"What starts out as a fanciful exercise in whimsy and style turns into a genuinely moving, slightly terrifying, but absolutely gentle and delicate look at how easily the human soul is bent and broken by loss and grief. It is a lovely, silly film that pulls none of its punches and tells no comforting lies. A paradox? A most ingenious paradox."
-Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstacy
A truly unique and visually stunning take on meta-fiction, Lovely By Surprise follows the journey of novelist Marian Walker as she attempts to finish her first novel.
Facing the age-old problem of writer's block, Marian seeks advice from a mentor and ex-lover. His seemingly innocent advice to kill the book's protagonist unleashes chaos in her life as a willful protagonist escapes from her novel and appears in the unresolved corners of her past.
Featuring Carrie Preston (Transamerica, Nothing is Private, Lost, Arrested Development), Dallas Roberts (Walk The Line, A Home At The End Of The World, The Notorious Bette Page, The L Word), Austin Pendleton (Catch 22, What's Up Doc, A Beautiful Mind, Amistad, My Cousin Vinny, The Muppet Movie), Kate Burton (Grey's Anatomy, The West Wing, Woody Allen's Celebrity, The Ice Storm), Reg Rogers (Igby Goes Down, I Shot Andy Warhol, Analyze That, Primal Fear), Richard Masur (Risky Business, Heaven's Gate, Palindromes, Wonder Years, Picket Fences), Michael Chernus, and Lena Lamer, a wonderful New York ensemble cast shines in this experimental work.
At turns funny, lyrical, dark and mysterious, this enigmatic film explores past and present, art and reality, life and death, ultimately revealing the strength and beauty of the human heart.
"A terrific film." -Scott Foundas, NY Times/Variety/Village Voice/LA Weekly
"Lovely By Surprise is a playful and profound literary confection - a brilliantly original debut by Kirt Gunn, one of the most exciting prospects working in American indie cinema." -Nick Dawson Filmmaker Magazine
"The brilliance of a truly great book is that at the end you are simply a different person. There are four movies that have made me feel something similar ... and Lovely By Surprise is one of them." -Marc Eastman Are You Screening?
"(Reg) Rogers delivers an absolute powerhouse of a performance. He manages to be both laugh-out loud funny and heartbreakingly sad at the same time. -Michael Tully Hammer to Nail
"What starts out as a fanciful exercise in whimsy and style turns into a genuinely moving, slightly terrifying, but absolutely gentle and delicate look at how easily the human soul is bent and broken by loss and grief. It is a lovely, silly film that pulls none of its punches and tells no comforting lies. A paradox? A most ingenious paradox." -Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstacy
