Jonathan Dayton
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Connections, in both directions
Kazan said in a Q&A after the screening that the idea came from the “Pygmalion” myth, although there are also echoes of the second half of Vertigo, in which Jimmy Stewart slowly turns into a controlling sociopath, as well as one scene very reminiscent of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” a movie that came before the Rabin essay but included Kate Winslet’s “Too many guys think I’m a concept, or I complete them, or I’m gonna make them alive” speech.
The nature of creativity and desire, the alchemy of the imagination and the power of will, the relationship between creator and created - it's a theme that has raised many questions, from Pygmalion to Play It Again, Sam; from Weird Science to Frankenstein.
Obviously Kazan’s target here is male vanity and neurosis, and more specifically the “Pygmalion” paradox of molding a lover precisely to your specifications, only to discover that you don’t know what those are ahead of time.
Soon he learns the power of the pen, and this magical Pygmalion tale is off and running.
Initially, Calvin swears off his typewriter (a loud, forceful relic of the past) in order to enjoy Ruby in all her real glory, but soon enough, the temptation to make her more ideal takes over, and this Pygmalion update grows even funnier, as Ruby unwittingly takes his every adjustment to heart, before confronting the fundamental flaws that have driven Calvin to repeatedly fix his partners rather than himself.
Modern versions and variations include the sublime (“My Fair Lady,” based on a play by George Bernard Shaw called “Pygmalion”) and the sillly (“Mannequin,” “Weird Science,” and ”Mr.
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Directed by Matt Ross
influenced by Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Visuals Plot Themes
Don’t let the publicity photos of the ensemble cast clad in ’70s-era tuxes and flower-child dresses, or even the cloying Mumford-mimicking soundtrack on the trailer, fool you: Captain Fantastic ain’t some twee, cutesy Wes Anderson romp or a Little Miss Sunshine knockoff.
Captain Fantastic borrows from Little Miss Sunshine in cataloguing the misadventures of a misfit family on a road trip, complete with MacKay as a Paul Dano stand-in.
In places, Captain Fantastic explicitly strains for the same kind of crowd-pleasing indie-quirk as Little Miss Sunshine (another film that opens in an atmosphere of psychological crisis and pivots on a fateful family road trip).
This isn't the behavior of radicals bucking the system; it's the antics of characters contrived to hit the quirky, crowd-pleasing notes that made Little Miss Sunshine a hit with audiences.
Yes, Captain Fantastic is competing for this year’s Little Miss Sunshine prize for heart-warming zaniness.
But despite some obvious points of comparisons with previous Sundance hit Little Miss Sunshine, Captain Fantastic doesn’t fully deliver as either a full-on crowd-pleaser or a critical darling.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Directed by Michel Gondry
influenced Ruby Sparks (2012)
Themes Plot
Kazan said in a Q&A after the screening that the idea came from the “Pygmalion” myth, although there are also echoes of the second half of Vertigo, in which Jimmy Stewart slowly turns into a controlling sociopath, as well as one scene very reminiscent of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” a movie that came before the Rabin essay but included Kate Winslet’s “Too many guys think I’m a concept, or I complete them, or I’m gonna make them alive” speech.
In the vein of such endearing but emotionally bruising works as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and [500] Days Of Summer, Ruby Sparks is this year’s indie classic.
It’s easy enough to compare this love story, with its mind-twisting interplay of reality and dreams, to Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
The answers give "Ruby Sparks" a melancholy tone, something like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," or "(500) Days of Summer."
What the movie ignores on its way to a finale that's part "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and part "(500) Days of Summer" are Calvin's insecurities and possessiveness.
While it isn't nearly as good, " Ruby Sparks " does slightly resemble " Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind " at times.
As for debut screenwriter Kazan, as the offspring of two award-winning screenwriters (Robin Swicord, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Nicholas Kazan, Reversal of Fortune), she, too, could be challenged by a kind of “second album syndrome” as she struggles to match her parents’ earlier contributions to film.
Her father, Nicholas Kazan, authored the script for Reversal of Fortune .
Her grandfather, the Broadway and Hollywood legend Elia Kazan, directed A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront; her parents are screenwriters Robin Swicord (Little Women, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Nicholas Kazan (Frances, Patty Hearst, Reversal of Fortune, Matilda).
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
Directed by Harold Ramis
influenced Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Plot
Sunshine embraces the well-paved comedy road-trip structure with more than one rip-off, er, homage to the classic National Lampoon's Vacation.
Little Miss Sunshine brings to mind one of those National Lampoon's Vacation movies, except this time the family is much more realistic and the tone much darker.
There's even a lengthy sequence that's stolen from "National Lampoon's Vacation" and doesn't fit in this movie at all.
But here we have Little Miss Sunshine, which might aptly be described as "dysfunctional family hits the road," or in other words: National Lampoon's Vacation meets The Squid and the Whale .
I had to miss Sundance this year, so I'm just catching up with Sunshine, which one of its few Sundance naysayers described to me as National Lampoon's Vacation for people who think they're too smart for National Lampoon's Vacation.
Think too much about it, and you’ll realize that in its outline, it’s not exactly full of nothing we haven’t seen before (in fact, it’s kinda an indie-flavored spin on National Lampoon’s Vacation!).
The nature of creativity and desire, the alchemy of the imagination and the power of will, the relationship between creator and created - it's a theme that has raised many questions, from Pygmalion to Play It Again, Sam; from Weird Science to Frankenstein.
Rather than being Stranger Than Fiction with insightful gender politics, Ruby Sparks is more a hipster Weird Science (John Hughes, 1985).
Even presuming that Calvin’s on libido-suppressing antidepressants, Ruby’s a curiously asexual construct for a man in his late 20s — this redhead’s got less erotic heat than the fantasy woman concocted by a pair of teen nerds in “Weird Science’’ (1985).
Not for Kazan the male fantasies of " Weird Science ," in which two panting teenage boys create a swimsuit model, or even "Splash," with Tom Hanks teaching his pet mermaid everything she knows.
That blend of Weird Science poured through a Charlie Kaufman meta-filter is what nudges this one helpfully into SFX territory.
The young actress gets one big scene, in which she and Day subject an elementary school talent show audience to a karaoke performance of Big Sean’s “I Don’t Fuck With You.” Through no fault of its pre-teen headliner, the scene is an absolutely lethal combination of comic desperation, shameless derivation (see: the climactic scene in 2006’s “Little Miss Sunshine”), and general mortification for all parties – moviegoers above all.
A late-breaking scene at an elementary school talent show that finds Andy’s stressed daughter surprisingly busting out an untoward rap song is also a hoot, even if it evokes a similar, kids-perform-the-darndest-things sequence from “Little Miss Sunshine.”
Young Alexa Nisenson, 11, who made her movie debut last year in Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life , plays Campbell’s daughter, who ditches Annie at the last minute for an explosively raw rap song by Big Sean that makes the talent show scene from Little Miss Sunshine look as quaint and sedate as something from Lawrence Welk .
Even the solitary laugh was like a cheap knock-off of the dancing scene in Little Miss Sunshine.
Similar to the terrific 2006 comedy/drama Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster), Ruby Sparks explores the idea of freewill through the intriguing concept that a real human could be the creation of a novelist.
Broadly described, the script's loopy premise recalls everything from a classic "Twilight Zone" episode (1960's "A World of His Own") to 2006's "Stranger Than Fiction."
Before “Ruby Sparks” we most recently saw it in “Stranger than Fiction,” where Will Ferrell realized he was a fictional character and tried to thwart the author’s manipulation of him.
Like Will Ferrell's most underrated starring vehicle, Stranger than Fiction , Ruby Sparks explores the creative process.
However, similar to Will Ferrell’s Harold Crick from 2006’s Stranger Than Fiction, this film’s character leaps out of the novelist’s mind, off the page and into life as a fully-formed corporeal being.
The neurotic premise invites comparison to some prime Woody Allen features (The Purple Rose of Cairo, anyone?); the ending echoes Charlie Kaufman's stronger works without ever quite reaching his dizzying heights; and supporting players like Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan, and Alia Shawkat generally find themselves relegated to the sidelines.
In a way, there’s as much Frankenstein to the story as there is The Purple Rose of Cairo.
His Three Daughters (2024)
Directed by Azazel Jacobs
influenced by Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Themes
It isn’t a funny film, not like other dysfunctional family dramas The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), or August: Osage County (2013). August: Osage County is probably the most similar to His Three Daughters in terms of themes, but that film’s larger cast and much stranger characters allowed for some moments of hilarity and surrealism that made for a more interesting film.
Harold and Maude (1971)
Directed by Hal Ashby
influenced Ruby Sparks (2012), Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Themes Characters
A gentle family satire and a classic American road movie, "Little Miss Sunshine" harks back to the anti-establishment, countercultural comedies of the 1970s such as " Smile " or " Harold and Maude " -- satirical fairy tales that preached the virtues of nonconformity over the superficiality of conventional American values.
Dano’s face has a boyishness that hints at his character’s basic immaturity, but his eyes have a dark soulfulness that’s quick to register pain or anger -- he often brings to mind Harold and Maude era Bud Cort.
