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Nola (2003)
Released By: Samuel Goldwyn Films   Rating: R   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Alan Hruska
Language: English
Official Website: http://www.nolathemovie.com
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: N/A
Cast: Mary McDonnell, Steven Bauer, Emmy Rossum, James Badge Dale, Thom Christopher, Michael Cavadias
Published ID: 373098
UPC: N/A
Plot: Nola (Emmy Rossum) is a Kansas teen who runs away to New York City to escape an abusive stepfather. Once she gets to the big town, she sets about looking for a job and for her father, whom she's never met. She attacks both tasks with fierce determination, but has little success, until she stumbles upon a greasy spoon near Union Square where the eccentric owner, Gus (Sam Coppola), immediately takes a liking to her. Soon, she's waitressing at the diner and crashing in a room upstairs with the handsome fry cook, Ben (James Badge Dale), who also goes to law school when he feels like it. Nola spends her spare time using the phone book in an effort to track down the man she knows only as Hutch. Things look up for Nola when she meets the sassy owner of the diner, Margaret (Mary McDonnell), who also runs a very classy escort service. Margaret sees something in Nola, and hires the girl as her assistant. As Nola's relationship with Ben gets more intimate, she tells him about her dream of being a successful songwriter. But things take an ugly turn when one of Margaret's escorts, a transsexual named Wendy (Michael Cavadias) offends a rich and powerful client, Niles (Thom Christopher). Niles is determined to have his revenge, and tries to use his media contacts to have an exposé written about Margaret's business. But the reporter assigned to the story, Leo (Steven Bauer), turns out to be an old friend of Margaret's. Nola, the feature debut of writer/director Alan Hruska, a former trial lawyer, had its world premiere at the {~2003 Tribeca Film Festival}. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Great product
Added 8/30/2009

I highly recommend this seller and this product... a sweet little movie made in the fishing capital of the US, New Bedford, MA - my hometown.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Disappointed
Added 3/28/2007

I am as big a fan of romances as the next poor sap but this one failed my expectations in too many ways: mostly direction and screen writing I suppose. Emmy Rossum always adds a happy, sweet, bright flash of enthusiasm to the movies she appears in but her character loses the thread in the plot halfway thru.

Milos is gorgeous but she's leaden in this role, much as she is in CSI Miami, mostly just walking around looking good, but uninspired. And if she can sing, it still looks like she's lip-synching.

Isaacs is pretty good until he loses all dignity and starts groveling.

But I loved New Bedford, Massachusetts!

2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
Romantic movie for the people over 35
Added 7/28/2006

It's improbable but perhaps that's part of it's appeal. It's about a British gambler that has been blacklisted from every casino in the world who falls in love with a barely middle age beautiful widow.

It's a simple story but the characters are appealing. Well, the lead actor grows on you. But I found the widow and her teenage daughter likable from the beginning.

It's a love story for anyone who believes or wants to believe in second chances in life.

2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
A little romance.
Added 5/14/2006

I will admit that I bought this movie simply because Jason Isaacs is in it. That said, I enjoyed the movie. It's a light, pleasant little romance set in a gorgeous place. In fact, New Bedford is practically a separate charcter, and a lovely and appealing one, at that.

Although the themes in this movie aren't very complex, and the story isn't all that original, the characters are attractive and likable, and I have to give everyone involved snaps for the beautiful settings and especially for the wonderfully erotic scene in which Celia (Sofia Milos) feeds Charlie (Jason Isaacs) bits of food, and he sucks on her fingers. It's very sensual, without being explicit or tawdry, and it leads to some really fantastic kissing between Jason and Sofia.

The DVD commentary from Jason, Sofia, and the director Dan Ireland is just about the most entertaining commentary I've ever heard on a movie. In fact, the commentary is more entertaining than the movie, because Jason is so clever and funny, and Dan and Sofia are both so sincere in their fondness for the setting and the wonderful fado music. The sensual scene noted above is particularly fun listening on the commentary, with Jason talking about how difficult it is to both play and to watch himself play romantic scenes, Sofia talking about how she fell a little bit in love with Jason during that scene, and Dan alternately teasing them and lavishing praise on them for the passion in the scene. It's pretty obvious that the three of them like and respect each other and really enjoyed working together on this movie. It is also interesting to hear them talk about how disappointed and a little hurt they were that the the film didn't do better at the box office.

I gave this movie a 4, although a 3 1/2 might be more appropriate. It is beautifully shot, the performances are all very fine, the music is amazing, but the story is just a little too predictable.

2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
Cards, Fish, and lots of Sophia Milos
Added 12/13/2005

Charlie (Jason Isaac) is a card player of dubious luck, who lives in a cheap motel and is going nowhere until he meets and woos a conservative and beautiful Portugese seamstress/singer, Celia, played by the stunning Sofia Milos (CSI: Miami). Celia has a meddlesome teenage daughter, Vickie (Emmy Rossum) who wants to learn how to count cards by blackmailing Charlie into teaching her, but he is banned from all casinos. Vickie wants to hook her mother up with a new man but her computer dating schemes fail. In the meanwhile, Charlie's only friends, a wealthy couple, Lois (Theresa Russell) and Danny Vargas (Seymore Cassel), lend him their Jaguar XKE, sailboat, and home to impress the widow that he is a successful and wealthy entrepreneur. It sounds like a typical dating game setup except for the background settings of the Portugese fishing community, mouthwatering seafood cooking, and casino gaming that flesh out the story.

Through falling in love, fishing, and lying to make points with the mother, Charlie learns how to turn his life around the hard way through his deceptions which backfire, and Sofia tries to forget the husband whose death has left her prematurely widowed yet not completely dead from the neck down.

With the interferences of Vickie, significant amounts of fish as unlikely props, and an otherwise sappy storyline, this is an entertaining film which allows the wonderful character actor Jason Isaac (Peter Pan, The Patriot) to show another side to his already excellent acting chops. Emmy Rossum is adequately irritating in a pre-Phantom of the Opera role that suggests her growth from typical teenager to ingenue-in-training. However, it is the vibrant and seductive Sofia Milos as Celia who gives a rounded performance from cloistered widow to sensuous nightclub chanteuse that surprises and delights.

This is a small story about love in all its forms and definitions. Thoroughly enjoyable and wonderful for a date nite or simply rainy day, Passionada entertains with its story of misdirected love and casino gambling gone right.

4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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