SIXTY SIX Preview, Trailer, Movie Poster
UPDATE (07.31.08): Read my review of Sixty Six on filmcritic.com.
ORIGINAL POST
What’s more uncomfortable than being a 12-year-old? How about being a 12-year-old preparing for a Bar Mitzvah? Wait, it gets worse. Your Bar Mitzvah is the same day as a major event that has the country in its grip. This is Sixty Six, a 2006 production finally getting a U.S. theatrical release August 1 from First Independent. (click poster for large view)
The year is 1966, the place is North London, and the poor kid is Bernie (Gregg Sulkin, in his debut film), a cute dork born under an awfully bad sign: His Bar Mitzvah date coincides with the World Cup Final and England has some serious World Cup Fever.
The Bar Mitzvah tale has been tackled in cinema recently, from a dumb comedy (Keeping Up with the Steins — see my review) to a documentary about a boy with Down’s Syndrome (Praying with Lior). In Sixty-Six, the Bar Mitzvah is a neurotic, can’t-get-worse comedy of errors affecting the whole family – sort of like a British-Jewish version of Sixteen Candles?
:: CAST
In addition to young Mr. Sulkin, Helena Bonham Carter plays the mom, Eddie Marsan (The Illusionist, Hancock) plays the OCD-suffering dad 
and Stephen Rea plays poor Bernie’s asthma doctor.
:: DIRECTOR
Brit Paul Weiland. Ready for a bizarre resume? The infamous Leonard Part 6, a handful of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean TV episodes, City Slickers II and a 1999 Blackadder movie called Back & Forth.
For the record, yes, I had a Bar Mitzvah. My voice was high, my knees shook and my idea of “becoming a man” had nothing to do with getting laid, driving, voting or drinking. A terrifying day.
If you’re in the UK, have you seen Sixty Six? If so, please share your comments below.
Other Posts of Interest
- Filmmaker Interview: SIXTY SIX’s Paul Weiland
- Movie Poster Monday: ROCKNROLLA Graffiti in London
- GOLDEN GLOBES: Winners and Shoulda Wons
- Movie Preview: SHRINK
- New Poster for X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE
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[…] By his own admission, British director Paul Weiland has been unfairly accused of “paycheck directing,” of just taking the job. No one can throw that accusation at him for his latest film, Sixty Six, an autobiographical family comedy, based on Weiland’s painful experiences as a Bar Mitzvah-boy-to-be. It’s a long way from his debut film 20 years ago – which still comes up in conversation — the infamous Leonard Part 6. (See our Sixty Six preview.) […]