An AFI Can't-Miss: Stuck

A scene from Stuart Gordon's Stuck, based on that infamous October 2001 hit-and-run in Fort Worth. Several Friends have asked for AFI Dallas International Film Festival recommendations, aside from those found in this week's paper version preview, in which there just wasn't enough room to preview some 260 offerings. So,...

By Robert Wilonsky

March 27, 2008

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A scene from Stuart Gordon's Stuck, based on that infamous October 2001 hit-and-run in Fort Worth.

Several Friends have asked for AFI Dallas International Film Festival recommendations, aside from those found in this week's paper version preview, in which there just wasn't enough room to preview some 260 offerings. So, over the course of the fest's run, today through April 6, we'll offer some additional picks -- beginning this morning with a film that has deep, deep local roots. You do recall the "Chante Mallard Windshield Death Case," right? Right.

Back in September, I mentioned the Toronto International Film Festival debut of Stuart Gordon's Stuck, based upon that infamous story of the Fort Worth nurse's aide who, in October 2001, struck a 37-year-old man with her 1997 Chevy Cavalier and allowed him to die lodged in her windshield, despite his cries for help.

The setting's been changed from Fort Worth to Rhode Island, and the tale, which stars The Crying Game's Oscar-nominated Stephen Rea and American Beauty's Mena Suvari, has been rendered as a savagely bleak comic tragedy by the director of Re-Animator. It's the laugh that keeps on choking.

And, at last, local audience will be able to see it for themselves, as it premieres Saturday at 10:15 p.m. at the Angelika Film Center, with a follow-up screening on Tuesday night at the AMC NorthPark, also at 10:15. The trailer's below. --Robert Wilonsky

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