News

Rubberneck

Written by Garth Donovan and Alex Karpovsky

Directed by Alex Karpovsky

USA, 2013

Lena Dunham isn’t the only filmmaker who also appears in front of the camera on the HBO series Girls. Alex Karpovsky (who plays Ray on the show) is a director in his own right, having directed the micro-indies The Hole Story and Woodpecker around the same time that Dunham was directing her earliest efforts. His new film Rubberneck is much like the characters in Girls: not completely together, but intriguing and well-intentioned.

Karpovsky himself plays Paul Harris, a scientist in Boston who is a rubberneck in many ways. In a few scenes he is literally rubbernecking on the side of a highway, which is maybe a too literal way to illustrate that he’s also rubbernecking at the people around him, watching them go by without being able to make any real connection. He thinks...

Alex Karpovsky's Red Flag and Rubberneck Films have both landed at Tribeca Film The distributor plans to release the films in February, 2013 in theaters and via VOD, reports Variety. The Rubberneck thriller was seen at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, and also stars Karpovsky, as well as Jaime Ray Newman, Dennis Starselsky and Amanda Good Hennessey. Garth Donovan scripted alongside Karpovsky, the film that follows Paul Harris (Karpovsky) a scientist at a small research facility on the outskirts of Boston. After a weekend tryst with Danielle, an attractive co-worker, leaves him wanting more, his unreciprocated desires gradually mold into an acute infatuation over the following months. Paul's suppressed resentments and perverse delusions become unhinged, triggering a horrific course of events that mercilessly engulf a tortured past and fugitive present.

Alex Karpovsky's Red Flag and Rubberneck Films have both landed at Tribeca Film The distributor plans to release the films in February, 2013 in theaters and via VOD, reports Variety. The Rubberneck thriller was seen at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, and also stars Karpovsky, as well as Jaime Ray Newman, Dennis Starselsky and Amanda Good Hennessey. Garth Donovan scripted alongside Karpovsky, the film that follows Paul Harris (Karpovsky) a scientist at a small research facility on the outskirts of Boston. After a weekend tryst with Danielle, an attractive co-worker, leaves him wanting more, his unreciprocated desires gradually mold into an acute infatuation over the following months. Paul's suppressed resentments and perverse delusions become unhinged, triggering a horrific course of events that mercilessly engulf a tortured past and fugitive present.

Chances are, if the movie doesn't feature a dolphin with a prosthetic tail on the poster, and it carries "inspired by true events" disclaimer, then it's going to be something about murder, mayhem, or the decades-long search for the Zodiac killer. So by announcing that your movie is inspired by true events, what could have been an unsettling reveal instead becomes a waiting game: who is going to get killed, how long is it going to take, and why have you never read about it before? It may add a slight bit of tension, but it's at the cost of almost everything else. Such is the case with "Rubberneck," written, directed, and starring Lena Dunham confederate Alex Kaprovsky, which has an intriguing-enough true crime premise but ends up coming across like something you'd stumble upon on Lifetime one Sunday afternoon (but without all the laughs of, say, "Drew Peterson: Untouchable...

Ready to get lost in a slow-burn psychosexual character study? Then the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival has a movie for you! Check out the official trailer and screening details for Alex Karpovsky's Rubberneck.

Directed by Alex Karpovsky; written by Alex Karpovsky and Garth Donovan; and starring Karpovsky, Jaime Ray Newman, Dennis Staroselsky, and Amanda Good Hennessey, Rubberneck is having its world premiere tonight, April 20th, with two additional screenings during the fest.

Synopsis:

Paul Harris (Karpovsky) is a scientist at a small research facility on the outskirts of Boston. After a weekend tryst with Danielle, an attractive co-worker, leaves him wanting more, his unreciprocated desires gradually mold into an acute infatuation over the following months. Paul's suppressed resentments and perverse delusions become unhinged, triggering a horrific course of events that mercilessly engulf a tortured past and fugitive present. A slow-burning, psychosexual thriller, Rubberneck navigates the underpinnings of obsessions and our sadistic inability to look away.