This Is Martin Bonner

Last updated
This Is Martin Bonner
This Is Martin Bonner.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Chad Hartigan
Written byChad Hartigan
Tara Everhart [1] [2]
Produced byCherie Saulter
Starring
CinematographySean McElwee
Edited byJulio C. Perez IV
Music by Keegan DeWitt
Distributed by Monterey Media
Release dates
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

This Is Martin Bonner is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Chad Hartigan. The film stars Paul Eenhoorn as Martin Bonner, a man in his late 50s forced to relocate to Reno, Nevada, for a new job and his attempts to acclimate and make new friends. Through his work at a non-profit organization, he meets Travis Holloway (Richmond Arquette), and the two men form an unlikely friendship. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013, where it won the Audience Award for Best of NEXT.

Contents

Plot

Martin Bonner has just moved to Nevada from Maryland, leaving behind his two adult children and a life he spent more than two decades building. He is there working at a new job as the volunteer coordinator for a non-profit organization that helps prisoners make the transition from incarceration to freedom. It is Martin’s first job in two years and he has recently declared bankruptcy.

At the same time, Travis Holloway, a prisoner in the program, is being released after serving twelve years. Sent back into the world with nothing, Travis also finds life in Reno difficult to adjust to, despite the help from his program sponsor, Steve Helms.

The stories of Martin and Travis slowly converge, as the two men meet and find that they have much in common, not the least of which is an unspoken need for encouragement and support. Their unlikely friendship blossoms but is put to the test when Travis betrays Martin's trust in order to reunite with his estranged daughter.

Cast

Production

This Is Martin Bonner was shot on location in Reno and Sparks, Nevada, using the Red One camera. Shooting took sixteen days during November 2011. [4]

Release

This Is Martin Bonner premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best of NEXT. [5] [6] Throughout the year, it screened at the Oxford Film Festival, [7] the Florida Film Festival, [8] the Nashville Film Festival, [9] the Maryland Film Festival, the Wisconsin Film Festival, [10] and the River Run Film Festival. [11] At the Sarasota Film Festival, it won the On Golden Pond Award for Artistic Accomplishment. [12]

It was given a limited theatrical release in North America on June 21, 2013. [3]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 93% based on reviews from 30 critics, with an average rating of 7.85/10. The site's consensus reads: "Solemn but heartfelt, This Is Martin Bonner is a slow-burning drama with an outstanding performance by Paul Eenhoorn as the title character." [13] On Metacritic it has a score of 71 out of 100 based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [14]

John Anderson of Variety described it as "A mood piece, a character study and an exercise in poetic gesture possessed of a sort of evanescent, secular spirituality. Helmer Chad Hartigan's second feature is Americana of a very immediate sort, a tale of redemption that may leave its viewers with an uncanny sense of peace." [15] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Acted with smart restraint and shot with corresponding composure, this is a somber drama built out of small but acutely observed moments of naturalistic behavior." [16] The New York Times reviewer Nicolas Rapold commented, "It's gratifying to see the care taken with his characters, though it would be no betrayal of them for Mr. Hartigan to flesh out their world and their lives further." [17]

Accolades

This Is Martin Bonner won the 2013 Sundance Best of Next audience award [18] and the 2014 Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosanna Arquette</span> American actress

Rosanna Lisa Arquette is an American actress. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film The Executioner's Song (1982) and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). Her other film roles include After Hours, The Big Blue (1988), Pulp Fiction (1994), and Crash (1996). She also directed the documentary Searching for Debra Winger (2002) and starred in the ABC sitcom What About Brian? from 2006 to 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Arquette</span> American actress (born 1968)

Patricia Tiffany Arquette is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). Her other notable films include True Romance (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Lost Highway (1997), The Hi-Lo Country (1998), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Stigmata (1999), Holes (2003), Fast Food Nation (2006), The Wannabe (2015), and Toy Story 4 (2019). For playing a single mother in the coming-of-age film Boyhood (2014), which was filmed from 2002 until 2014, Arquette won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<i>The Cooler</i> 2003 film by Wayne Kramer

The Cooler is a 2003 American crime drama film directed by Wayne Kramer, from a screenplay by Frank Hannah and Kramer. The film stars William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy, Ron Livingston, Estella Warren, Paul Sorvino, and Alec Baldwin. It follows a casino "cooler" whose mere presence at the gambling tables usually results in a streak of bad luck for the other players.

Fathers & Sons is a 1992 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Mones and starring Jeff Goldblum, Rory Cochrane, Rosanna Arquette, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Famke Janssen. The film is about the connection between a father and son complicated by the foibles of a serial killer and the interactions of a psychic.

Chad Hartigan is a Cyprus-born, Irish-American filmmaker and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keegan DeWitt</span> American musician

Keegan DeWitt is an American film composer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was raised in Oregon and now resides in Los Angeles. He is the lead singer of the indie rock band Wild Cub, as well as a composer for film scores.

Paul Eenhoorn was an Australian actor working in Seattle, Washington, perhaps best known for his work in the 2013 film This Is Martin Bonner. Since moving to Seattle, he had quickly grown to be a well-respected actor in the film community there. His work has been seen at many film festivals around the world.

