Blue Movies

THE DEBUT NOVEL OF WAYNE KRAMER, THE EDGAR-NOMINATED SCREENWRITER AND DIRECTOR BEHIND "THE COOLER" AND "RUNNING SCARED." “Wayne Kramer, the filmmaker, writes and directs with heedless bliss.” (Roger Ebert)"Wow. Just read Wayne Kramer’s hilarious book, BLUE MOVIES. It’s a witty, startling, sexy and unpredictable ride set in the 1970s world of South Africa illegal film print distribution. Filled with specifics only someone who lived in this world would know, Kramer’s snarky style reveals characters who are quirky on the highest level. This is going to make a knockout of an indie film, and I felt I was watching one while reading it." (Randal Kleiser - Director of GREASE and THE BLUE LAGOON)The year is 1974 -- at the height of Apartheid in South Africa. Katrina Van Zyl, a single mother who couriers banned and pornographic 16mm film prints to rich clients across Johannesburg, gets her car stolen on a Saturday night, leaving her just under four hours to deliver the X-rated film “Behind the Green Door” to an influential arms dealer or suffer the consequences. We accompany Katrina on her frantic search for her prints over the course of one intense night as she runs afoul of the Jo'burg underworld and the Apartheid police state. For the first time ever, the McGuffin of a crime novel is not drugs, or weapons, or diamonds, or human trafficking… but controversial and pornographic American films! Possession of these films was punishable in South Africa by up to 10 years in prison. BLUE MOVIES offers a harrowing trip back to an all too real dystopian society where art was criminalized and the films we still revere today were considered the most dangerous contraband of all. Kramer's debut novel is a delight for fans of hardboiled crime fiction and movies alike. Inspired by real events.Praise for the films of Wayne Kramer“A ferociously energetic piece of filmmaking…”--Variety (Running Scared)“Writer-director Wayne Kramer operates here out of a pre-Tarantino mentality, when it was still possible to present violent, over-the-top melodrama without turning it into an in-joke. Kramer shows the rewards of playing it straight.”--SFGATE (Running Scared)“The story's strength is all in the telling; no synopsis will prepare you for the emotional charge that's eventually delivered. And it's unusual to find a screenplay that gives weight to parallel stories.” --Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (The Cooler)“It's got the kick, style and flavor of a straight-up story, before movies were watered down with the opinions of marketers, lawyers and committee heads.”--The Hollywood Reporter (The Cooler)“Wayne Kramer makes a potent directing debut and strikes gold with the cast, including Paul Sorvino as a junkie lounge singer and Ron Livingston as the corporate voice of the new Las Vegas, a theme-park nightmare.”--Rolling Stone (The Cooler)“The Cooler," directed by Wayne Kramer, is the sort of small, nicely crafted, character-driven picture that would have made barely a ripple had it been released 30 years ago. But today it's something of a small miracle, not just because it was clearly put together with intelligence and care, but because it singlehandedly revives the art of the sex scene. As far as its treatment of sex goes, "The Cooler" is that rare picture that actually seems to have been made by and for adults.”--Salon"... Kramer deserves credit for taking on a touchy subject. He has a compassionate eye for the marginalized, and his cast – especially Cliff Curtis as Ford's partner – bring conviction to their roles.--Independent (Crossing Over)"Writer-director Wayne Kramer gets uniformly terrific performances from a fine cast playing pawns in the game of sex, violence and betrayal that diminishes the noble tradition of naturalized citizenship."--Observer (Crossing Over) Read more