My New Gun

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My New Gun
My New Gun.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stacy Cochran
Written byStacy Cochran
Produced byMichael Flynn
Starring
Cinematography Edward Lachman
Edited byCamilla Toniolo
Music by Pat Irwin
Production
company
Distributed byIRS Media
Release date
  • October 26, 1992 (1992-10-26)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.1 million [1]

My New Gun is a 1992 American black comedy film written and directed by Stacy Cochran in her debut. [2] It stars Diane Lane, James Le Gros, Stephen Collins, and Tess Harper, and also features an early minor role for Philip Seymour Hoffman. [3]

Contents

Plot

A New Jersey doctor named Gerald buys his trophy wife, Debbie, a revolver against her wishes. [4] Trouble ensues when their eccentric slacker neighbor, Skippy, takes the gun and doesn't want to give it back. After an accident lands Gerald in the hospital, it's up to Debbie to get the gun back and try to figure out why Skippy took it in the first place.

Cast

Production

My New Gun was shot on a budget of $2.1 million, financed from IRS Media [1] and Columbia-TriStar Home Video. [5] It was shot on location in Teaneck, New Jersey, and a townhouse was used for the interior of multiple homes. [5]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 43% based on reviews from 7 critics. [6]

Terrence Rafferty of The New Yorker praised Cochran's directorial debut, writing that "The assurance she shows in handling even a brief expository scene is astonishing. [...] This film school graduate has a kind of 'technique' that can't be taught. [...] The sort of liberation that My New Gun proposes, and embodies, is the product of a true filmmaker's vision". [7]

The film was praised by another critic for its "masterfully understated structure" and eccentricities, which some considered to be influenced by Thelma and Louise or an update of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House . [4]

Emanuel Levy has noted the way in which "the gifted director Stacy Cochran examines suburbia in a manner devoid of the usually nasty, mean-spirited approach to the subject", and unlike other downtown New York films, it "displays no irony or condescension; yet its quirkily laconic, minimalist perspective goes against expectations." [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 McCreadie, Marsha (October 25, 1992). "FILM; 'My New Gun' Hits Its Maker's Target". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  2. ↑ "My New Gun (1992)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  3. ↑ Oliver, David (2 February 2014). "Timeline: The life of Philip Seymour Hoffman". USA Today. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 Allon, Yoram; Cullen, Del; Patterson, Hannah (2002). Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide . Wallflower Press. p.  89. ISBN   978-1-903364-52-9.
  5. 1 2 3 Levy, Emanuel (2001). Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. NYU Press. p. 393. ISBN   978-0-8147-5124-4.
  6. ↑ "My New Gun". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 2021-08-01.
  7. ↑ Rafferty, Terence. "My New Gun". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
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