Flash is a curmudgeon with a hankering for classic movies and booze. Cameron is a volatile teen who commits grand theft auto just because the car is an exact replica from Christine. Their re... Read allFlash is a curmudgeon with a hankering for classic movies and booze. Cameron is a volatile teen who commits grand theft auto just because the car is an exact replica from Christine. Their relationship is forged in the darkness of a movie theater and fueled by a mutual appreciatio... Read allFlash is a curmudgeon with a hankering for classic movies and booze. Cameron is a volatile teen who commits grand theft auto just because the car is an exact replica from Christine. Their relationship is forged in the darkness of a movie theater and fueled by a mutual appreciation of rebellion and cinema. Cameron enters a student film contest, though he lacks the reso... Read all
- Awards
- 9 wins & 2 nominations
- Nurse
- (as Sarah Schroeder)
- Teacher
- (as Robert Reinis)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaChristopher Plummer's character in the film has a significant relationship with Orson Welles. In reality the two actors worked together on Oedipus the King (1968) and Waterloo (1970).
- GoofsThe clapper slate is correct in the final version.
- Quotes
Flash Madden: [Speaking to Cameron] This country's famous for shittin' on their elderly. God help you if you don't have family... America's all about the young, the beautiful, the "Winner"! Ya' know, kid, in Europe, Asia, and especially Africa, the elderly are truly respected and they're almost TREASURED by the young people. Not here, though. Oh, no... We live in a throw-away society. If it breaks, throw it away. If a new one pops up, throw the old one away. If your puppy grows up to be a pain-in-the-ass dog, dump it. Someone will kill it. If your marriage isn't working, hey, divorce, throw it away, marry someone else. If you get sick of them, throw them away, too.
- ConnectionsFeatures His Girl Friday (1940)
The young buck in this case is Cameron Kincaid (Michael Angarano), a high school kid with a passion for classic movies. The old codger is Glenn "Flash" Madden (Christopher Plummer), the last living crew member of "Citizen Kane." Cameron is a good kid. He just happens to do bad things. Flash is surly to bed and surly to rise, which makes him, well, surly. The two meet in a darkened theater while both while away the hours to pre-Technicolor gems of days gone by, one lamenting his past and the other dreaming of his future. But the kid has a sense of purpose -- an opportunity to win a scholarship to film school by shooting a 10 minute short. And thus begins the dance. Will the two forge a working relationship? Will it become something else? And what will be the subject of the student film, and what wonders will be discovered along the way? Those are just a few of the questions to be answered. Perhaps more important, though, are the questions raised by "Man in the Chair" -- are there people who don't matter? If there are wrongs to be made right, can anyone do it? Should we? That's a tall order for a filmmaker and writer/director Michael Schroeder accepts the challenge.
The legendary Christopher Plummer shows how he got to be so. His portrayal of the aging old gaffer, whose only joys in life are Cuban cigars and Wild Turkey, is daring and heartbreaking. How the Motion Picture Academy could have overlooked him all these years is a mystery, but that could change in a "Flash," and should. It's hard to imagine how an actor as young as Michael Angarano could hold the screen with him from start to finish and have it all look so real. The fact that he does so with such ease is testament to the fact he is arguably the most sought after teenage actor in America.
The Motion Picture Retirement Home is the setting for a good portion of the film (the first time a camera crew has ever been allowed to film there), where an ensemble of other Hollywood veterans put their hearts and souls into this, and it shows. M. Emmett Walsh is a standout in this and almost steals the film. I was stunned when he first appeared on screen. What he did was about the bravest thing any actor can do, particularly at his age, and his performance is breathtaking. In fact, as Schroeder explained in the Q&A, other actors turned it down because it would have broken their hearts to do the role.
"Man in the Chair" has the look and feel of a cutting edge indie, with a surprisingly rockin' soundtrack that left me wanting more and dazzling visuals. Cinematographer Dana Gonzales used quadruple exposure and hand crank camera to create a look that says "special effects" but is actually all "in-camera." What you see is what was captured on film and not created digitally in a studio. To do otherwise wouldn't be true to the very subject matter, and these techniques are a tip of the hat to the first filmmakers who had nothing but their cameras and lenses to create what we see on screen. There were more than a few "whoa" moments in the theater. I sat in wonder at the creativity of this team.
It's hard to imagine anyone of any age not being able to relate to this film and be moved by it. "Man in the Chair" is so groundbreaking that it has the potential to be a modern-day "Grapes of Wrath." The storyline exposes the ills of society without being preachy or heavy-handed. It tugs at the emotions like few films I've seen in recent memory. If you're not surly to bed and surly to rise you'll surely walk out with a tear in your eye. And even if you are, maybe, just maybe, you'll have a change of heart.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Человек в кресле
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $12,210
- Runtime1 hour 47 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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