Next Stop Wonderland (1998)
distributed by MIRAMAX FILMS
Co-Writer/Director/Editor
Production
Diary
A bittersweet, romantic comedy about two lonely strangers and the whimsical turns of fate that seem to lead them everywhere.... except into each others arms.
The Story
Erin (Hope Davis) is a nightshift nurse who has grown overly accustomed to her monastic routine. Her meddlesome mother (Holland Taylor) thinks its time she stop sulking... and takes out a Personal ad for her. Erin is appalled and refuses... until her curiosity gets the best of her.
Alan (Alan
Gelfant) is a struggling plumber with big ambitions... but even bigger
debts. He's blackmailed by a loan shark (Vic Argo) to committ an absurd
crime in order to pay off his debt. Only he can't bring himself to do
it.
As Alan searches for a way out, Erin searches for that right man. Fate pushes their parrallel stories further and further apart, until, just as each thinks they've finally found what their looking for, a simple chance moment brings them together.
Commentary by Brad Anderson
“This movie was born out of saudade. Saudade is a Brazilian
word. It roughly translates into "melancholy" but it also implies a kind
of longing for a happiness that is no longer within reach, a kind of home
sickness. As Andre the Brazilian musicologist says in the movie, 'it means
sadness and happiness at the same time.' It is a term often used to describe
Brazilian music, particularly samba and Bossa Nova. Listen to a great
samba like Corcovado and you can hear the happiness and the sadness,
all stirred together. In this movie I wanted to create a character, Erin,
who embodied this mixed emotion, this suadade. It is her contentment with
solitude along with her longing for companionship that for me makes her
journey to find the right man so compelling... and funny. So, of course,
Erin loves Brazilian music...”