User:MichaelQSchmidt/The Age of Reason (film)

The Age of Reason is a 2014 America coming-of-age film written and directed by Jordan Harris and Andrew Schrader. Starring Myles Tufts, Blake Sheldon, and Megan Devine, with Tom Sizemore and Lochlyn Munro, the film premiered May 29, 2014 in Los Angeles at the Independent Filmmakers' Showcase Film Festival.

This film represents actor Blake Sheldon's first lead role in a feature film.

Production
Writing the story for The Age of Reason  began one year before the filmmaker's wrote their film Fever Night, and the Age of Reason screenplay went through twenty rewrites before production began. According to the film's official website, it took almost 8 months to create the look and feel for the film, with writer/director Jordan Harris doing multiple drafts of the film's storyboards. Initial funding of $25,000 was gathered through a kickstarter campaign sharing the film's short prequel The Age of Bikes. Casting began in January 2011, and continued through July for slated six-week filming period to commence in late August of that year.

With crew comprised of artists from Austin and San Antonio area, the project was shot on RED Cam and filming took place over a six-week period in 2011 in small oil towns surrounding San Antonio, Texas, including Lytle and Somerset, Hondo, Devine, and Castroville. Film score was composed by Noah Calvin.

Plot
Two highschool buddies, Oz (Myles Tufts) and Freddy (Blake Sheldon) waste time after graduation wandering around suburbia and picking fights with the neighborhood bully Billy Walker (Philip Marlatt). During the the last weekend of summer, the two become fleetingly involved with new heartthrob neighbor Ruby (Megan Devine) and have repeated conflicts with Megan's dad, Frank (Lochlyn Munro). As the last weekend comes to a close, Oz has decide to whether to skip town and go to Nashville for major league baseball tryouts, or stay with his kid sister Kayli (Avi Lake) and best friend Freddy. After his alcoholic father (Tom Sizemore) sabotages his chance at becoming a major league pitcher, Oz has one night to recover his baseball glove from Haskell (Bob King), save Freddy from the revenge machinations of Billy and his hired thug, Spyder (John Wirt), and get the hell out of suburbia.

Cast

 * Myles Tufts as Oz
 * Blake Sheldon as Freddy
 * Megan Devine as Ruby
 * Avi Lake as Kayli
 * Tom Sizemore as Robert
 * Lochlyn Munro as Frank
 * Philip Marlatt as Billy Walker
 * Bob King as Old Man Haskell
 * Amy Kay Raymond as Terry
 * Julie Dell Phillips as Gwen
 * Carter Canion as Tyler
 * John Wirt as Spyder
 * Peter Tullio as Simon

Release
The film debuted May 29, 2014 at the Independent Filmmakers' Showcase in Beverly Hills, California, and had its midwest premiere July 27, 2014 at the Middle Coast Film Festival in Bloomington, Indiana.

It then screened August 17, 2014 at the San Francisco Global Film Festival in San Jose, California, followed by August 30, 2014 at The Central Florida Film Festival.

Its Ohio premiere was September 18, 2014 at the Cincinnati Film Festival, and its Texas debut is October 12, 21014 at the Dallas VideoFest, screening at Alamo Drafthouse Richardson, Richardson, Texas.

Reception
Influx Magazine praised the project, writing "the film is not only highly relatable, it is also perfectly paced". When compared to other such fictions, this film's " young characters stand out in an increasingly cynical world". It was found the film avoids the cliches usually found in young adult fiction and "instead focuses on good kids stuck in difficult situations," creating a voice for its protagonists in a "rich drama that offers something for a variety of audiences, both teen and adult." Casting was considered perfect, and characters were fully developed early and considered a tribute to the writing/directing team of Andrew Schrader and Jordan Harris.

Awards and nominations

 * 2014, won 'Best Supporting Actor' for Tom Sizemore at the Independent Filmmakers' Showcase
 * 2014, won 'Best Director' for Jordan Harris and Andrew Schrader at the Independent Filmmakers' Showcase
 * 2014, won 'Best Director (United States)' for Jordan Harris and Andrew Schrader at the 22nd annual San Francisco Global Film Festival
 * 2014, nominated 'Best Feature Film' at The Central Florida Film Festival.

Music
Original music was composed and written specifically for this film by Noah Calvin:
 * 1) "The Age of Reason"
 * 2) "Where's Ruby"
 * 3) "Figuring it out"
 * 4) "You Won't Know Until You try"
 * 5) "The Ballad Of Frank And Freddy"
 * 6) "The Monster In The Tree"

Soundtrack
Filmmakers Jordan Harris and Andrew Schrader went to lengths to gain rights for the film's other music. " [sic] The process of obtaining festival rights for these tracks was long and intense. All worth it? We think so. Considering the artists and companies working with us, we are very grateful to have them aboard! Plus, we love their music, so what could be better? - Andrew Schrader"


 * 1) "Imaginary Person", written and performed by Ty Segall
 * 2) "Untitled #2", written and performed by Ty Segall
 * 3) "Weatherman", written and performed by Tim Heidecker and Davin Wood
 * 4) "Johnny", written and performed by Ty Segall
 * 5) "Sunburn", written and performed by Jerrod Bettis
 * 6) "Can't Talk", written and performed by Ty Segall
 * 7) "Machine", written and performed by Jerrod Bettis
 * 8) "Who Has Time to Protest?", written and performed by Sic Alps
 * 9) "The White of Noon", written by Joshua Hodges, performed by Starfucker
 * 10) "Tell Me (Whats On Your Mind)", written and produced by Matthew Correia, Miles Michaud, Pedrum Siadatian, Spencer Dunham, and Nick Waterhouse, performed by Allah-Las
 * 11) "Sweet Release", written and performed by Brandon Chapman
 * 12) "Drop Dead Baby", written and performed by Ty Segall, and Mikal Cronin
 * 13) "Slaughterhouse", written and performed by Ty Segall
 * 14) "Island Ave", written and produced by Florian Settele and Marc Philipp, performed by Jacuzzi Boys
 * 15) "Old Paladino", written and produced by Anthony Perry, Tommy Stewart, Loui A. Tomic, and Mike McCugh, performed by TRMRS
 * 16) "Paycheck", written and produced by Zach Carper, Brandon Schwartzel, Elvis Kuehn, and Max Kuehn, performed by FIDLAR
 * 17) "Got Somebody to Dream About", written and produced by Chelsea Brown and Justine Brown, performed by Summer Twins
 * 18) "An Education", written and produced by Brady Erickson, performed by Life Leone