Her grandfather, filmmaker Elia Kazan, was both legendary ( On the Waterfront , A Streetcar Named Desire and East of Eden are all on his directorial resumé´) and controversial (he ratted on lefties in McCarthy-era Hollywood).
And yes, for those old enough to remember, she is the granddaughter of film and stage director Elia Kazan (“On the Waterfront,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “East of Eden,” etc.) and playwright Molly Kazan, as well as the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord.
Her grandfather, Elia Kazan, directed On the Waterfront .
Her grandfather, the Broadway and Hollywood legend Elia Kazan, directed A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront; her parents are screenwriters Robin Swicord (Little Women, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Nicholas Kazan (Frances, Patty Hearst, Reversal of Fortune, Matilda).
Depressing meets alarming when he finds out his ten-year-old daughter (Abigail Breslin from “Little Miss Sunshine”) has just had sex education in school.
And yes, Breslin, the little miss of Little Miss Sunshine, is alarmingly cute - but she backs the cuteness up with serious acting instincts.
Will's daughter Maya (young Abigail Breslin of "Little Miss Sunshine"), is spending the night with him.
That's part of what makes the pleasant-surprise romantic comedy " Definitely, Maybe , " starring Ryan Reynolds ("Smokin' Aces") and Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine"), such a welcome Valentine's Day flick.
Im not surprised about the quality of performances here, for Reynolds ( The Amityville Horror ) gets better with each movie, Fisher proved her star potential in Wedding Crashers , and Breslin -- even at her young age -- already earned an Oscar nomination for her terrific acting in Little Miss Sunshine .
And what age of temerity must we live in, she wondered, when it's okay to sling references to vintage Woody Allen in the same breath as a vehicle for Van Wilder and the screechy-bopper from Little Miss Sunshine?
Her grandfather, the Broadway and Hollywood legend Elia Kazan, directed A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront; her parents are screenwriters Robin Swicord (Little Women, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Nicholas Kazan (Frances, Patty Hearst, Reversal of Fortune, Matilda).
Butter (2012)
Directed by Jim Field Smith
influenced by Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Characters Themes
Newcomer Yara Shahidi plays Destiny, in a role slightly reminiscent of Abigail Breslin’s in the 2006 hit Little Miss Sunshine.
This sort of quest harks back to Payne’s earlier film “About Schmidt” but also has touches of films like “Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Savages” which create situations which force several dysfunctional people to work together towards the same ends.
But then the ideas themselves ride to the rescue and, with a quirky performance by Kazan as the title character—a slightly ditzy eccentric that harkens all the way back to the women in screwball comedies like “Bringing Up Baby”—you find yourself still somehow charmed.
Her grandfather, filmmaker Elia Kazan, was both legendary ( On the Waterfront , A Streetcar Named Desire and East of Eden are all on his directorial resumé´) and controversial (he ratted on lefties in McCarthy-era Hollywood).
And yes, for those old enough to remember, she is the granddaughter of film and stage director Elia Kazan (“On the Waterfront,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “East of Eden,” etc.) and playwright Molly Kazan, as well as the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord.
Flirting with Disaster (1996)
Directed by David O. Russell
influenced Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Plot
A big hit on the film-festival circuit, Sunshine recalls the zany cross-country trek of 1996's quirky Flirting with Disaster.
Like Fox Searchlight’s “Little Miss Sunshine,” Tom McCarthy’s domestic drama combines caricature and farce.
A quirky dramedy in the Juno/Little Miss Sunshine mode, but lacking the latters vibrant ensemble and the formers snappy patter, Win Win is indie with the edges sanded down completely.
Unfortunately, McCarthy's pursuit of this happy ending adds a "Little Miss Sunshine" glibness, right down to the family's deadpan daughter played by Clare Foley, to this otherwise sincere effort.
Reality is always nipping at the narrative’s heels, reminding us that hard situations don’t have easy answers, even if we’re watching a movie that is able to soften some of the edges with well-timed comedy and a gentle sense of quirkiness that doesn’t become distracting, as it does so often in indie dramedies of this sort (I’m thinking specifically of the prototypical Little Miss Sunshine and all its carefully arranged quirky outrages).
Think Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine.
Good examples include Sideways, Garden State, Juno, and Little Miss Sunshine.
Her grandfather, filmmaker Elia Kazan, was both legendary ( On the Waterfront , A Streetcar Named Desire and East of Eden are all on his directorial resumé´) and controversial (he ratted on lefties in McCarthy-era Hollywood).
And yes, for those old enough to remember, she is the granddaughter of film and stage director Elia Kazan (“On the Waterfront,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “East of Eden,” etc.) and playwright Molly Kazan, as well as the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord.