A dark and confronting indie flick called ‘Broken’, starring the ever-so-sexy Heather Graham, marks Curious Film director Alan White’s arrival as a director to watch in Hollywood.
Broken is Alan’s first American film – a brazenly intense tale of disillusionment exploring the destructive nature of addiction to drugs and love. The film opens to US audiences next month and reflects Alan White’s evolution as one of Australia’s most outstanding directors.
The story unfolds at an all-American diner, where Graham (Boogie Nights, Austin Powers) works as a pissed-off waitress named Hope. As she reflects on her past mistakes with ex-boyfriend Will, a heroin addict played by Jeremy Sisto (Waitress, Law & Order), she is confronted with a series of temptations symbolic of the seven deadly sins, when Will turns up unexpectedly with a gun.
“Broken is about finding a peace within yourself, with all your flaws, and not putting so much hope on being successful in societal terms. The temptation of the dark side is something that is personal to me and I think there are powerful lessons to be learned from the violence of addictions," says Alan.
Shot over 19 days, Broken is an intense psychological journey that reflects Alan’s ability to take ordinary events and make them extraordinary – a technique he applies to both his commercials and films, which are always based on innate human truths.
Critics have described Sisto’s performance as “believably needy" with a “manipulative intensity", and have hailed the feature as “a fine film about a functional addiction that allows you to lead a semblance of a life, albeit one of not-so-quiet desperation".
Written by Jeff Lester and Drew Pillsbury, Broken launched at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles last November. Since then, the film picked up Best of Show at The Accolade Film Awards and was selected to screen on the opening night of this year’s VisionFest film festival in New York.
Broken is Alan’s third film, following two Australian features Erskinville Kings, which stars Hugh Jackman, and Risk, starring Claudia Karvan and Bryan Brown.
Alan has two other film projects up his sleeve and continues to work as an award-winning, Emmy-winning commercials director. He is currently available in Australia and New Zealand, where he is represented by Curious Film.