Lovely by Surprise (2007)

Highly Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Kirt Gunn

Cinematographer: Steve Yedlin

Composer: Shelby Bryant

Cast: Carrie Preston, Michael Chernus, Austin Pendleton, Dallas Roberts, Reg Rogers, Kate Burton, Richard Masur

Gunn’s beautifully acted and distinctively shot Kaufmanesque debut, combining three intertwining narratives (a woman struggles to kill off the main protagonist of her novel, her characters struggle to exist in and out of their fictional world, and a doleful car salesman struggles to deal with the loss of his wife) is a funny, imaginative, and very moving examination of loss and grief and the redemptive possibilities of the artistic process. Iain.Stott