The Natural History of Parking Lots | |
---|---|
Directed by | Everett Lewis |
Written by | Everett Lewis |
Produced by | Aziz Ghazal |
Starring | Charlie Bean B. Wyatt Charles Taylor |
Cinematography | Hisham Abed Roy Unger |
Edited by | Everett Lewis |
Music by | Johannes Hammers |
Distributed by | Strand Releasing |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Natural History of Parking Lots is a 1990 American independent film written and directed by Everett Lewis. It tells the story of two estranged brothers who seek to reconcile their relationship against a background of criminal activity and violence. The film is Lewis' feature film debut.
In Los Angeles the late 1980s, 17-year-old Chris is arrested for stealing a car. His distant father (who insists his sons call him "Sam" and not "Dad") arranges for him to be bailed into the custody of Chris's older brother, Lance. The brothers seem to bond, but there is the suspicion that Lance is merely using his newly-domestic situation as a cover for his real business, gun-running.
Critic Emanuel Levy said the film’s "visual style owes a lot to the early works of French New Wave". [1] He added, "Mood and tone one are far more important than text or plot, which are slender, underdeveloped, often feeling arbitrary in the order which the sequences unfold and are presented. However, visually, the stylized black-and-white picture is impressive, courtesy of cinematographer Hisham Abed, compensating for the performances of Wyatt and Bean, which are decent but no more; Bean, in fact, has never acted before, but he’s blessed with a likable and vulnerable screen persona." [1]
The film was nominated for a 1991 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. [2] At the Torino International Film Festival the film won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film and the Prize of the City of Torino Award for Feature Film. [3]
Inside Monkey Zetterland is a 1992 independent comedy film directed by Jefery Levy and written by Steve Antin. The film follows Monkey Zetterland, a former child actor turned aspiring screenwriter and the goings-on with his eccentric family and friends. The story uses voiceover narration and is interspersed with fantasy sequences.
Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990) and Jim Ignatowski in the comedy series Taxi (1978–1983), for which he won two Emmy Awards.
Tombstone is a 1993 American Western film directed by George P. Cosmatos, written by Kevin Jarre, and starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, with Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, and Dana Delany in supporting roles, as well as narration by Robert Mitchum.
Menace II Society is a 1993 American teen crime drama film directed by the Hughes Brothers in their directorial debut. Set in the Watts and Crenshaw neighborhoods of Los Angeles, the film follows the life of Caine Lawson and his close friends. It gained notoriety for its scenes of violence, profanity, and drug-related content, and also received critical acclaim for the performances of Turner, Jada Pinkett, and Larenz Tate, the direction, and its realistic portrayal of urban violence and powerful underlying messages.
Anna is a 1987 American comedy drama film directed by Yurek Bogayevicz and starring Sally Kirkland, Robert Fields, Paulina Porizkova, Steven Gilborn and Larry Pine. It was adapted by Agnieszka Holland from an unauthorized story by Holland and Bogayevicz, based on the real-life relationship of Polish actresses Elżbieta Czyżewska and Joanna Pacuła.
Boiler Room is a 2000 American crime drama film written and directed by Ben Younger, and starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt, Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott, Ron Rifkin and Jamie Kennedy. The film was conceived when Younger interviewed for a job at brokerage firm Sterling Foster. "I walked in and immediately realized, 'This is my movie.' I mean, you see these kids and know something is going on."
The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in 1984, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit Awards in 1986. The ceremony is produced by Film Independent, a not-for-profit arts organization that used to produce the LA Film Festival. Film Independent members vote to determine the winners of the Spirit Awards.
Maud Kathleen Lewis was a Canadian folk artist from Nova Scotia. She lived most of her life in poverty in a small house in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia. She achieved national recognition in 1964 and 1965 for her cheerful paintings of landscapes, animals and flowers, which offer a nostalgic and optimistic vision of her native province. Several books, plays and films have been produced about her. She remains one of Canada's most celebrated folk artists. Her works are displayed at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, as well as her restored house, whose walls she adorned with her art. Despite her recognition, Lewis never had a museum exhibition, nor was her work collected by art galleries or museum during her lifetime.
Adam Paul Scott is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Ben Wyatt in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, for which he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. He has also appeared as Derek Huff in the film Step Brothers, Johnny Meyer in The Aviator, Henry Pollard in the Starz sitcom Party Down, Ed Mackenzie in the HBO series Big Little Lies, and Trevor in the NBC series The Good Place. In 2022, he began starring in the Apple TV+ psychological drama series Severance, for which he received numerous award nominations, including for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, as well as best actor nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes, Critics' Choice, and more.
James Allan Schamus is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange, and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989.
Metropolitan is a 1990 American romantic comedy-drama film produced, written and directed by Whit Stillman, in his feature directorial debut. The film concerns the lives of a group of wealthy young socialites during debutante season in Manhattan. In addition to some of their debutante parties, it covers their frequent informal after-hours gatherings at a friend's Upper East Side apartment, where they discuss life, philosophy and their fate; form attachments, romances and intrigues; and react to an interesting but less well-to-do newcomer.
Alessandro Antine Nivola is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival among others.
Kevin Corrigan is an American character actor. He has appeared mostly in independent films and television since the 1990s, including as Uncle Eddie on the sitcom Grounded for Life (2001–2005). His film appearances include supporting roles in Goodfellas (1990), Rhythm Thief (1994), Walking and Talking (1996), Henry Fool (1997), The Departed (2006), Superbad (2007), Pineapple Express (2008), Seven Psychopaths (2012), The King of Staten Island (2020), and co-starring roles in Big Fan (2009) and Results (2015). He has been twice nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.
Luster is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Everett Lewis. The film is about a weekend in the lives of a group of friends in the Los Angeles queer punk scene. Lewis sought to "infuse queerness" into the film as much as he could, so he cast a number of non-heterosexual actors and used music by a number of queer punk bands. Critical response to Luster was deeply divided.
Brother to Brother is a 2004 film written and directed by Rodney Evans. The film debuted at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded with the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Feature. It went on to play the gay and lesbian film festival circuit where it collected many top festival awards. Brother to Brother was given a limited theatrical release in November 2004.
Everett Lewis is an American independent filmmaker whose directorial credits include: The Natural History of Parking Lots, An Ambush of Ghosts, Skin & Bone, Luster, FAQs, Lucky Bastard, The Pretty Boys (2011), Somefarwhere, and Territory (2016).
Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and emeritus professor of sociology and film of Arizona State University. For the past 50 years, he has taught a wide variety of courses in sociology film, and popular culture at Columbia University, New School for Social Research, Wellesley College, UCLA, and Arizona State University.
Barry "B." Wyatt is an American actor. He is known for his collaborative relationship with independent film writer, director, and producer Everett Lewis. Together the two have made three films: The Natural History of Parking Lots, Skin & Bone, and Luster.
All the Vermeers in New York is a 1990 American film written and directed by Jon Jost. It won the Caligari Film Award in the 1991 Berlin International Film Festival and the Best Experimental Film in the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.
Lisa Rinzler is an American cinematographer who works on both feature films and documentaries. She has worked with Wim Wenders, Martin Scorsese, the Hughes Brothers and Tamra Davis.