Focus (2001)

Movie
German title	Focus
Original title	Focus
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2001
length	102 minutes
Rod
Director	Neal Slavin
script	Kendrew Lascelles
production	Michael Bloomberg , Robert A. Miller , Neal Slavin
music	Mark Adler
camera	Juan Ruiz Anchía
cut	Tariq Anwar , David B. Cohn
occupation
William H. Macy : Lawrence Newman Laura Dern : Gertrude Hart David Paymer : Mr. Finkelstein Meat Loaf : Fred Kay Hawtrey : Mrs. Newman Michael Copeman : Carlson Kenneth Welsh : Father Crighton Joseph Ziegler : Mr. Gargan Arlene Meadows : Mrs. Dewitt Peter Oldring : Willy Doyle

Focus is a 2001 American drama film directed by Neal Slavin , and written by Kendrew Lascelles based on a 1945 novel by Arthur Miller .

action

The action takes place during the Second World War . The entrepreneur Lawrence Newman marries the job applicant Gertrude Hart, whose name sounds too Jewish to him at first . The couple move to Brooklyn . There they are mistakenly taken for Jews and confronted with anti-Semitic prejudices. The couple befriends the Jewish immigrant Finkelstein.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on November 9, 2001 that the film was not realistic. It seems like an attempt to look like a socially critical film from the 1940s.

Desson Thomson wrote in the Washington Post that the film is better as a high school teaching aid than art.

Awards

The film won the Political Film Society Award for Human Rights in 2002 . William H. Macy won a prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2002 , and Neal Slavin was nominated for another prize at the festival. Neal Slavin was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Flanders International Film Festival in 2002. The film was nominated for the Golden Reel Award in 2002 for sound editing the music .

backgrounds

The film was shot in Toronto and Uxbridge, Ontario . The world premiere took place on September 9, 2001 at the Toronto International Film Festival . On November 2, 2001, the film was released in selected US cinemas, grossing around 718 thousand US dollars .

Web links

• Focus in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Focus at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
• Focus at Metacritic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Film review by Roger Ebert , accessed on November 4, 2008
2. ^ Quote from www.metacritic.com , accessed November 4, 2008
3. ^ Filming locations for Focus , accessed November 4, 2008
4. ↑ Release dates for Focus , accessed November 4, 2008
5. ↑ Box office / business for Focus , accessed November 4, 2008