READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020 You Didn’t See. Ham on Rye makes no such assurances — which of course makes it more honest, even if its oblique lessons will be heard by a tiny, tiny fraction of the number who navigated adolescence by the compass of John Hughes. What little plot there is emerges out of the provisional emotional landscape typical of late adolescence, where life-changing decisions are forced upon people who are in no fit state to make them. | EU Privacy Preferences. 1:45 PM PDT 10/22/2020 There’s a whole other layer beneath first-time director Tyler Taormina’s apparently realist coming-of-age drama, Last modified on Thu 7 Jan 2021 15.30 GMT. Ham On Rye When I was in my late teens, I remember saying to my friends on a couple of occasions, that I felt like our lives were a movie; the late nite Denny’s parking lot hangouts, the endless driving around, the parties, the pool hopping, etc. When Haley tries to reconnect with her friends, who seem to have vanished, the central metaphor of Ham on Rye kicks in. Slowly each of the young folks makes their way to Monty's Deli - only, contrary to the title, it's not for the ham on rye. Ham On Rye (2021) Perhaps the unmoored feeling of Ham on Rye is down to the use of mood to guide narrative and character, rather than vice versa. Director: Tyler Taormina But what other shorthand would you use for this strange, atmospheric work, which is 100 percent not a comedy but does share a spiritual connection — refracted through art-film aesthetics and anomie — with the aforementioned landmarks? Taormina has made a movie about our love-hate relationships with the small towns we grow up in and our desire to escape to something better. HAM ON RYE is a slight, entertaining novel that is often funny.It is served up as a slice of autobiography but I'd take that with a huge grain of salt.It's quite hard to believe some of the events depicted.It covers Bukowski's alter ego from childhood through age 21.I'd say the later part of the book dealing with him after he graduates from high school is far and away the most interesting part of the … Beautiful, interesting, incredible movies — a new film every single day. There’s a whole other layer beneath first-time director Tyler Taormina’s apparently realist coming-of-age drama. Executive producers: Tyler Taormina, Eric Berger, Kevin Anton Based on the cars and phones, Ham on Rye appears to take place in more or less the present day. FACEBOOK Jan 11, 2021 - Entire home/apt for $83. AdChoices Editor: Kevin Anton THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER is a registered trademark of The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. The film had its world premiere on February 8, 2019 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and international premiere on … Well, Ham on Rye definitely makes for a very interesting watch. Ham on Rye also sounds just as good as it look. © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Producers: David Croley Broyles, Michael Basta, Carson Lund, Sergio Uguet de Resayre, David Entin It‘s not for everyone though, since it is one of those more mood based and metaphorical movies. Production designer: Emily Scott Simpson They were the ones who worked hard, got good grades and went far away to college, where their individuality could at last flourish. by Costume designer: Niki Firanek TWITTER Promotional materials bill Tyler Taormina's Ham on Rye as a "coming-of-age comedy," comparing it to Dazed and Confused and John Hughes films. All rights reserved. “Ham on Rye” was shot in and around the San Fernando Valley area, north of Los Angeles, a favorite of Paul Thomas Anderson, and the film’s … Wherever you are. Production companies: Tago Clearing Film Studio, Omnes Films Ham On Rye Reviewed by: Jennie Kermode "The score draws on the kind of timeless English melodies one might expect to hear in a Ben Wheatley or Robin Hardy film, and those white dresses begin to take on overtones of sacrifice." The “a-ha” moment where everything comes into place just isn’t a good fit for the realities of that time in our lives. Ham on Rye is a 2019 American independent film directed by Tyler Taormina. It's held at a local sandwich shop called Monty's, and begins with everyone dining quietly. Coming of age movies are a dime a dozen, but they normally don’t include sandwiches — that is, until “Ham on Rye.” The new trailer brings about a different coming of age story. But what kind of dance is this? Privacy Policy | It's also about the inherent strangeness of rituals like the prom, though the prom is not what's about to unfold here, and few participants seem to think it's very strange. 