Our NEW YORK PREMIERE of THE HAPPY POET — during the 2010 Rooftop Films Summer Series!
We’re incredibly excited to be a part of Rooftop’s programming this year – and this is our FIRST public screening outside of Austin, Texas. During the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, the film premiered to rave reviews and had 3 standing room only, sold-out screenings. The event kicks off with Live Music by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez – followed by a screening of THE HAPPY POET (85 minutes) – and will continue with a open-bar/afterparty at Fontana’s. Writer/Director/Editor/Lead Actor Paul Gordon (aka the Poet) will be in attendance (and I’ll be there as well).
Event Info: Friday, June 25, 2010 / $10 at the door (or online)
Open Road Rooftop: LOWER EAST SIDE / 350 GRAND ST., NEW YORK, NY 10002
8:00PM – Doors Open / 8:30PM – Live music by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez
9:00PM – Film begins / 11:30PM – After-party: Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St.) Courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
Purchase tickets via TicketLeap
And please, check out our trailer here:
And if you still need convincing — this what a few folks have to say about the film:
“My favorite movie so far at this year’s SXSW is a little comedy, at once wistful and wonderfully dry-witted, called The Happy Poet. Shot here in Austin the film tells the story of one debt-ridden man who attempts to change his lousy fortunes by opening up a vegetarian food stand. It sounds modest. It is modest! But damned if my heart didn’t swell during the film’s great climax to say nothing of the last shot that left me touched to the point of tears. Austin filmmaker Paul Gordon, who wrote, directed, edited and starred in the movie ought to be mighty pleased with himself.”
-Karen Valby, Entertainment Weekly
“The Happy Poet, a deadpan charmer directed by Austin filmmaker Paul Gordon, moves along at the brisk pace of a light romantic comedy. Gordon stars as a loner hoping to turn his organic food cart into a success, but the finances never come together. (There’s probably a helpful metaphor here for the state of the independent film itself – trimmed down and in business against all odds…) Everything about The Happy Poet is cheerily conventional, save for Gordon’s hilariously monotonous delivery, an ironic performance that incessantly contradicts the movie’s title.”
-Eric Kohn, IndieWIRE
“Admittedly, the film’s muted rhythms take a little getting used to, but once you’re acclimated to Gordon’s long takes and just-short-of-painful pauses between reactions, it’s easy to understand and sympathize with Bill’s ambition…Even better, the film’s dry sense of humor belies sincerity, rather than the kind of ironic detachment that seems to pop up frequently in independent films…The Happy Poet is a modest, funny little charmer – a textbook ‘independent film’ in many ways – but it’s got the romantic heart of a mainstream movie, which is why you want to see its dreams become reality, and after watching it, you feel like yours can, too.”
-Todd Gilchrist, Cinematical
“Director/star Paul Gordon’s film is right up my alley, which is to say that I tend to revel in the awkward…The Happy Poet is nothing but awkward, a slice-of-life tale about a weird guy who feels that he should sell organic, mostly vegetarian food out of a hot dog cart…I really, truly dug it.”
-Mark Bell, Film Threat
“If Slacker defined the shaggy eccentricities of Austin life circa the early ’90s, then Gordon’s similarly low-key comedy is a delightful, deadpan reappraisal of the town’s prototypical charm some two decades later. …What makes the film so winsome, beyond a lively supporting cast of believable kooks, is Gordon’s sincerity, both as a performer and filmmaker.”
-Aaron Hillis, Greencine Daily
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