Receive Weekly Email and Text Message Updates:
Sign up for latest info on concerts, dining, promotions and more!
Go!

Related Stories ...

National Features >

  • City Pages

    Michele Bachmann, Unmuzzled

    You don't need to read Sarah Palin's book to hear the ravings of a mad woman.

    By Matt Snyders

  • Miami New Times

    Pimp Daddy

    The rise and fall of a chubby sex-cult leader.

    By Natalie O'Neill

  • Riverfront Times

    Babe 'n' Arms

    Tom was a hot-tempered cross-dresser with a garage full of guns--and then he became Rachel.

    By Nicholas Phillips

  • Dallas Observer

    The Fight for Texas

    Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are locked in a battle over the soul of the GOP. They're also running for governor.

    By Sam Merten

Punching the Clown Is a Standout at FLIFF

Share

  • rss

By Matt Coker

Published on November 03, 2009 at 4:14pm

Every year, while prescreening Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival entries for human consumption, a little indie gem invariably jumps out. Punching the Clown, Gregori Viens’ fable on fame and the record industry meat grinder, is 2009’s leaper. Henry Phillips, who cowrote the script with Viens and supplied all the music, plays himself, a troubadour drifting the country performing in coffeehouses, pizza parlors, and bowling alleys before landing in Los Angeles for one last shot at stardom. His niche is original folk songs that drip with satire and sarcasm. Through a misunderstanding, he quickly finds himself the next hot thing. Just when it appears he’ll be able to leave the couch he is sub-subletting in the apartment his struggling actor brother (Matt Walker) sublets from his roommate girlfriend, another misunderstanding turns Henry into the next vilified thing.