PRATFALL
A troubled insomniac encounters an enigmatic French tourist in Central Park. The two set off on a sleepless New York adventure as the city casts a shadow over them.
Filmmaker Alex Andre captures an unusual connection between two strangers. PRATFALL walks a highwire of intimacy, trust, and confession. It’s a powerfully human story through the lens of two culturally diverse individuals.
Chloé Groussard gives Joelle a tangible vulnerability. She is honest, wide-eyed, and receives Burge’s energy at every turn.
Joshua Burge (BUZZARD) should be a household name. His ability to slip into the skin of every character he plays is astounding. The manic energy delivered in Eli wreaks of an authentic New Yorker who’s been there too long without the proper mental health care. He is abrasive to most strangers and yet embraces Joelle’s company fullfold. His chemistry with Groussard is the stuff of the gods. It’s challenging to decipher which lines of dialogue are organic or written by Andre. A compliment to all
Filmed predominantly on the Upper West Side (trust a local gal to recognize every street corner in the opening scene), moving its way east, then south through midtown and back, the hand-held cinematography lends to the intimacy and claustrophobia of Eli and Joelle’s inner turmoil. The classical score lulls you during the long follow shots. The upbeat soundtrack is a fantastic foil.
The script feels like an eclectic mix of overheard conversations and romanticizing the city. The pace is uneven, but that does not lessen the most rewarding scenes, seeped in unresolved wounds and the essence of New York. PRATFALL boasts a tragic finale that somehow manages to be poetic perfection. It is a complex and quintessentially human walk and talk in NYC, teeming with trauma and connection.
Week-long theatrical release begins April 26 at Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles,
the same day as Freestyle Digital Media releases the film on
all major VOD platforms in North America (pre-order)
Credits
Director/Writer/
Co-Producer – Jordyn Barber
107 minutes, USA, 2023
Follow:
PRATFALL Instagram: @pratfallmovie
Alex Andre Instagram: @thatalexandre
Joshua Burge Instagram: @joshuatheburge
Chloé Groussard Instagram: @craph
About Freestyle Digital Media
The digital distribution unit of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, satellite, digital and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record, and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films. Recent releases include THE ROAD DOG starring comedian Doug Stanhope, SURVIVE starring HBO’s GAME OF THRONES star Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins, the music documentary profiling blues guitar legends Jimmie Vaughan & Stevie Ray Vaughan, BROTHERS IN BLUES, DEAR ZOE starring Sadie Sink from the hit Netflix series STRANGER THINGS, Jessica Capshaw and Theo Rossi. Other Freestyle Digital Media titles include BEST SUMMER EVER the teen musical featuring a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities, produced by Jamie Lee Curtis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, THE WEDDING YEAR starring Sarah Hyland and Anna Camp, THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH starring Danny Houston, UNTOGETHER starring Jamie Dornan, Jemima Kirke, Ben Mendelsohn, Alice Eve and Billy Crystal, the action-comedy BETTER START RUNNING starring Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons and Maria Bello, THE BACHELORS starring Academy Award-winner J.K. Simmons, Julie Delpy and Odeya Rush and the award-winning documentary HONDROS produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Jake Gyllenhaal.
For more information, visit:
Director Bio:
Alex Andre is an award-winning Director, Cinematographer, Writer & Producer based in Los Angeles. He is recognized for SADA (2022), which won 12 awards and received Official Selection in over 20 festivals worldwide. His feature film debut is PRATFALL starring Joshua Burge and Chloé Groussard. Andre also has producing credits on Alison Bagnall’s FUNNY BUNNY (2015) and Erin Li’s KEPLER X47 (2013). Andre was raised in the South of France and the English countryside before moving to Los Angeles. He cites Alan Clarke, Nicholas Roeg and The Dardennes as early cinematic influences.
