Jeffrey Wells was just lamenting that fact that two pretty decent films from the 2008 Toronto Film Festival — “Nothing But The Truth,” and “What Doesn’t Kill You,” — basically came in went from theaters last December because the studio group distributing the movies, The Yari Group, filed for bankruptcy a handful of days after they were released (posters for ‘Truth’ weren’t even printed). A major shame to be sure (and both films had major stars too).
This sparks a thought in our mind that has actually been on the brain for months: what happened to Nigel Cole’s “$5 A Day,” which stars Christopher Walken and Alessandro Nivola? We also saw the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, went in blind and we pretty much loved it.
Superficially, it sounds like a formulaic, comedy of errors rolled up in a roadtrip/ fractured father and son relationship tale, and while the arc of the film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, the marvelous performances by Walken and Nivola and the melancholy charm and tone make it a terrific little winner.
We wrote (under fast TIFF duress), “Never treacly nor pandering to sentimentality, ‘Five Dollars’ expertly navigates the perfect pitch of humor, tough moments, sadness and redemptive notes to be a wonderfully endearing story about a broken relationship that still has time to heal.” [yes, that sounds cliche, but the film not]. Walken’s cheapskate dad character (who scrimps by on $5 a day) is so damn charming. He’s light on his feet and has such a wonderful touch (the score by Alex Wurman is nice too)
The film also co-stars Amanda Peet, Dean Cain and Sharon Stone in a delicious turn as an sex-happy cougar. So where did the film, go? Why hasn’t anyone picked it up yet? Is this one of those little indies that’s going to be lost in the woods thanks to our toilet of an economy? Are studios staying away because it’s not an obvious slam dunk? Probably, which is a damn shame, cause it’s such a little modest and very human story that people need to see. It’s a bit male-centric to be sure, anyone who lost their dad or has had a fraught relationship with their father (all of us), will relate to this on some level. But we hope it finds a distributor this year. It’s very deserving.