Anything Is Possible (film)

Last updated
Anything Is Possible
Anything Is Possible poster.jpg
Directed by Demetrius Navarro
Written byCarlos R. Bermúdez
Demetrius Navarro
Starring Ethan Bortnick
Fatima Ptacek
Johnathan Bennett
Lacey Chabert
CinematographyKeith L. Smith
Edited byAndrew Brzozowski
Jon Vasquez
Music byEthan Bortnick
Production
companies
D Street Films
Nu Trend Productions
Distributed byMoviemax Family
Release date
  • September 24, 2013 (2013-09-24)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Anything Is Possible is an American drama film written and directed by Demetrius Navarro. The film was released on September 24, 2013. Ethan Bortnick stars in the leading role as Nathan, a young boy who is separated from his mother when she goes missing during a trip to Japan to provide aid after the tsunami.

Contents

The film explores homelessness, military family life and adoption. Bortnick co-wrote the film's music with producer Gary Baker. He recorded the soundtrack album for the film in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, making him the youngest actor to co-write a soundtrack and play the leading role in a feature film. [1]

Plot

Nathan is devastated to hear that his mother, Army lieutenant Margaret Peters, is missing after a rescue mission in Japan. Back in Detroit, this news comes as a shock to him and he struggles to come to terms with it. To make matters worse he discovers his father, George, isn't his biological father. Because of this and his mother's long absence, Child Care Services comes knocking at their door. Afraid of being taken away, Nathan flees before his father can explain. As George goes looking for him, Nathan takes to the streets of Detroit, where he encounters Captain Miles, a homeless Iraq War veteran. At first, it's unclear what Captain Miles' intention is with Nathan, but the veteran ultimately tricks him into seeking shelter at the home of Evelyn Strasser. Evelyn, a philanthropist, finds out that her daughter Jesse has been hiding Nathan in the basement. Evelyn eventually reunites Nathan with George, but not before discovering that Nathan is a musical prodigy. Unfortunately, their reunion is short-lived, as Child Care Services tells the state to take custody of Nathan and send him to an orphanage. The orphanage, however, is not without its own problems, and is soon to be closed soon due to a lack of funds. When the other children in the orphanage learn of this, they decide to raise funds by hosting a concert. They promote the concert with Nathan as a newly discovered musical prodigy via flyers that promise a sterling performance. At the concert, Nathan delivers a successful performance and helps raise enough funds to keep the orphanage afloat. Afterwards, Nathan's mother turns out to still be alive, and is happily reunited with her family.

Cast

ActorRole
Ethan Bortnick Nathan
Johnathan Bennett George
Lacey Chabert Maggie
Fatima Ptacek Jessee
David HainesCaptain Miles
Erlinda NavarroLysandra (as Erlinda Orozco)
Kym Whitley Ms. Kim
Elizabeth AtkinsEvelyn
Shelby MoffettMs. Jones
Carlo Lorenzo GarciaMr. Cruz
Nathan BortnickScooter
Alexander T. BowmanJimmy
Frankie DarcelHerself
Shariay GantJasmine
Daniel LujánEarl
Sydney MacheskyBecky
Mila McConaugheyNicole
Meghan MilesJenny
Enrico NataleClank
Demetrius Navarro Luis
Stephane NicoliCab driver
Chad Mitchell RodgersTyler
Tasha TacosaJoyce Miner
Charles E. WassonTommy

Reception

One critic gave the film three stars, [2] finding it to be a solid film. [3] The Dove Foundation gave the film five Doves, their highest rating. [4] They also stated that Young Ethan Bortnick is similar to Nathan in terms of his capabilities as a child prodigy.

Fatima Ptacek was nominated for Best Child Actor in a Film in the 2014 Nollywood and African Film Critics Awards.

Related Research Articles

"'—All You Zombies—'" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It was written in one day, July 11, 1958, and first published in the March 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction after being rejected by Playboy.

<i>Guys and Dolls</i> 1950 musical by Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, and Abe Burrows

Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, such as "Pick the Winner". The show premiered on Broadway in 1950, where it ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical has had several Broadway and London revivals, as well as a 1955 film adaptation starring Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, and Vivian Blaine.

<i>Anything Goes</i> 1934 musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter

Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, revised considerably by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy Number 13, "Moonface" Martin, aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. Songs introduced that later became pop and jazz standards are "Anything Goes", "You're the Top", "All Through the Night", and "I Get a Kick Out of You".

<i>Little Man Tate</i> 1991 film by Jodie Foster

Little Man Tate is a 1991 American drama film directed by Jodie Foster from a screenplay written by Scott Frank. The film stars Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate, a seven-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-actualize in social and psychological settings that largely fail to accommodate his intelligence. It also stars Foster, Dianne Wiest, Harry Connick Jr., David Hyde Pierce, Debi Mazar and P.J. Ochlan.

<i>Say Anything...</i> 1989 American teen romantic comedy-drama film

Say Anything... is a 1989 American teen romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe. The film follows the romance between Lloyd Dobler, an average student, and Diane Court, the class valedictorian, immediately after their graduation from high school.

<i>Detroit Rock City</i> (film) 1999 film by Adam Rifkin

Detroit Rock City is a 1999 American teen comedy film directed by Adam Rifkin and written by Carl V. Dupré. It tells of four teenage boys in a Kiss tribute band who try to see their idols in a concert in Detroit in 1978. Comparable with other rock films such as Rock 'n' Roll High School, Dazed and Confused, and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, it tells a coming-of-age story through a filter of 1970s music and culture in the United States. It took its title from the Kiss song of the same name.

