Steve Buscemi .... Martin
Rosario Dawson .... Anna
Vera Farmiga .... Greta
Malcolm Gets .... Robert
Adrian Grenier .... Nick
Jill Hennessy .... Ellen
Michael Imperioli .... Will
Carol Kane .... Joey
Domenick Lombardozzi .... Eddie

Peter Mattei's feature debut, "Love in the Time of Money," begins and ends on a blustery and desolate streetcorner, the isle of Manhattan shimmering in the distance. Within the film's 90 crisp minutes, we meet nine New Yorkers whose fates are connected by romance or commerce and usually both. At the beginning, Mattei's strategy is to keep us just a bit off-balance, like when Ellen (Jill Hennessy) stages an awkward sexual encounter with a contractor helping plan renovations to her SoHo loft. Each character we meet in the film -- from Steve Buscemi's duplicitous artist to Carol Kane's reluctant hotline psychic to Michael Imperioli's desperate embezzler - is on a mad quest for sex, love or lucre which will ultimately place them on the cusp of a profound change. It is Mattei's black sense of humor and his ability to balance one terrific performance against another that gives "Love in the Time of Money" its cumulative power. It is also a film in which the city acts as more than just a gleaming backdrop; this is a darkly funny and often touching portrait of New York in the days of reckless need. The film is written and directed by Mattei and produced by Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente and Gretchen McGowan of Open City Films and Lisa Bellomo of South Fork Pictures.

Love in the Time of Money

New York-based playwright and legit director Peter Mattei makes an underwhelming entry into features with "Love in the Time of Money," a familiar account of unfulfilling personal transactions in a barren emotional landscape, inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's "Reigen." While there are ephemeral pleasures in the script's quiet humor and the enlivening presence of cast members Steve Buscemi and Nick Grenier, this kind of episodic chain of interlocking encounters has become a formulaic favorite in American indie cinema, and Mattei's take on the genre is narrow and schematic. Developed through the Sundance Institute and exec produced by Robert Redford, the film premiered in the fest's Dramatic lineup in a special non-competing slot but looks unlikely to carry much commercial weight beyond Park City.

Story of nine New Yorkers starts with skanky neophyte hooker Greta (Vera Farmiga) and building contractor Eddie (Domenick Lombardozzi), who refuses to pay for her services. Later, while taking measurements at a SoHo loft, Eddie succumbs to the advances of an unhappy housewife (Jill Hennessy), convinced her husband (Malcolm Gets) is having an affair. He in turn is wrestling with same-sex yearnings, mistaking the career interest of opportunistic artist Martin (Buscemi) for flirtation.

Martin comes on to gallery assistant Anna (Rosario Dawson), whose infidelity causes conflict with her regular guy Nick (Grenier). Nick opens up to receptive stranger Joey (Carol Kane), who misconstrues his warmth as a sexual overture.

Her need for love and human contact prompt her to respond with sensitivity when desperate bond salesman Will (Michael Imperioli) calls her psychic helpline demanding phone sex. Planning to shoot himself due to his imminent discovery as an embezzler but unable to pull the trigger, Will brings the chain of events full-circle by offering the loot to Greta to kill him.

Mattei's script tidily choreographs the various two-character vignettes but lacks the biting observations or sharp dialogue to fully engage either as dark comedy or as a more dramatic journey through the emotional dead zone of city life. The writer-director fails to pull back and reveal any bigger picture or allow larger themes to coalesce. And despite the attempt to portray New York as an environment of need and greed, and of people all reaching for some unattainable connection, the underproduced look and uninteresting lensing make the city a dull canvas.

Surprisingly for a theater director, Mattei elicits mostly flat performances from the ensemble, with only Buscemi, Grenier and Dawson bringing any edge to their characters.

The Hollywood Reporter

As you'd expect from the title of "Love in the Time of Money," love comes in second to money and, in this downbeat web-of-life story, virtually everything else. Playing in the dramatic competition here, the intertwined stories, in fact, have so little to do with money or materialism that "Everything Else" would work more accurately in the title.

Featuring an eclectic cast including independent film mainstays like Steve Buscemi and rising starlets like Rosario Dawson, "Love" is a well-wrought, grimly scoped glimpse into the soulless state of modern love. Interconnecting among nine different but noticeably stereotypical characters, this Sundance Lab-spawned production is a visually and tonally expressive work. While impressive texturally, it is considerably less gifted in its character development; its characters and themes seem, bottom line, as if culled from cultural think pieces that we've read too many times before. To discuss this production in thematic or tonal terms is to give it advantageous justice. A decidedly unromantic roundelay in which a section of New Yorkers interconnect/disconnect in various sterile, unsavory styles serves as a metaphor for an age in which human sustenance is superseded by love of a buck, possessions or, in the jargon of the film, "e-commerce." Overall, it's a smart distillation of the sterility of much of modern life, and writer-director Peter Mattei has fashioned a shrewd aesthetic of tonal abrasions to visualize that world: a gray, sterile hue permeates the varied encounters; everyday noises assault the senses; song counterpoints the action; and the characters often talk in stilted, or forced jocularity. In short, it's the kind of production that fares better in discussion than the actual watching.

In this murky melange, nobody really connects. Mattei, a former Yale teacher, is certainly articulate in positing and repositing that theme. Considerably less successful is his character development _ essentially, a freshman 101 lineup of stock modern-day characters: a sexually dissatisfied wife (Jill Hennessy) who tries to provoke her business-obsessed mate (Malcolm Gets); a preening "artiste" (Buscemi) who tries to seduce a hot secretary (Dawson); a hot-line psychic (Carol Kane) Let's stop there; you can fill in the rest of the blanks, perhaps better. If you didn't include a full-service building contractor, you're a step ahead of the film. Amid these drably clad character types, Mattei does take varied and often amusing potshots at cultural pretensions and materialistic affectations; unfortunately, snipes at modern art, psychics, etc. are tedious and, well, way too easy.

