I first saw TCE at the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) two years ago, where it was one of my favorite films. It features a great (award worthy!) performance by Kristen Stewart, who is soon to be one of our most important actresses. Kristen is beautiful, young, interesting to watch, extremely talented (with a wide range of roles), and almost ubiquitous (the mega-hit Twilight, the comedy What Just Happened, the action film Jumper, plus Panic Room, In The Wild, and five films in the works!).
Also notable about The Cake Eaters is -- well, it's a cliche, but even cliches can be true -- that the location is "almost a character." Shot in upstate New York, the physical environment has a reality that contributes to the mood and the substance of the film, in much the same way that environment was so important in Altman's films.
On a personal note, I interviewed Mary Stuart's father, actor/director Peter Masterson, many years ago, and he was very smart, and the nicest person; I saw Mary Stuart first, long ago, on location on her first film, when she was eight or nine; and I saw her, more recently, bouncing down the Red Carpet at The Tribeca Film Festival, and later I had the opportunity to speak with her on the phone and post about the film, before TCE opened at the Stony Brook Festival last year. She is charming, vivacious and friendly.
The Cake Eaters has a strong pedigree as an award winner at many film festivals (including Best Feature at Stony Brook), and is a very special film to see.
As an extra bonus, Mary Stuart will be on hand for a Q & A after the screenings in New York:
Q&A with Director Mary Stuart Masterson Cinema Village (NYC) – 3/13 after 7:25p show & 3/14 after 3p show Cobble Hill Cinemas (Brooklyn) – 3/14 after 7:45p show & 3/15 after 3:10p show
THE CAKE EATERS starring Kristen Stewart, Aaron Stanford, Bruce Dern, Elizabeth Ashley, Jayce Bartok. Directed by Mary Stuart Masterson.
OPENS MARCH 13TH – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, Santa Fe…
In this film, she tells an interesting, romantic story, about difficult and troubled people. The acting, especially by Kristen Stewart, is dead-on. Kristen plays an adolescent girl with a serious disease and, thinking about the film, I kind-of had to keep reminding myself that Kristen was an actress and not a patient recruited for a film role.
Mary Stuart (that seems to be what she likes to be called) said that she cast Kristen (fifteen when this film was made), remembering having seeing her in The Panic Room in 2002 (which she made when she was just nine). Meeting her, she found Kristen was "so poised and intelligent and ... had such a ferocious... love for the character, that I just knew that it had be her." (Poised, intelligent and ferocious: great qualities for an actress!)
Mary Stuart Masterson with her brother cinematographer Pete Masterson
What makes the film most special, it seems to me, is that it is uniquely American in a way that few films are. It was shot on location upstate in New York, and has an authenticity that comes from being firmly rooted in the present time in a real place in this country. The film was shot with understated realism by Mary Stuart’s brother, Peter Masterson.
Mary Stuart Masterson and Bruce Dern
The story is contemporary and gently treats of romance and relationships, difficult and otherwise. The character’s talk, and the action proceeds, with a rhythm that is genuine to the place, the time and the story. The script, by Jayce Bartok, who also appears in the film, has not been formulized the way studio films are.
Mary Stuart comes from a family and milieu of actors and directors. Her mother is the Tony winning actress Carlin Glynn. And Mary Stuart has appeared as an actress in films which are something of a family affair, such films as The Trip to Bountiful, written by the playwright, Horton Foote and directed by her father, Peter Masterson (who is Horton Foote's cousin). Mary Stuart's father is a charming, and intelligent (Note: it's not a coincidence that I used the same adjectives to describe Mary Stuart) actor, writer and Tony nominated director (for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas). That understanding of family, and that tradition of crafting film and theater which is in her background history, seems to inform the decisions and structure that were made in crafting a film that portrays sophisticated relationships, and that looks and feels unique and genuine.
There is likely to be a Q&A with Mary Stuart after the screening on Saturday. With a diverse and interesting schedule of films, the Stony Brook Film Festival seems like a very good place to visit between Thursday (July 17) and Saturday (July 26), with the first Saturday night (July 19) a particularly fine time to attend, for the screening of The Cake Eaters.
Note (July 25, 2009) -- The Cake Eaters is now out on DVD. Below is a link to watch the film online or buy a DVD. Also, Mary Stuart has produced a new film, Tickling Leo, written and directed by her husband, Jeremy Davidson, which is being shown today at the Stony Brook Film Festival 2009.
