Imagine if Howard Hawks were making a screwball comedy today – a guy and a girl spar with snappy patter, survive the crazed antics of their goofy friends and fall in love. If he set the movie in the shambles of a hipster pot dealer’s NYC apartment, you’d have Percival’s Big Night, one of the gems of Cinequest 22.
You’ll recognize the set-up: Two 24-year-old underachievers have so far made the least of their BFAs. Percy is infatuated with Chloe, and needs his roommate Sal to introduce her to him. Chloe arrives with her friend Riku, who is appropriately crazy enough to match up with Sal. The guys and girls bicker and banter, eavesdrop on each other and pair into couples.
What’s so refreshingly welcome about Percival’s Big Night is how well all of this is executed, due to the frantically paced dialogue from writer-director Jarret Kerr, who also stars as Sal. It’s briskly paced by director Will Sullivan and very, very funny.
The cast has performed Percival’s Big Night as an off-Broadway play. They were able to shoot the movie in six 15-minute captures that are blended together to look like one shot. Because of the madcap pace, the audience isn’t distracted by the single shot; instead, the technique intensifies the story compressed into the small apartment.
Percival’s Big Night is enough of crowd-pleaser to deserve theatrical release; in any case, hopefully, it will be available soon on cable TV, DVD, streaming or some other outlet.
We are honored by your glowing review and hope to meet up some time over a drink and talk film. One thing to amend, Will Sullivan directed the film, Kerr wrote and acted in it. Thanks again and enjoy the rest of the fest. If you haven’t yet seen it, you should check out Happy New Year, Grandma. A nice dark (dark) comedy gem.
Thanks for the rec – I liked Happy New Year Grandma! , which I think may be too dark for anyone who didn’t meet my mother.
Congrats on your play/screenplay.
Great review with interesting details. One correction in the second paragraph: the director was Will Sullivan, not Jarret.
corrected – apologies
Hi Movie Gourmet!!
Angelica here from the PBN team. First of all, thank you again for coming to the screening and for your review! It’s been so nice to forward it to friends and family who haven’t been able to see the film yet. I continually crow over the Howard Hawkes comparison! I am also pleased to inform you we’ve been accepted into both the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Brooklyn Film Festival. Huzzah! We’ve taking over both coasts!
Like Cinequest (maybe all the other festivals hopped on the Silicon Valley’s boat?) NBFF offers an online festival guide which includes things like views and Likes and social media thingummies (http://newportbeach.festivalgenius.com/2012/films/percivalsbignight_williamsullivan_newportbeach2012). If it’s not too much trouble, would you be so kind as to post your review on the Festival Genius so we can pique people’s interest and fill up seats for our screenings? If you’d prefer not register on the website, we’d be more than happy to have your permission to copy and paste it ourselves. 8)
Thank you again!
Best,
Angelica/Riku
Angelica-
It’s done. Let me know when you get any kind of fest/theatrical/DVD/streaming/broadcast release accessible to folks in the Bay Area and I’ll feature PBN again on the blog. Best of luck to the PBN team.
Scotty/Movie Gourmet