Paul Schrader and Bret Easton Ellis' adventure in relatively-microbudget cinema: THE CANYONS.

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2013/07/noise-in-the-canyon/

Quote from Paul Schrader, who long ago made films as diverse as BLUE COLLAR and PATTY HEARST: “The number one fact of the new low-budget cinema is that it is no longer impossible to get your film financed, but it is impossible to get anybody to see it."

And the difficulty is quadrupled when your film is rejected by Austin's SXSW festival and emerges into an environment where people would rather laugh cruelly at Lindsay Lohan and her ongoing self-destruction/social skills decline than actually see a movie she stars in for a still-reputable, still-hanging-in-there veteran director.

The film legacy of Natasha Richardson.

Here's a link to the NEW YORK TIMES obituary for actress Natasha Richardson, who died earlier today: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/theater/19richardson.html?_r=1&hp

Ms. Richardson's film appearances were relatively few in recent years; her final film (according to imdb.com) was the Emma Roberts-in-the-UK comedy WILD CHILD, which has yet to receive a US release.

Of the theatrical features I saw Ms. Richardson in, I would recommend her two films for director Paul Schrader (PATTY HEARST and THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS), David McKenzie's ASYLUM (which co-starred Ian McKellen) and James Ivory's underrated THE WHITE COUNTESS. She was also in Ken Russell's GOTHIC, which can be found on DVD in an apparent public domain print with three other films.

And there's THE HANDMAID'S TALE, with direction by Volker Schlondorff and a screenplay by Harold Pinter. Imdb describes the plot as follows: In a dystopicly polluted rightwing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.

As coincidence has it, THE HANDMAID'S TALE is currently playing on the Encore Love cable channel.