<i>August Rush</i> 2007 American film

August Rush is a 2007 American musical drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and produced by Richard Barton Lewis. The screenplay is by Nick Castle and James V. Hart, with a story by Paul Castro and Castle. It involves a 10-year-old musical prodigy living in an orphanage who runs away to New York City. He begins to unravel the mystery of who he is, all while his mother is searching for him and his father is searching for her. The many different sounds and rhythms he hears throughout his journey culminate in a major instrumental composition, which concludes the film.

<i>Stuart Little</i> (film) 1999 film directed by Rob Minkoff

Stuart Little is a 1999 American live-action/animated fantasy comedy film loosely based on the 1945 novel Stuart Little by E. B. White. Directed by Rob Minkoff in his live-action debut, the screenplay was written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, and stars Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki, alongside the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Chazz Palminteri, Steve Zahn, Bruno Kirby and Jennifer Tilly.

<i>Evelyn</i> (2002 film) 2002 Irish film by Bruce Beresford

Evelyn is a 2002 Irish drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Paul Pender, loosely based on the true story of Desmond Doyle and his fight in the Irish courts to be reunited with his children. The film stars Sophie Vavasseur in the title role, Pierce Brosnan as her father and Aidan Quinn, Julianna Margulies, Stephen Rea, and Alan Bates as supporters to Doyle's case. The film had a limited release in the United States, starting on December 13, 2002 and was later followed by the United Kingdom release on March 21, 2003.

<i>Dutch</i> (1991 film) 1991 film by Peter Faiman

Dutch is a 1991 American road comedy-drama film directed by Peter Faiman, and written by John Hughes. The film stars Ed O'Neill and Ethan Embry, co-starring JoBeth Williams, Christopher McDonald, Ari Meyers, and E. G. Daily. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri.

<i>Curly Sue</i> 1991 film by John Hughes

Curly Sue is a 1991 American comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes, and starring James Belushi, Kelly Lynch and Alisan Porter. It tells the story of a homeless con artist and his young orphan companion who gain shelter with a rich divorce lawyer. This was the final film directed by Hughes before his death in 2009. The film received generally negative reviews from critics.

<i>Dekada 70</i> (film) 2002 film

Dekada '70 is a 2002 Filipino historical drama film directed by Chito S. Roño and based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Lualhati Bautista. Set in the Philippines during the period of martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, the film follows the struggles of the middle-class Bartolome family. It stars Vilma Santos and Christopher De Leon as parents raising five sons amidst the tense political background. Their sons are played by Piolo Pascual, Carlos Agassi, Marvin Agustin, Danilo Barrios, and John Wayne Sace.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1998 film) 1998 American film

Great Expectations is a 1998 American romantic drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, from a screenplay by Mitch Glazer and starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Chris Cooper, Anne Bancroft, and Robert De Niro. A contemporary film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel of the same name, it is known for having moved the setting of the original novel from 1812-1827 London to 1990s New York, with the hero's name having been changed from "Pip" to "Finn," the character of "Miss Havisham" having been renamed "Nora Dinsmoor" and "Abel Magwitch" being renamed "Arthur Lustig." The film received mixed reviews.

Ethan Jordan Bortnick is an American pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, musician and actor. He has been featured on The Tonight Show, Oprah Winfrey Network, Good Morning America, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and his award-winning concert specials on PBS. Ethan has had over 4 national television concert specials. On October 3, 2010, Bortnick was listed in the Guinness World Records for "The World's Youngest Solo Musician to Headline His Own Concert Tour".

<i>Pattikada Pattanama</i> 1972 film by P. Madhavan

Pattikada Pattanama is a 1972 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film produced and directed by P. Madhavan and written by Bala Murugan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Jayalalithaa. The film deals with Kalpana, an urban woman who marries a villager Mookaiyan. After marriage, differences of opinion arise between the couple as Mookaiyan raises objections about city culture, leading to their separation. The rest of the film is whether Kalpana reforms and the couple reunite or not.

<i>The Search for Santa Paws</i> 2010 American film

The Search for Santa Paws is a 2010 Christmas adventure fantasy film released on November 23, 2010. The title is the tenth film in the Air Bud franchise and is also a prequel to Santa Buddies, as well as a spin-off from the Air Buddies film franchise.

<i>Dom Hemingway</i> 2013 British film

Dom Hemingway is a 2013 British black comedy–crime drama film directed and written by Richard Shepard, and starring Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demián Bichir and Emilia Clarke. It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

Demetrius Navarro is an actor, writer and director as well as the CEO of D Street Films.

<i>Gifted</i> (2017 film) 2017 American drama film

Gifted is a 2017 American drama film directed by Marc Webb and written by Tom Flynn. It stars Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer. The plot follows an intellectually gifted seven-year-old who becomes the subject of a custody battle between her maternal uncle and maternal grandmother. The film was released on April 7, 2017, by Fox Searchlight Pictures, and grossed $43 million worldwide. At the 23rd Critics' Choice Awards, Mckenna Grace was nominated for Best Young Actor/Actress. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Evans and Grace, but noted its predictability.

Donald Gould is an American musician, composer and U.S military veteran. After spending many years on the streets, Gould was discovered in Sarasota, Florida when playing a piano rendition of "Come Sail Away" by American rock band Styx on an outdoor piano. He is signed with independent record label Triple Pop and has released one studio album, “Walk On Water”.

References

  1. Anything Is Possible (2013), archived from the original on 2023-04-19, retrieved 2018-09-20
  2. "Anything Is Possible - Movie Review". Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  3. "How We Rate and Review | Common Sense Media". Archived from the original on 2018-09-23. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  4. "Anything is Possible | Dove Family Friendly Movie Reviews". Dove.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-20.