Kerrigan, Cynthia Mace, Cheri Magid, Rogelio Martinez, Winter Miller, Edwin Sanchez, Julian Sheppard, Saviana Stanescu, Caridad Svich, Daniel Talbott, Richard Topol, Ken Urban, Francine Volpe, Kim Weild, Sheri Wilner, and Primary Stages Literary Manager and Director of Espa Tessa Laneve, Associate Artistic Director Michelle Bossy,...
- 12/8/2011
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
It is the first day of my second week at The Edit Center and we are no longer paired off with partners. Left alone with my computer, I cannot remember how to do anything. Alan Oxman (whose editing credits include Control Room, Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse) has joined us, as our teacher. We are to start working on a feature film currently going into post-production. The film is called Happy Sad, written by Ken Urban and directed by Rodney Evans. I am delighted to learn that my friend Maria Dizzia is acting in it. We have all read the script over the weekend, and are each given a hard-drive with footage that will comprise one scene of the film. We are to start editing our scene together. Every one begins working like busy bees, while I stare in despair at my keyboard.
Oxman is a man of enormous patience.
Oxman is a man of enormous patience.
- 9/28/2011
- by Alix Lambert
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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