Friday, May 7, 5:30 PM, Charles Theatre 1
Sunday, May 9, 11:00 AM, Charles Theatre 5

Director: Jane Weinstock

Cast: Marguerite Moreau, Brian F. O'Byrne, Naveen Andrews, Emily Deschanel, Caroline Goodall, John Rothman, D.B. Woodside, Lanette Ware

Country: U.S.
Year: 2003
Running Time: 99 minutes
Format: 35mm

There must have been many discussions in the programming suites of our television networks in which the word "easy" was suggested as part of the title of a news series. But, director/ writer Jane Weinstock's charming, sexy film, occupies very different artistic ground than Friends and its ilk. Instead of treating friendships as inconsequential comic events, Weinstock shows us a world in which almost every act, though often humorous and romantic, can have dramatic and unintended impact. When it comes to her subject- a young, single woman- Weinstock is like a passionate museum curator who is enthusiastically helping us see a familiar piece of art in a new way.

Anchored by a breathtaking performance from Marguerite Moreau, playing Jamie Harris, EASY's cast bravely explores one young woman's efforts to find out what matters most. Sexually and intellectually curious, Jamie has the confidence to take chances. In many ways, her life seems easy. Jamie has a not-too-corporate job naming new consumer products, and she's surrounded by a varied and interesting group of friends. She even is drawn to decent and attractive men. But inevitable questions loom: Whom and what do you trust? As you make choices, some of which will have unanticipated long term power, can you count on others to point the way, or must your choices come mostly from within? The result is a delightfully female-focused movie without a trace of predictable feminist political posturing.

-- Jed Dietz

Jane Weinstock has a Master's degree in film studies from New York University and graduated from Princeton with a degree in history. She has taught at NYU, the California Institute of the Arts and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and UCLA. Weinstock has made a number of acclaimed short films, including Freud's Dora (co-director) and Voices of Silence, and The Clean-Up. Easy is her first feature film. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival 2003, was in competition at this year's Sundance, and was developed at the Sundance labs.

James Welling is an internationally acclaimed photographer. He had a mid-career retrospective in 2001 at MOCA (Los Angeles) and is a professor in the Department of Art at UCLA.

Marguerite Moreau made her feature debut at 14 in The Mighty Ducks and then appeared in the two sequels. She has since appeared in numerous television series and films including Wag the Dog, Wet Hot American Summer, and The Queen of the Damned. She co-starred opposite Gene Hackman in Runaway Jury and recently completed the Showtime pilot S.F.C. - Sucker Free City directed by Spike Lee.