Brian Geraghty, Kel O'Neill in Easier with Practice
Easier with Practice, Kyle Patrick Alvarez's feature-film debut based on an autobiographical article written by Davy Rothbart for GQ, has been getting some pretty good buzz. This psychological drama about human connections in the early 21st century has won the Grand Jury Award at CineVegas and the Best New International Feature Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival, in addition to receiving two Spirit Award nominations: Best First Feature Film and Someone to Watch Award (for Alvarez, photo).
Easier with Practice stars The Hurt Locker's Brian Geraghty as Davy Mitchell and Redacted's Kel O'Neill as Davy's younger brother Sean, who set out on a road trip to promote Davy's as yet unpublished novel. While at a motel, Davy gets a phone call from an unknown named Nicole. The two quickly develop a phone relationship chiefly based on sex, but things take an unexpected turn after Davy decides he wants to meet the person at the end of the line.
Reviews have generally been enthusiastic for Easier with Practice, which opens in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Sunset 5 (in West Hollywood) and New York at the Quad Cinema on Friday, Feb. 26.
"One doesn't usually associate the words 'tender' and 'affecting' with the topic of phone sex," Michael Rechtshaffen said in The Hollywood Reporter, "but such is the case with Easier with Practice, an unexpectedly stirring first feature by Kyle Patrick Alvarez about the challenges of making human connections in the weird and wired 21st century."
In Variety, Justin Chang remarked that Easier with Practice is "distinguished by a fine central performance from Brian Geraghty and a profound sensitivity to the awkwardness and alienation often felt by the ostensibly tougher sex," while at Cinematical Eric D. Snider wrote that "it's a rarity for a director's first film to be as confident and effective as Easier with Practice is. And for any film, let alone a debut, to address difficult subjects with this much insight, humor, and humanity is almost miraculous. There are filmmakers who couldn't produce something this good on their tenth try, and here Kyle Patrick Alvarez has done it right out of the gate."
Filmmaker Kyle Patrick Alvarez has kindly agreed to answer a few questions (via e-mail) about the making of Easier with Practice. See next page.