Sullivan’s Last Call: A sexy little film about celibacy
A 1996 short film I wrote, produced, directed and acted in with Steven Mark Friedman and James Starace (voice on the phone).
Sullivan’s Last Call is an intimate peek into the sexual and psychological underpinnings of a modern relationship. Late one evening two former lovers re-unite, but when the man declares he celibate, sparks fly and Sullivan, the woman, sets out to prove him wrong. Without profanity or nudity, this sexy film noir explores the emotional complexities of getting too close for comfort.
AWARDS:
Chicago International Film and Video Festival (Certificate of Merit)
New Haven Film Fest (Audience Choice Award)
East Village Film & Video Festival (Audience Choice Award)
CineKink Film Fest (Honorable Best Mention)
FESTIVALS:
Armchair Film Festival; New York, NY
Cape May Film Festival; Cape May, NJ
Chicago International Film Festival; Chicago, IL
Saint John’s International Women’s Video & Film Festival; Saint John, Newfoundland
Slamdance International Film Festival; Park City, Utah
Goteberg Film Festival; Goteberg, Sweden
New Haven Film Festival; New Haven, CT
Hudson Valley Film Festival; Rhinebeck, NY
East Village Film Festival; New York, NY
REVIEWS:
Harvard Film Archive
Francesca Rizzo is a veteran film and stage actress whose film about the accidental reunion of former lovers reveals an actor’s awareness of the emotional slip–sliding-ness latent in every living, breathing relationship. Her characters play out their identities and their continuously adjusted relationship in a dance of shifting beats, tones, and moods that zigzag, collide, and bounce around.
Sam Shaw, Producer (A Woman Under the Influence, Husbands, Gloria)
“Sullivan’s Last Call is a great little movie, beautifully made, that proves less is more. In the tradition of John Cassavetes, filmmaker Francesca Rizzo has written, acted and directed a no-holds-barred film with true guts and emotion. And, like the short films of Rossellini and DiSica, it delves deep into the human comedy, confronting us with the sex and sexuality of our times. Rizzo, as Sullivan, exudes a sensual beauty with a humor and warmth reminiscent of Gena Rowlands and Anna Magnani. She’s one sexy dame.”
St. John’s International Film & Video Festival
Sullivan’s Last Call is a dramatic short that takes you to the quick rather deftly. It’s a serious-slick bit of fun. In less than twenty minutes, Rizzo crafts a superbly nuanced story…you’ll feel like having a cigarette afterwards – it’s that sexy.”
R. Pitman, Editor & Publisher, Video Librarian
“Francesca Rizzo’s Sullivan’s Last Call is a surprisingly smart and sexy slice-of-dysfunctional life. Part witty repartee, part sexy banter, it’s a sly commentary on male sexual hypocrisy which is well-acted, well-scripted, and an understandable film festival audience favorite.”
Eric Bogosian (Talk Radio, Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll, SubUrbia)
“Francesca Rizzo has made a lovely little film about the absurdity of inter-human sex. Her specialty seems to be de-constructing the courtship rituals of homo sapiens in the late Twentieth Century. Rizzo uses her razor wit to peel away the layers of male rationalization, making her exercise funny and embarrassing at the same time. The acting is naked and sure. This enhances the voyeuristic feeling we are listening to real people having real conversations being really absurd.
Tom Snyder, The Late, Late Radio Show
“Sullivan’s Last Call is a very sexy little motion picture about the rather unsexy subject of celibacy. Basically, this guy says “I’m celibate. I don’t have sex.” And Francesca Rizzo plays this very charming woman who, in the course of eighteen minutes, he goes to hell in a hand basket.”
Martha Frankel, Movieline Magazine
“This is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen! It’s the smartest movie ever made about celibacy. Almost had me believing in it. This movie does for celibacy what Dirty Dancing did for sex.”
Ray Carney, Professor of American Studies and Film, Boston University
(Author: The Films of John Cassavetes , The Films of Frank Capra)
“AMAZING! What a piece of work. What acting. So subtle, so responsive, so mercurial, such butterfly flickers of emotion. It’s brilliant. The best short film I’ve ever seen. Why isn’t this woman famous?”
Ryan Sarnowski, Filmmaker (Manlife, Passing the Baton, StoryRaps)
Sullivan’s Last Call is an 18 minute personal conversation between two long ago lovers during which the two characters shift in so many delightful ways. The film has an odd sex appeal, thanks mostly to writer, director and actress Francesca Rizzo. But, it’s not really about celibacy. That’s just a front for deeper problems. As the conversation carries on and facades slip away, we get glimpses of those deeper problems, but never long enough to pin them down. Rizzo is quite the anomaly and I can’t believe she hasn’t gone on to be a big name filmmaker.
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