Buddy Boy | |
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Directed by | Mark Hanlon |
Written by | Mark Hanlon |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Hubert Taczanowski |
Edited by | Hughes Winborne |
Music by | |
Distributed by | Fine Line Features |
Release dates | |
Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Buddy Boy is a 1999 psychological thriller film written and directed by Mark Hanlon and starring Aidan Gillen, Emmanuelle Seigner and Susan Tyrrell. The film premiered at the 56th Venice International Film Festival.
Rex Reed of The New York Observer called it "a curious, unsettling, darkly conceived and absolutely fascinating little film. Not since Roman Polanski at the pinnacle of his European weirdness have I seen a film this strange and riveting." [2]
The film's title character, Francis, lives with his invalid, abusive mother Sal in a dingy tenement apartment, and has suffered a life of unrelenting misfortune and brutality, further impacted by a stutter. Over time, he has withdrawn from the world and into himself, silently observing others rather than interacting with them. His only solace has been his Catholic faith, but he has begun to question his belief in a loving God who could countenance so much evil and pain.
When he discovers he can see into the apartment of Gloria from his own back stairs, Francis cannot stop watching her, even after he meets her and they become romantically involved. Unable or unwilling to believe that she could actually love him, he becomes ever more obsessive in his voyeurism. And it is what Francis sees – or thinks he sees – that leads ultimately to his undoing.
Buddy Boy premiered to a standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 1999 in the Cinema del Presente section. It subsequently bowed at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival (World Cinema section) and South by Southwest Film Festival, before being released theatrically by Fine Line Features in North America on March 24, 2000.
Following its North American premiere, the film was released theatrically worldwide. International DVD releases have been made in Japan, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. The special edition DVD was released in North America by Image Entertainment on September 25, 2005.
On September 11, 2007, Buddy Boy was released as part of a three-film DVD triptych along with Antonia Bird's Face and Peter Medak's Let Him Have It .
Emmanuelle Seigner is a French actress and singer. She is known for her roles in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), The Ninth Gate (1999) and Frantic (1988). She has been nominated for a César Award for Best Actress for Venus in Fur (2013), and for two César Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Place Vendôme (1998) and La Vie en Rose (2007). She has been married to Polish film director Roman Polanski since 1989.
Susan Tyrrell was an American character actress. Tyrrell's career began in theater in New York City in the 1960s in Broadway and off Broadway productions. Her first film was Shoot Out (1971). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Oma in John Huston's Fat City (1972). In 1978, Tyrrell received the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Andy Warhol's Bad (1977). Her New York Times obituary described her as "a whiskey-voiced character actress (with) talent for playing the downtrodden, outré, and grotesque."
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