Imaginary Heroes
Encyclopedia
Imaginary Heroes is a 2004
American
drama film
written and directed by Dan Harris. It focuses on the traumatic effect the suicide of the elder son has on a suburban family.
. As the following year unfolds, each member of his family struggles to recover from the tragedy with mixed results.
His mother Sandy tries to keep the lines of communication open with younger son Tim while easing her emotional pain with marijuana. Father Ben, a perfectionist who worshiped Matt as much as he ignored Tim, insists on continuing to place a meal at the dinner table for the dead boy and begins to drink heavily. Eventually, without telling his wife, he takes a leave of absence from work and spends his days lost in reverie on a park bench. Tim, always in the shadows as the smaller, unathletic, less accomplished "other brother," struggles to get through school while trying to resist the recreational drugs his best friend Kyle Dwyer is always offering him and contemplating having sex with classmate Steph Connors. Sister Penny, away at college, dutifully comes home for infrequent visits and tries to help bridge the widening gap between her surviving brother and their parents.
With the passing months, new crises arise and a long-kept secret is revealed, until it is revealed that one family member was aware of Matt's inner turmoil and suicidal thoughts and why nothing was done to help him.
, who hired him to work on the screenplays for X2
, Superman Returns
, and the remake of Logan's Run
. Two years later he left Singer to begin pre-production work on Heroes.
The film was shot on location in Chatham
, Glen Ridge
, Montclair
, Newark
, Wayne
, and West Paterson, New Jersey
.
Kiki and Herb
make a cameo appearance
as entertainers at a neighborhood Christmas party.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Market
in May 2004 and was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival
, the Austin Film Festival
, the Chicago International Film Festival
, and the Marrakech International Film Festival before opening on two screens in the US on December 19, 2004. It earned $4,696 on its opening weekend; at its widest release, it played in only twenty-four theaters domestically. It eventually grossed $228,767 in the US and $62,351 in foreign markets for a worldwide box office total of $291,118.
of the Chicago Sun-Times
observed, "The film might have been stronger as simply the story of the family trying to heal itself after its tragedy, with the focus on Sandy and Tim. But Harris feels a need to explain everything in terms of melodramatic revelations and surprise developments, right up until the closing scenes. The emotional power of the last act is weakened by the flood of new information. The key revelation right at the end explains a lot, yes, but it comes so late that all it can do is explain. If it had come earlier, it would have had to be dealt with, and those scenes might have been considerable . . . What remains when the movie is over is the memory of Sandy and Tim talking, and of a mother who loves her son, understands him, and understands herself in a wry but realistic way. The characters deserve a better movie, but they get a pretty good one."
Mick LaSalle
of the San Francisco Chronicle
said the film "has a strong narrative spine, with interesting and big things happening throughout - an unexpected virtue in a family drama. But this virtue is obscured somewhat by the movie's lack of narrative drive. Writer Dan Harris has written himself a tidy little story, but in directing it, he hasn't sculpted a dynamic drama. To put it in another way, there's a lean, mean 82-minute drama encased in this flabby 112-minute film . . . What saves Imaginary Heroes is its essential truthfulness about families, which it reveals, not only in the broad movements of its story but in the small details . . . Sometimes the film's tone wobbles into farce
, which is inappropriate, and often the story treads water, as though mimicking, in tone, every somber family film since Ordinary People
. But, ultimately, it arrives at an authentic and surprisingly powerful place."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stones rated the film two out of four stars and added, "Sigourney Weaver is a luminous actress with a tough core of intelligence and wit. And Emile Hirsch, who plays her guilt-tormented son, has the talent to sustain a major career. Their scenes together have a warmth that almost makes you forgive Imaginary Heroes . . . for trying so hard and so futilely to duplicate Ordinary People . . . What the movie damagingly lacks is a personality of its own."
. Sigourney Weaver was nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
but lost to Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
.
format on DVD
on June 7, 2005. It features an English
audio track and subtitles in French. Bonus features include commentary with either Sigourney Weaver or Dan Harris and Emile Hirsch, deleted scenes, and a behind-the-scenes featurette and photo gallery.
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by Dan Harris. It focuses on the traumatic effect the suicide of the elder son has on a suburban family.
Plot
Matt Travis is good-looking, popular, and his school's best competitive swimmer, so everyone is shocked when he inexplicably commits suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. As the following year unfolds, each member of his family struggles to recover from the tragedy with mixed results.
His mother Sandy tries to keep the lines of communication open with younger son Tim while easing her emotional pain with marijuana. Father Ben, a perfectionist who worshiped Matt as much as he ignored Tim, insists on continuing to place a meal at the dinner table for the dead boy and begins to drink heavily. Eventually, without telling his wife, he takes a leave of absence from work and spends his days lost in reverie on a park bench. Tim, always in the shadows as the smaller, unathletic, less accomplished "other brother," struggles to get through school while trying to resist the recreational drugs his best friend Kyle Dwyer is always offering him and contemplating having sex with classmate Steph Connors. Sister Penny, away at college, dutifully comes home for infrequent visits and tries to help bridge the widening gap between her surviving brother and their parents.
With the passing months, new crises arise and a long-kept secret is revealed, until it is revealed that one family member was aware of Matt's inner turmoil and suicidal thoughts and why nothing was done to help him.
Production
Screenwriter/director Dan Harris was 22 years old when he sent the script to Bryan SingerBryan Singer
Bryan Singer is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.-Early life:Singer was born in New...
, who hired him to work on the screenplays for X2
X2 (film)
X2 is a 2003 superhero film based on the fictional characters the X-Men. Directed by Bryan Singer, it is the second film in the X-Men film series...