26 talking about this. In a mainstream teen film, that sense of social abandonment is a unifier, redeemed in one way or another with the promise that life has something better in store. Haley (Haley Bodell) is part of a clique of popular high-school kids in a bland suburban town who are preparing to take part in a local tradition. A feature film that explores the excitement and aftermath of growing up in suburbia. Weren't most of us? Tyler Taormina's debut follows an anonymous town's teenagers through one fateful day. Reality is messy, ever-changing, and uncertain. The movie follows a … The typical awkward teenage social event is underway, only there is more at stake here than who will dance with who. An offbeat subversion of the coming-of-age genre, the film features an expansive ensemble cast, including actors Lori Beth Denberg, Danny Tamberelli, Aaron Schwartz, and Clayton Snyder. John DeFore “Ham on Rye” is not obviously political, but it is also deeply political, pointing out, in lazy, absurdist, carelessly clever frames a​ deep-set​ American wrongness that was quietly murmuring away long before the current blowhard moment, and that will continue long after. She and some other girls are wearing floaty dresses of sacrificial white and getting ready to go down to a local deli called Monty’s – along with a whole crowd of other kids – for what seems to be a pairing-off ritual, like a dance without music or dancing. And with the exception of a couple of surprising mood changes on the dance floor and off, that's about all in the film you could describe as a plot. Hide Spoilers. The film never behaves as if it is anything other than a realist coming-of-age drama but there is something else going on. As lucid as the imagery is, the lushly twinkling indie pop music on the soundtrack casts an oneiric spell over the film. Though Haley's one of the prettier girls here and has no apparent social shortcomings, she's still unchosen as the room empties out. Aesthetically, Ham on Rye is difficult to place, combining a sense of the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s to present a weird conglomerate of nostalgia that at once feels alien and yet so achingly familiar. From new directors to award-winners. Ham on Rye is a satirical parable on conformism and aspiration, and it speaks to anyone who, in settled adulthood, looks back to when their life and romantic chances were arbitrarily decided by a few events in their teens and early 20s. Start your free 7 day trial now. But there is a lot riding on this, and Haley can’t persuade herself that she wants to join in. Filled with images both lyrical and eerie, Tyler Taormina’s debut feature, Ham on Rye offers a cinematic meal of solid calories made fancy through some impressive presentation. • Ham on Rye is available on Mubi from 11 January. In the beginning everything feels like a warm hug. January 25, 2020 To be completely direct, Ham on Rye is in fact wildly enjoyable. Quiet and carefully made but cryptic, it relies on the viewer to complete its metaphors. At the Nickelodeon: An Interview with Tyler Taormina, Director of "Ham on Rye" 22 January 2021 | MUBI ‘Ham On Rye’ Is A Wonderfully Weird, Surreal Coming-Of-Age Satire [Review] 20 January 2021 | The Playlist; New to Streaming: Promising Young Woman, MLK/FBI, News of the World, One Night in Miami & More 15 January 2021 | The Film Stage Ham on Rye Theatrical Trailer Ham on Rye is a satirical parable on conformism and aspiration, and it speaks to anyone who, in settled adulthood, looks … It's all about minimizing effort and … Download to watch Offline. Taormina’s meditation on all this could be compared to Yorgos Lanthimos or Gus Van Sant, but it is very individual work, as creepy as a ghost story. A few clumps of friends are slowly making their way to the night's festivities (why are they practically all on foot? This is the theme of so many films, and perhaps it is the overriding theme of Hollywood itself. Recommended to you based on your activity and what's popular • Feedback Ham on Rye not only parodies teen movies—especially those John Hughes productions—but also puts into question the so-called American dream and what society expects from their youths. A puzzling but artful look at teenage alienation. Ham on Rye review – subversive satire on suburban conformity 4 out of 5 stars. | Do Not Sell My Personal Information Though calling them characters is a bit of a stretch. The mood is now fairly forlorn, best embodied by Sloan (Cole Devine), a 20-something cook at Monty's who's mourning some kind of loss. EMAIL ME. Distributor: Factory 25 Stream Now. We have seen it all before in the skewed teen movie Ham on Rye.That much is the point, director Tyler Taormina’s witty debut a wilful scramble of nostalgia trips. First-time feature director Tyler Taormina has dreamed his way into a very strange and intriguing film: a Gen-Z reverie about life and fate, somewhere between The Prom and The Purge. Sitemap | And there’s another layer, too. irst-time feature director Tyler Taormina has dreamed his way into a very strange and intriguing film: a Gen-Z reverie about life and fate, somewhere between The Prom and The Purge. The rest of the movie wanders among townsfolk later that night, fixing our gaze on empty strip malls and loose social gatherings. Terms of Use | | Check