Nellie Zastawna

An anthology of surreal films by Patrick McGuinn featuring Vincent, a puppet who is obsessed with Twinkies and pasta.

A struggling writer takes a job for his mobster uncle in order to obtain first-hand material for a book on conspiracy plots and the JFK assassination. They often say that a good writer lives what he writes, but what happens when the life that the writer is living could likely get him killed?

Michael Keenan's film Rain takes us in from the main title to the payoff of its namesake. The heat and the throbbing music provide the indolent rhythm of the troubled life of Alex the cabdriver. The story is simple: New York as Hell. The noise, the sensory intrusions and the blistering heat don't stop those who can't leave from going about their business, forcing them into their own worlds sometimes to extreme degrees. Alex keeps moving, her taxi as metaphor, and waiting. Waiting is an active verb here. The sound effects, score, and chaotic images of New York captured by Robert LoScalzo come alive as the workings of Alex's interior anguish as well as the real exterior of the City.