Star Bios:
Joshua Burge, a Michigan native, has appeared in THE REVENANT opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, 20TH CENTURY WOMEN opposite Greta Gerwig, and BURDEN opposite Garrett Hedlund, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. RELAXER, Joshua’s third collaboration with filmmaker Joel Potrykus, premiered to great reviews at SXSW. This collaboration follows APE (2012) and BUZZARD (2014), the latter of which also made its world premiere at SXSW and was named one of Indiewire’s top films of the year.
Chloé Groussard is a French actress, born in Bretagne. She took her first theater classes at the age of 10 in her hometown. After graduating from a business master degree, she decided to turn her passion into her everyday life. Chloé intensified her acting training in Paris and New York and she started performing both on stage and on screen – in France, Italy and the United States. After giving her the role of Valérie in his short film Sada, Alex Andre chose her to embody Joelle alongside American actor Joshua Burge in his first feature film, Pratfall, marking also the feature debut of Chloé – for which she won the award of best actress at the Manchester Film Festival. Chloé is also part of the upcoming Netflix series of Stefano Sollima, Il Mostro, and she’s now represented by French prestigious agency, Time Art.
The first official appearance of our titular character is startling. Anne Müller‘s is dazzling. Her jarring physical performance makes BAGHEAD relentlessly unsettling.
Freya Allan plays Iris with equal parts frailty and fearlessness. You cannot take your eyes off her. Someone, please write a film featuring her as a young version of Juliette Lewis because the resemblance is uncanny. Take my money now.
Summoning Sylvia
Jessie Buckley is flawless as a foul-mouthed immigrant single mother, Rose Gooding. Buckley’s fierce spirit proves perfection for the role. She and Colman share a delicious chemistry, and I beg the industry to pair them together in future projects.
A massive thank you to screenwriter Jonny Sweet and director Thea Sharrock for gifting audiences with a dazzling story about complex, fearless women. The script is a creative commentary on repression, patriarchal rule, female friendship, and freedom of expression. You’ll be doubled over with laughter at the ceaselessly imaginative insults in the letters. The unadulterated glee in hearing these words feels naughty in a rather freeing and celebratory way. WICKED LITTLE LETTERS is the best fucking film of the year.
EXHUMA
An ancient evil affects the firstborn children of a wealthy family with uncontrollable wailing in their dreams. Eager to cash in, a team of macabre experts takes on this new client. As they dig deeper into this unique case, the usually confident group discovers they are in over their heads. In EXHUMA, that’s only the beginning of this horrifying tale.
Performances are magnificent across the board. This spectacular multi-generational ensemble cast delivers engrossing mystery and terror. The script unfolds in chapters, like a how-to guide dealing with the underworld. Descriptions of rituals and occupational titles come in narration from the team. This creative storytelling immerses the audience in what feels like an inevitable tragedy. Complicating things further are the secrets our wealthy family hides. Genre fans will have a field day with horror canon balanced with the slightest touch of humor and serious gore. It is beyond compelling.
Mixing tradition and superstition combined with an ominous score makes the hairs on your arms stick straight up. It’s a multi-sensory watch. EXHUMA deserves your full attention from the very first frame. There is so much meat on the bone. Expanding this world almost certainly feels possible and welcome. At its current runtime of two-plus hours, viewers would eat up more stories from this team. Their chemistry is magic, and a franchise would delight fans. The twists and turns keep coming. EXHUMA is undeniably one of the most intriguing cinematic experiences of the year.
Visit the official film page: 
Filmmaker Kailee McGee shares snapshots of her innermost thoughts on her journey with breast cancer. Tongue in cheek, manic, clever, stream of consciousness, unfiltered, and hilariously meta, CAN feels revelatory. It is celebratory irreverence. McGee makes her situation relatable and palpable. She is raw and funny as hell. I would 1000% watch a feature-length version. It has that “it” factor, and McGee owns every bit of its magic.
Riley Dandy (
Fast fashion and exploitation. The popular teen brand Brandy Melville comes under the microscope in a new documentary feature premiering at SXSW 2024 Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion. In the film, former employees discuss how they got hired, the company’s everyday practices, and the fallout of their exposure.