out 'Ham on Rye - A feature film' on Indiegogo. The first part of the picture bounces around in an unnamed town (it was shot in the San Fernando Valley) that is dubiously situated in time: We see cellphones only a few times, and nothing about costumes, hair or background music roots us firmly in the present. Screenwriters: Tyler Taormina, Eric Berger Director of photography: Carson Lund She flees. Promotional materials bill Tyler Taormina's Ham on Rye as a "coming-of-age comedy… MOVIE REVIEW In ‘Ham on Rye,’ coming of age comes with aspects of dreaming. ), being told to make the most of the big night by parents while occasionally expressing some ambivalence about attending. But it also feels like the recollections and regrets from everyone’s childhood that are immediately available to us no matter … Film poster: “Ham on Rye” Ham on Rye (Tyler Taormina, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars.. We'll come to identify most with Haley (Haley Bodell), a mild-mannered girl who, like her two friends (Audrey Boos and Gabriella Herrara), is more dressed for a conventional school dance than most attendees. Ham on Rye is not obviously political, but it is also deeply political, pointing out, in lazy, absurdist, carelessly clever frames a deep-set American wrongness that was quietly murmuring away long before the current blowhard moment, and that will continue long after. Ham on Rye book. To most patient eyes, it will look like a gentle ode to those who seemed part of the crowd in high school, then simply didn't transform into the kind of adults their peers chose to be. Tyler Taormina’s Ham on Rye takes an unconventional … Review this title 5 Reviews. The movie reminds us in a twisted, caricature-like way that our lives, despite media constantly telling us otherwise, are not tragic even if only ten people showed up at our birthday or our lover forgot to buy us a box of … In telling his story, Bukowski is alternately sad, funny, earthy, raunchy, and angry. Read full review Cast: Haley Bodell, Audrey Boos, Gabriella Herrara, Luke Darga, Sam Hernandez, Blake Borders, Cole Devine T yler Taormina’s Ham on Rye, in which high school children come of age while moseying around the San Fernando Valley in anticipation of an undefined formal event, sets the audience up for a lark.Conflicting details give the impression that the film is divorced from time, with the children’s clothes—long and flowing dresses, gaudily ill-fitting suits—suggesting holdovers from the 1970s. Ham on Rye is the kind of he movie that oozes off the screen as if fresh-squeezed from a brain addled with too much television and ‘90s junk, too many blended memories of … Composer: Deuter. Ham on Rye is the rough-and-tumble tale of Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's alter ego. It‘s an unique take on the coming-of-age genre quite unlike anything I‘ve ever seen. That's as misleading as calling Eraserhead a reluctant-groom rom-com. High school life is not at all like a John Hughes movie. So many films succumb to the romantic fantasy that the way to do this is to be a rebel, a free-thinker, a defier-of-norms. "Ham on Rye" will frustrate literal-minded audiences, but it's a work of gentle, genuine American surrealism - a lo-fi love song to those left behind by character and chance. | California Privacy Rights Boys and girls start pairing up as if they were choosing teammates for a kickball game, and not everybody is picked. Then the ba-boom of a Phil Spector-ish anthem kicks in (by a '60s girl group called The Teardrops), and things get serious. The film never behaves as if it is anything other than a realist coming-of-age drama but there is something else going on. It's the most important day of your life -- try not to think about it. Bukowski's character sees no higher purpose to life. Viewers will likely feel similarly connected to the characters whether they graduated high school in the '60s or last spring. Watch truly great cinema. Read 3,648 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Ever. Yet this film, in its surreal way, is grimly about something closer to the un-surreal truth: the people who got out of their boring, philistine home towns were overwhelmingly the competent conformists, at least outwardly and temporarily. Ham on Rye takes a bleakly subversive look at the whole idea of breaking free of your boring suburban home town and making it in the glamorous adult world beyond. The décor of the house is modern with a lake flare. With no ads. Even the oddest moves seem welcome. In a varied ensemble of more than a hundred (many of them nonactors), just a few of them get names, and only a few more get to say or do enough things to project any kind of identity beyond their appearance. The specifics are never explained, but we suspect that some years ago, he was in Haley's shoes. Then tables are cleared, and a kind of free-form movement begins, with awkward teens trying out idiosyncratic dances. 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