Broken Vessels

Infobox Film
name = Broken Vessels


image_size = DVD cover
caption =
director = Scott Ziehl
producer = Scott Ziehl
Roxana Zal
writer = Scott Ziehl
David Baer
John McMahon
narrator =
starring = Todd Field
Jason London
Roxana Zal
Susan Traylor
James Hong
music = Martin Blasick
Todd Field
Brent David Fraser
Bill Laswell
cinematography = Antonio Calvache
editing = Chris Figler
David Moritz
distributor = Unapix Entertainment Productions
released = April 18, 1998
runtime = 90 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget = $600,000
gross = $13,493
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/current/brokenvessels/brokenvessels.html
amg_id = 1:162438
imdb_id = 0149964

"Broken Vessels" is a 1998 medical drama film directed by Scott Ziehl and written by Ziehl along with David Baer and John McMahon. The film debuted at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and marked Ziehl's directorial debut. It stars Todd Field, Jason London, Roxana Zal, Susan Traylor, and James Hong. The film follows a rookie paramedic and his hardened drug-addicted partner as they take calls and cruise L.A. in their ambulance. [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/162438/Broken-Vessels/overview Broken Vessels - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - New York Times ] ]

While the film did not do so well at the box office, it was generally well received by critics and was nominated for several awards when it was shown at film festivals in 1998. [http://www.zeitgeistfilm.com/current/brokenvessels/brokenvessels.html] Although it shares the same name as the book, it has nothing to do with the Andre Dubus essay collection of the same name.

Plot

The film tells the story of a young man from Pennsylvania (Jason London) named Tom who travels to Los Angeles to start working for an ambulance company. There, he is paired with an utterly self-assured veteran (Todd Field) named Jimmy who has apparently gone through a many partners in his time. In the beginning, Tom is overwhelmed by the more skilled man's competence to deal with the high-pressure occurrences they stumble upon. Slowly but surely he discovers that Jimmy is not the cool and collected man he thought he was. While Jimmy seems to have everything under control on the surface, he gets through the traumatic effects of the job by heavy use of drugs and avoiding commitments. Before long Tom finds himself pulled into the same world and has to come to a decision about what direction he wants to take in his life. [ [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:162438~T0 allmovie ((( Broken Vessels > Overview ))) ] ]

Box Office

Broken Vessels was a fairly large failure at the box office. It was made on a slim budget of only $600,000 and was released to mainstream audiences on July 4, 1999 in two theaters. The film brought in $3,722 in its opening weekend. By the time the film ended its theatrical run on August 15, 1999 it had only made $3,722. [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0149964/business Broken Vessels (1998) - Box office / business ] ]

Critical reception

Broken Vessels got somewhat positive reviews when it was initially released in 1998. Broken Vessels currently has a 67% rating at rottentomatos.com [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broken_vessels/ Broken Vessels Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ] The film’s current score on imdb.com is 6.2. [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0149964/ Broken Vessels (1998) ] ] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times said “What makes the movie special is the way both lead actors find the right quiet notes for their performances,” giving the film a three star rating. Now though, the film is somewhat forgotten by audiences as it was in 1998.

Awards

The film was nominated for awards at several different film festivals all over the world. At the British Independent Film Awards Broken Vessels was nominated in the category of Best Foreign Independent Film - English Language, at the Gijón International Film Festival director Scott Ziehl was nominated for the Grand Prix Asturias award in the category of Best Feature. Ziehl and co-producer Roxana Zal won the Audience Award in the category of Best Feature Film at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1998. [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0149964/awards Broken Vessels (1998) - Awards ] ]

Cast and Crew

References

External links

*Imdb title|id=0149964|title=Broken Vessels
*Amg title|id=1:162438|title=Broken Vessels
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broken_vessels Broken Vessels at Rotten Tomatoes]
* [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990702/REVIEWS/907020301/1023 Roger Ebert's review of Broken Vessels]