Overall, the narrative has the feel of a New York Times cultural piece from a few years back that has been pulled out from behind the old couch. Despite the evocative aesthetics evincing the hollow state of modern love life, the film never percolates beyond a monotonous whine. The fibers and marrow of the characters feel as if they've been artificially inseminated from the heap of cultural essay-dom.

Despite the generally bare character frames, the performers deliver admirably. Buscemi is particularly effective as a smarmy painter, and it's refreshing to see him slicked up from his usual indie film garb. Dawson is sensually explosive as a young woman who turns the tables on her more experienced predator. Unfortunately, Kane as the hot-line psychic is reduced to turning out yet another variation on her kook role. She's nonetheless beguiling, and perhaps younger audiences will embrace it.

Overall, one senses great promise in Mattei as a director of other writers' works. Under his skillful hand, "Love" is an accomplished visual work. He has melded a tonally eloquent film. High praise to the film's gifted production team _ in tandem, cinematographer Stephen Kazmierski for the cold hues, production designer Susan Block for the minimalist sets and composer Theodore Shapiro for the provocative sounds.

Copyright 2002 BPI Communications, Inc.

Daily Variety

Community supports lensers in the city

While recent attacks in New York may have disrupted the heart of New York's indie community, with Miramax and TriBeCa film center temporarily closing and several other indie mainstays similarly affected, it's likely that actual production away from lower Manhattan will not be significantly affected. Permits outside Manhattan are already being issued, and permits in Manhattan north of Houston Street are due to resume in the near future.

Soho was already considered a "hot zone," in film permit terms, due to congestion and traffic, and permits there are now likely to be limited for some time. Many filmmakers have gravitated to Brooklyn, both to work and to live. "There's a huge community coming out of there, it's like the East Village has shifted," says Susan Leber, producer of "Margarita Happy Hour," which showed at Sundance and Toronto. The production filmed in Park Slope and Williamsburg, taking advantage of locations already patronized by the filmmakers. The story of a group of young moms who gather at a cafe with their babies for happy hour was directed by Ilya Chaiken and produced by Michael Ellenbogen and Susan Leber. It was shot on super 16mm with a rock-bottom budget. "Michael and Ilya both live in Park Slope," says Leber. "The key location is the real restaurant where Ilya went in real life, called Elora's."

Brooklyn locations were also a key part of Peter Mattei's "The End of Love," a digital film produced by Open City's digital division Blow Up, which focuses equally on nine separate characters. "I talked personally to bar and restaraurant owners in Williamsburg," says Mattei, who thinks his personal contacts paved the way for smooth location shoots, "We really wanted to keep New York city as a character in the film." Shot for "under a million," the crew had to be resourceful about where they shot. "We had written a scene on the subway, but we realized it wasn't going to work," says Mattei. So the filmmakers changed the location to a park, and filmed surreptiously at 3 a.m. with just a camera and a duffelbag.

Despite the low budget, first-time feature director Mattei assembled a cast including Jill Hennessey, Steve Buscemi, Carol Kane and Michael Imperioli. In addition to the experienced cast, the crew includes d.p. Steve Kazmierski ("You Can Count on Me") and production designer Susan Block ("Welcome to the Dollhouse"). "We got good people to work for less," says Mattei, "The New York attitude is to make good films you want to make."

The key to New York's tightly knit filmmaking community is the give and take between actors and crew on each other's production, as well as the fact that the city of New York tends to be more welcoming than, for example, most Los Angeles communities. "We shot at the real Medicaid office on a Saturday night and we didn't have to pay a dime," recounts Leber. "The mayor's office is generally pretty good," she continues, "You just have to show you can get insurance and you can get parking permits and everything you need."

Sally Roy, producer of "Pipe Dreams," which shot on 35mm on an "under $ 5 million budget," also found that city-supplied buildings added value to the production budget. "The city lets you shoot the Huntington Hartford building for free," says Roy, "We used their screening room and their office and kitchen." The romantic comedy revolves around Brooklyn plumber who cooks up a scheme to meet women by making a fake movie and getting it financed. It was integral to the plot to shoot at Remi, where William Morris agents regularly lunch, and at Time Cafe. "They were unbelievably cooperative," says Roy, "It was really nice to be able to give the art department exactly what they wanted, it adds production value."

Another savings was made when the "Pipe Dreams" producers were able to buy a tenement set left over from "Music of the Heart" at the Broadway Stages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. "We shot over a week on the set that was their apartment. It made more sense to shoot on a stage than to lose time parking trucks on a real street," Roy explains. She found it made sense to try and consolidate post to a few facilities. Dailies and cutting were done at Duart, while the video transfer was mastering to 24p high def at the Tape House. They could then downconvert to PAL or NTSC which helps streamline servicing for their foreign sales agent, Curb Entertainment.

Roy found shooting locally helped convince talent to come in on the project. "If you offer somebody a movie where they can see their kids every night, they are much happier," she says. "Mary Louise Parker really connected with the script. Martin Donovan worked very long hours and it made a huge difference to be home. You can get terrific people as day players. It's such a value-addded bonus," says Roy.

"It's very supportive, it's a small world," echoes Leber. "All my film jobs have come from one person to another. "It's much more family-like, they get really close," says Ellenbogen, "There is that give-back situtation." Both "Margarita Happy Hour" and "The End of Love," posted at Spin Cycle, the post facility owned by filmmaker Hal Hartley, who seems to be tied to in some way to every other Gotham filmmaker.