<i>High School</i> (2010 film) 2010 American film

High School is a 2010 American teen comedy film starring Adrien Brody. It is the feature-length directorial debut of John Stalberg, Jr. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically distributed by Anchor Bay Films on June 1, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Mickle</span> American director and writer (born 1979)

Jim Mickle is an American director and writer, known for such films as Mulberry Street, Stake Land, We Are What We Are and Cold in July. He also co-developed the SundanceTV series Hap and Leonard, and the Netflix series Sweet Tooth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Sundance Film Festival</span> Film festival held from January 17, 2013 until January 27, 2013

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17, 2013, until January 27, 2013, in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah.

<i>Jug Face</i> 2013 American film

Jug Face is a 2013 American horror film written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle and starring Sean Bridgers, Lauren Ashley Carter, Larry Fessenden, Sean Young and Daniel Manche. The story follows a teen (Carter), who is pregnant with her brother's child and tries to escape from a backwoods community, only to discover that she must sacrifice herself to a creature in a pit.

<i>Fruitvale Station</i> 2013 film by Ryan Coogler

Fruitvale Station is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station in Oakland.

<i>Top of the Lake</i> Australian television series

Top of the Lake is a mystery drama television series created and written by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee, and directed by Campion and Garth Davis. It aired in 2013, and the sequel, entitled Top of the Lake: China Girl, in 2017. It marks Campion's first work for television since An Angel at My Table in 1990.

<i>52 Tuesdays</i> 2013 coming of age film

52 Tuesdays is a 2013 Australian coming of age drama film directed by Sophie Hyde, with the screenplay written by Matthew Cormack and story by Cormack and Hyde. The film centres on a teenage girl dealing with the gender transition of a parent. The film showed at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, where it was not only nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, but won the Best Director Award. Over the following year it won numerous other awards and garnered global critical acclaim.

<i>Happy Valley</i> (film) 2014 documentary film directed by Amir Bar-Lev

Happy Valley is a 2014 American documentary film, written and directed by Amir Bar-Lev. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014.

<i>Land Ho!</i> 2014 film directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz

Land Ho! is a 2014 adventure comedy film, co-written and co-directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz. The film made its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014. It also screened at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Sundance Film Festival</span>

The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. The closing night film was Louis Black and Karen Bernstein's Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny.

<i>Morris from America</i> 2016 film by Chad Hartigan

Morris from America is a 2016 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Chad Hartigan, produced by Martin Heisler, Sara Murphy, Adele Romanski, and Gabriele Simon, and starring Craig Robinson, Markees Christmas, Carla Juri, Lina Keller, and Jakub Gierszał. The film follows a 13-year-old American boy who dreams of becoming a rapper in an EDM-dominated Germany.

<i>Beach Rats</i> 2017 film

Beach Rats is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Eliza Hittman. It stars Harris Dickinson, Madeline Weinstein, and Kate Hodge. It was screened at the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released on August 25, 2017, by Neon.

Taming the Garden is a 2021 documentary film directed by Salomé Jashi, a former journalist. It was nominated for the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

References

  1. ↑ "This Is Martin Bonner - Credits". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  2. ↑ "ISSUE #94: Tara Everhart, Ellen Siebers, GHIANT". StoryChord. January 19, 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  3. 1 2 "This Is Martin Bonner". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015.
  4. ↑ Macaulay, Scott (September 2, 2013). "Day 10 of 16: Chad Hartigan and This is Martin Bonner". Filmmaker . Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "This Is Martin Bonner". Sundance.org . Archived from the original on December 19, 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  6. ↑ "2013 Sundance Film Festival Awards". Sundance Film Blog. Sundance Film Festival Blog. January 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  7. ↑ "Spotlight Screenings Revealed". Oxford Film Guide. Oxford Film Guide. February 21, 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "The complete Festival film lineup". Florida Film Guide. Florida Film Guide. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Want to do the 2013 Nashville Film Festival in just five films?". Nashville Scene. April 18, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Wisconsin Film Guide". Wisconsin Film Guide. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "River Run Film Guide". River Run Film Guide. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "Sarasota Film Guide". Sarasota Film Guide. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  13. ↑ "This Is Martin Bonner (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  14. ↑ "This Is Martin Bonner". Metacritic . Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  15. ↑ Anderson, John (January 19, 2013). "This Is Martin Bonner". Variety .
  16. ↑ Rooney, David This is Martin Bonner Sundance Review The Hollywood Reporter .
  17. ↑ Nicolas Rapold (August 13, 2013). "Counselor and Ex-Con, Adjusting to New Worlds". The New York Times .
  18. ↑ Renninger, Bryce J. (January 28, 2013). "Sundance Futures: 'This is Martin Bonner' Director Chad Hartigan, Winner of Best of NEXT". Indiewire . Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  19. ↑ Webber, Stephanie (March 1, 2014). "Independent Spirit Awards 2014: The Complete Winner's List". Us Magazine . Retrieved January 4, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.