Forest: Additional Press & Reviews

Review: Forest for the Trees

Baltimore City Paper

7.22.1998

This locally filmed and produced movie --written, directed, produced, and edited by born-and-bred Marylander Jonathan Slade -- is an indie film in the most classic sense. Slade spent three years and maxed out two credit cards to produce his feature-length film debut using an all-volunteer cast and crew; even his mother pitched in.

And Forest for the Trees is a valiant effort, a sincere and insightful exploration of love, friendship, and (in)fidelity. The story opens with four college buddies reuniting for a five-day bicycling trip, taking along one adult newcomer to the group and a small child. With the possible exception of mother and child, everyone on the expedition is having relationship difficulties. This psychodrama on wheels also encounters trouble with rain, claustrophobia, and a lost doll named Foofie.

Despite the fact that most of the dramatic action is emotional rather than physical, the film is well-paced and allows the story to unfold naturally; unlike many big-budget Hollywood pictures, Forest for the Trees does not telegraph its ending from the very first scene. Characters are for the most part sympathetic and believable, especially Zach, the de facto group leader. Played by Patrick Egan, Zach is frequently abrasive, abusive, and assholish -- but his redemption is that he knows it, and he struggles with that knowledge. Egan gives the film's strongest and most consistent performance; with his pronounced Bawlmer accent and angular, interesting face, he brings to mind a young John Waters.

Forest for the Trees is not without problems, a great many of which can be attributed to the project's low-budget, first-time-out nature. The acting is uneven at times, and the sound quality is sometimes frustratingly muddy and quiet.

But these lapses are forgivable. The important thing is that Forest for the Trees is an engaging and ambitiously realized debut by a local filmmaker. It's worth seeing.

Filmmaker Jonathan Slade leads Q&A in Lancaster, PA.

Review: Film fest to feature Forest for the Trees

The Harrisburg Patriot-News

5.26.2000

A not-to-be-missed event is the return engagement of Baltimore moviemaker Jonathan Slade's feature film "Forest for the Trees," which will be presented at 4pm today.

In a triumph of talent over budget, Slade and his gifted collaborators have created a story of college friends reunited for a weekend bike trip.

The young professionals reassess their lives and their relationships in this contemporary answer to "The Big Chill."

Annville's Allen Theater introduced moviegoers to the independent film by Slade, who works for Maryland Public Television. Now those who missed the two screenings in Annville can catch up with this fine movie.

Independent filmmaker sells out downtown art center

Lancaster Intelligencer Journal

12.11.2000

Jonathan Slade gave up on his dream of making a movie a trillion times.

He perservered, however, and Sunday showed the finished film to a sell-out crowd at Zoetropolis Independent Film & Art Center, 235 W. Lemon St.

The film, "Forest for the Trees," was shot in 28 days over 18 months and concerns a group of 20-somethings who have decided to take a five-day, 184-mile bike trek along Maryland's C&O Canal.

The trip seems doomed from the start. The organizers, Zach and Marianne McAllister (Patrick Egan and Mandy Kriss), are having problems with their marriage, and the biggest problem -- their friend Casey (Christine Armand)-- is along for the ride.

With Casey is her boyfriend, Eric (Michael Egan), who doesn't know that Casey is having an affair with Zach. Complicating matters is an old school friend, Lori (Kate FitzMaurice), who, along with her 2-year-old daughter Lena (Madeline Mann) joins the group at the last minute.

They've barely passed their first tree before they begin to fight. And before the trip is aborted, they know more about each other than their Internet providers do.

That makes "Forest for the Trees" a sort of "Big Chill" on a little budget -- a very little budget, that is. Slade, a writer-producer for Maryland Public TV, said he shot it for $26,000, most of which went for film stock and lunch Pizza Hut for the cast and crew.

"That wouldn't buy the toilet paper for James Cameron's "Titanic,'" Slade said Sunday shortly before his film went on the screen.

After the film Slade stuck around to answer more than half a dozen questions from "Is there anything about the film you'd change if you could?" to "Are you working on anything now?"

Yes, he said, there are a number of "cringe moments" he has to endure every he screens the film, which has been shown at the Allen Theater in Annville and the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, as well as in his hometown of Baltimore. Most involve dialogue that just doesn't sound right to him, or poor location sound, neither of which he could afford to re-record.

And yes, he's working on a children's series, "Vid Kid," for Maryland Public Television, which is going to be syndicated beginning next month.

Both film and filmmaker were well received Sunday.

Fred Blume, of East Hempfield, said he found out about it through a mailer his son had received and decided to go to it with his wife, who has been seeing independent films in New York. Blume said he thought it would be fun, and it was.

"I'd be here later tonight if they had another one," he said.

It was the first time Zoetropolis had brought a filmmaker in to discuss his work, according to Leigh Scroble and Scott Miller, who opened the theater in July. The sellout was "a pleasant surprise," Scroble said.

"You never know what you're going to get in Lancaster," she added.

Zoetropolis will screen "Forest for the Trees" again on Sunday night.