Ellie Parker – D

My favorite actress in the lexicon of actresses is Naomi Watts. She will always be my favorite for her choice of roles. Vast, is a good word to describe her choices. From The Ring, to Mulholland Drive, to I Heart Huckabees, Watts approaches each role as a challenge and excels. One of the lesser known films she has done is called Ellie Parker, written, starring and directed by Scott Coffey. When I stumbled across this title in Netflix World (my rental store) it seemed too good to be true. The two actors had worked together in David Lynch projects. (most notably my favorite Mulholland Drive)

The setting is the all too imaginative Los Angeles acting scene. Ellie is a superwoman of sorts, rehearsing her monologues in the car while changing, putting on make up, and juggling her personal life. Coffey wants to highlight these type of moments because he finds them interesting. It’s a bit self indulgent if you ask me, but it’s Naomi and I trust her judgment on scripts.

It doesn’t get much better. Scott Coffey somehow makes his way into his own movie (who’s directing now?) and falls for her. The rest is fairly predictable but I won’t give it all away for you Naomi Watts fans.

The message is simple. Los Angeles will eat your soul. As an actress Ellie struggles with money and jobs. Her beautiful and thought out audition pieces fall on the deaf ears of sleeping, drugged up producers. Coffey’s statement isn’t deep, this is exactly what we learned in Mulholland Drive four years prior. The fact that Ebert liked this film means practically nothing. The LA Times quote seen on the poster is much more intriguing. This film isn’t funny, at all. The LA Times was probably slipped some happy pills by Scott Coffey during the screening which is all too fitting concerning the film’s subject.

Technically this film is terrible. It’s shot on a very low quality digital camera that makes my sketch comedy work look like the next Kubrick film. Coffey spends too much time obsessing over Watts it seems (I can’t believe she signed on for this) to direct a real film. I bet she did it as a favor for a guy who just wouldn’t shut up on the set of Mulholland Drive, “Naomi, I have this role for you, you’d be perfect as the love interest of…well, me!”

Though this film made it to Sundance I don’t think that’s any indicator of it’s artistic value. It’s probably because a big name like Naomi Watts took it on as a pet project and it cost next to nothing. I saw that it was first a short (should have stayed that way) on 16mm. I like the experimental mindset of Coffey but use it on a deserving subject. The actor is an over used subject by the entertainment world (meta-art) and the trend should probably end.

***As commented, Watts co produced this debacle.  I humbly add my embarressment for this oversight but I’m sticking to my guns.  This is Coffey’s artistic vision as he wrote, directed, starred, and (thanks for the input) produced.  Watts doesn’t get off the hook but the greater blame resides with Coffey.

Skip it