Ellie Parker

I just finished watching Ellie Parker, a no budget movie that Naomi Watts did gradually over the course of several years. Watts plays a desperately out-of-work actress who tries to win parts in movies she knows will be terrible. Much of the movie revolves around a series of auditions and acting classes in which she shows her talent, but that talent is degraded by the poor material and the exploitative nature of the roles she tries to win and the acting exercises she participates in. It seems somewhat like The Comeback: it follows an actress around and watches her being repeatedly humiliated, and the critics often didn't seem to get the point.













This is actually one of the best no budget movies I've seen (by which I mean movies that look like they were shot on home video cameras). On the other hand, the audition scene in Mulholland Drive made all the same points, but with so much more of a subtle sense of humor.