Ellie Parker

As a genre, films about acting tend to be pretty indulgent -- never really as fascinating as their protagonists imagine them to be. But films about life in Los Angeles that definitively capture the rhythms of life, that understand the trials and tribulations, that even go so far as to acknowledge the vistas that offer Angelenos' perspectives, are as rare as, well, a really exceptional actor.

We are thus extremely lucky that Ellie Parker is blessed with a filmmaker, Scott Coffey, whose depiction of contemporary life in L.A., through the portrait of a young woman struggling to find a level of personal and creative integrity, thoroughly understands its cinematic mission, and we are doubly blessed by having one of the most exceptionally actresses working, Naomi Watts, as that woman.

Brimming with humor, often emotionally riveting, working with quasi-verite style, Ellie Parker is a transcendent piece of filmmaking -- one that resonates with authenticity as Ellie races from audition to audition before retreating to a personal life which is as chaotic as her professional one. Somewhat episodically structured but energized by a realism and tone that move us from the ultradramatic to the banal, from anger to despair, Ellie Parker is a vital, powerfully intimate experience that will speak to everyone. But for the residents of the City of Angels, it is a special treat.