Dr. Franklin Caul has created a simulated consciousness with the dead. The DOJ wants it, but Caul has ulterior motives. The tech uses data from the deceased to have conversations or seek answers. In the mix is a swirl of overlapping thoughts and confusion that get under your skin. You cannot help but listen to them, and they are chilling. Caul observes that when suicide is the cause of death, the deterioration of self slows.
What might sound crazy is that this tech already exists. Customers can pay several different companies worldwide to build an AI version of their past loved ones. A recent Sundance documentary, 
Thomas Walton‘s CAMP PLEASANT LAKE centers around a horror camp created based on a 20-year-old legend of a missing child and the brutal murder of her family on their way to the very same camp.
Christopher Sky is the former vile camper turned Camp of Terror counselor, Mike. He is a sufficient asshole and you will revel in his inevitable demise. Jonathan Lipnicki is hands down the best part of CAMP PLEASANT LAKE. His unfettered commitment to the role is genuinely awesome.
It is evident the film is made by genre fans. Practical fx are bloody good, even if the pace and dialogue drag. The kills get better as the plot rolls along. I did wish the variety of attendees had been more eclectic. At $10k each, I was looking for fewer numbers and more development of these characters because the possibilities were endless.
The documentary is by turns uplifting and shattering. Most powerfully, it is a stark reminder of the human costs of ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Unbelievably, this week will mark 2 years since Russia’s invasion and escalation of the conflict. While the war may not be at the forefront of the public conscious in 2024 to the same degree as it once was, it remains a constant for the staff and families at Veselka. This is not an overseas battle for them – these are their loved ones and families fighting and dying while the world moves on to the next crisis.
On-the-ground video from January 6th, up close and personal from cell phones, retraumatizes the viewer. The new footage is mind-boggling and will undoubtedly fill you with rage and disgust. The film features sociologists, authors, historians, lawyers, and pastors. We examine the Constitution and the precise articles requiring separation of church and state. We look at evolving statistics on social issues through the years. The interconnectedness of women’s rights, race, and power is undeniable. 
Violence as a means of “spiritual defense” comes directly from the pulpit over and over. The film effectively builds towards January 6th by wading through the madness swirling in the years prior. It is utterly bewildering and 100 percent terrifying. This coordinated effort to keep people in a cult is deliberate and well-funded. History repeats itself. Wait until you find out the architect of Evangelical sermons. 
GOD & COUNTRY keenly explores the long history and bastardization of Christianity through White Nationalism. It is a political movement about power. America is a ticking time bomb encouraged by social media, media, and billions of dollars. Stay vigilant and show up at the polls because democracy depends on it.
Mort and Michelle’s dynamic feels incredibly forced. The dialogue is a bizarre mix of awkward bad jokes and deeply personal romantic words. It is a baffling mix. The story is a mess, and there are innumerable superfluous scenes. The pace is glacial. At an hour and fifty-six minutes, this could have been eighty minutes at the most. 
The most successful aspect of the film is Eric Roberts‘ soothing narration, but there are too many inconsistencies for the final twist to go down smoothly. This is one of those times where a flashback montage of all the clues would greatly benefit the film.
The documentary follows Tina Cordova as she advocates for herself and her fellow “downwinders.” Downwinders are innocent bystanders who may have suffered negative health effects from the Trinity test – the 1945 detonation of a newly developed nuclear weapon in New Mexico.
The anecdotes from the immediate aftermath of the nuclear test are truly horrifying. One particularly striking recounting involves children playing with what they thought was “warm snow, but may have actually been nuclear fallout. Still more disturbing is the potential generational effects of the test. There are recounts of stillbirths, of children born without eyes, and of widespread cases of cancer across the affected communities. Cordova herself is a thyroid cancer survivor, the 4th generation in her family to have cancer since the test in 1945.
DIG! XX
You must be logged in to post a comment.