Moxie Pictures has added the directing duo/twin brothers Matthew and Nathan Fackrell, a.k.a. MEN, to its roster.
MEN has helmed spots for the likes of Oreo, Kinder Chocolate, Maglite and Panda Express.
After receiving MFAs in broadcast cinema at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., Matt and Nathan Fackrell began writing and directing for Nickelodeon’s television series Yo Gabba Gabba!, for which they were nominated for a 2016 Daytime Emmy for Best Directing and a 2015 Emmy for Best Pre-School Series.
MEN was freelancing prior to joining Moxie. Earlier the duo had been represented by production house Wondros.
Matthew Fackrell earned inclusion into SHOOT’s 2011 New Directors Showcase on the basis of such work as a Pampers’ diapers spec spot which shows how a man reacts to his pending parenthood and other related developments–such as the baby shower, driving to the hospital as his wife goes into labor, and the actual birth of his daughter–by screaming at the top of his lungs. The spec ad was titled “Freaked Out.”
Review: Director-Writer Megan Park’s “My Old Ass”
They say tripping on psychedelic mushrooms triggers hallucinations, anxiety, paranoia and nervousness. In the case of Elliott, an 18-year-old restless Canadian, they prompt a visitor.
"Dude, I'm you," says the guest, as she nonchalantly burns a 'smores on a campfire next to a very high and stunned Elliott. "Well, I'm a 39-year-old you. What's up?"
What's up, indeed: Director-writer Megan Park has crafted a wistful coming-of-age tale using this comedic device for "My Old Ass" and the results are uneven even though she nails the landing.
After the older Elliott proves who she is — they share a particular scar, childhood memories and a smaller left boob — the time-travel advice begins: Be nice to your brothers and mom, and stay away from a guy named Chad.
"Can we hug?" asks the older Elliott. They do. "This is so weird," says the younger Elliott, who then makes things even weirder when she asks for a kiss — to know what it's like kissing yourself. The older Elliott soon puts her number into the younger's phone under the name "My Old Ass." Then they keep in touch, long after the effects of the 'shrooms have gone.
Part of the movie's problem that can't be ignored is that the two Elliotts look nothing alike. Maisy Stella plays the coltish young version and a wry Aubrey Plaza the older. Both turn in fine performances but the visuals are slowly grating.
The arrival of the older Elliott coincides with her younger self counting down the days until she can flee from her small town of 300 in the Muskoka Lakes region to college in Toronto, where "my life is about to start." She's sick of life on a cranberry farm.
Park's scenes and dialogue are unrushed and honest as Elliott takes her older self's advice and tries to repair... Read More