, Superman Returns
Superman Returns
Superman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
, and the remake of Logan's Run
Logan's Run (1976 film)
Logan's Run is a 1976 science fiction film based on the novel of the same name by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. It depicts a dystopian future society in which population and the consumption of resources are managed and maintained in equilibrium by the simple expediency of killing...
. Two years later he left Singer to begin pre-production work on Heroes.
The film was shot on location in Chatham
Chatham, New Jersey
Chatham refers to two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey – Chatham Borough and Chatham Township. The two are separate municipalities, the first a municipality that was settled in 1710 as a colonial English village in the Province of New Jersey...
, Glen Ridge
Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,527. In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly magazine....
, Montclair
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, Wayne
Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne is a Township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, located less than from midtown Manhattan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a total population of 54,069....
, and West Paterson, New Jersey
West Paterson, New Jersey
Woodland Park is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 10,987....
.
Kiki and Herb
Kiki and Herb
Kiki and Herb are an American drag cabaret duo. Bond portrays Kiki DuRane, an aging, alcoholic, female lounge singer...
make a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
as entertainers at a neighborhood Christmas party.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Market
Marché du Film
The Marché du Film is the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival and the largest film market in the world.It was created in 1959 and it is held annually since then, simultaneously to the Cannes Festival...
in May 2004 and was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, the Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
, the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
, and the Marrakech International Film Festival before opening on two screens in the US on December 19, 2004. It earned $4,696 on its opening weekend; at its widest release, it played in only twenty-four theaters domestically. It eventually grossed $228,767 in the US and $62,351 in foreign markets for a worldwide box office total of $291,118.
Cast
- Sigourney WeaverSigourney WeaverSigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
..... Sandy Travis - Jeff DanielsJeff DanielsJeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan...
..... Ben Travis - Emile HirschEmile HirschEmile Davenport Hirsch is an American television and film actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and became known as a film actor after roles in Lords of Dogtown, The Emperor's Club, The Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, and Into the Wild. In...
..... Tim Travis - Michelle WilliamsMichelle Williams (actress)Michelle Ingrid Williams is an American actress. After starting her career with television guest appearances in the early 1990s, Williams achieved recognition for her role as Jen Lindley on the WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek, which she played from 1998 to 2003...
..... Penny Travis - Deirdre O'ConnellDeirdre O'Connell (actress)Deirdre O'Connell is an American character actress who has worked extensively on stage, screen, and television.O'Connell began her career at Stage One, an experimental theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts...
..... Marge Dwyer - Ryan DonowhoRyan DonowhoRyan Wayne Donowho is an American actor and musician.-Early life:Born in Houston, Texas, Donowho moved to Brooklyn, New York and then to Los Angeles. He was a street musician in New York City as "bucket" drummer...
..... Kyle Dwyer - Suzanne Santo ..... Steph Connors
- Kip PardueKip PardueKevin Ian "Kip" Pardue is an American actor and model, best known for his roles in the films Remember the Titans, Driven, The Rules of Attraction, and Thirteen....
..... Matt Travis
Critical reception
Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
observed, "The film might have been stronger as simply the story of the family trying to heal itself after its tragedy, with the focus on Sandy and Tim. But Harris feels a need to explain everything in terms of melodramatic revelations and surprise developments, right up until the closing scenes. The emotional power of the last act is weakened by the flood of new information. The key revelation right at the end explains a lot, yes, but it comes so late that all it can do is explain. If it had come earlier, it would have had to be dealt with, and those scenes might have been considerable . . . What remains when the movie is over is the memory of Sandy and Tim talking, and of a mother who loves her son, understands him, and understands herself in a wry but realistic way. The characters deserve a better movie, but they get a pretty good one."
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
said the film "has a strong narrative spine, with interesting and big things happening throughout - an unexpected virtue in a family drama. But this virtue is obscured somewhat by the movie's lack of narrative drive. Writer Dan Harris has written himself a tidy little story, but in directing it, he hasn't sculpted a dynamic drama. To put it in another way, there's a lean, mean 82-minute drama encased in this flabby 112-minute film . . . What saves Imaginary Heroes is its essential truthfulness about families, which it reveals, not only in the broad movements of its story but in the small details . . . Sometimes the film's tone wobbles into farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, which is inappropriate, and often the story treads water, as though mimicking, in tone, every somber family film since Ordinary People
Ordinary People
Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....
. But, ultimately, it arrives at an authentic and surprisingly powerful place."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stones rated the film two out of four stars and added, "Sigourney Weaver is a luminous actress with a tough core of intelligence and wit. And Emile Hirsch, who plays her guilt-tormented son, has the talent to sustain a major career. Their scenes together have a warmth that almost makes you forgive Imaginary Heroes . . . for trying so hard and so futilely to duplicate Ordinary People . . . What the movie damagingly lacks is a personality of its own."
Awards and nominations
The film was cited for Excellence in Filmmaking by the National Board of ReviewNational Board of Review Awards 2004
The 76th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2004, were given on 1 December 2004.-Top 10 films:#Finding Neverland#The Aviator#Closer#Million Dollar Baby #Sideways#Kinsey...
. Sigourney Weaver was nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
The Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama is one of the annual awards given by the International Press Academy.- Winners and nominees :The following listing is based on the web postings of the International Press Academy.- 1990s :...
but lost to Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
Million Dollar Baby
Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood and starring Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman...
.
DVD release
The film was released in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on June 7, 2005. It features an English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
audio track and subtitles in French. Bonus features include commentary with either Sigourney Weaver or Dan Harris and Emile Hirsch, deleted scenes, and a behind-the-scenes featurette and photo gallery.