Gareth Rhodes Written and directed by Scott Coffey and starring Naomi Watts in the title role, Ellie Parker is an intimate insight into the world of a struggling Hollywood actress who's own fragmented sense of identity and failing ability to achieve balance in her real life relationships causes all manner of turmoil. Shot entirely on digital video -much of it hand-held, Coffey's film wobbles, loses focus and has the look of something anyone with a basic understanding of shot sequencing could cut together. What makes the film special is Naomi Watts. After having won acclaim for her startling portrayal of 'Betty' in David Lynch's Mullholland Drive, Watts once again shows her calibre as an actress with a gutsy and committed display of raw talent. In many ways, Ellie Parker works as a perfect companion piece to Mulholland Drive as we follow Watts through awkward auditions and witness her neurotic behaviour giving way to mini emotional implosions. Watts demonstrates great courage and faith in those around her by flinging herself head first into the surreal drama while never over emphasising or losing her way with the character. The entire film is about her performance and despite things getting occasionally bogged down, Watt's 'on the edge' display is never far from compelling throughout. While it might wander around aimlessly, Ellie Parker is held aloft by Naomi Watts' distinguished performance and for that reason alone deserves to be seen.

James Zakaria I just caught this awful movie on the Sundance Channel, and this is exactly the kind of awful, awful movies that give Sundance a bad name.What would possess the filmmakers to shoot this with a homevideo camera, not light it and generally make a mockery of the very concept of film is beyond comprehension.Why would Naomi Watts waste her time on this amateurish gibberish? Who knows? She certainly didn't do herself any good. Her acting is usually quite flimsy and without a professional movie to fall back on, she is as uninteresting as it gets.Don't waste your time.

BKinzeys Like the films Swimming with Sharks and Living in Oblivion this is a film that will be mostly enjoyed by people in "The Industry" Exceptional performance by Naomi Watts and great insights into the industry.A great lesson in movie-making for the "No Budget" crowd. No huge stunts or special effects. All the locations were local and current. Think "Park Bench: Day" The film fit the budget and not the other way around.Kudos to the Above the Line people involved here."Watch & Learn People!"Sorry, that says it all for me, but sometimes less is more. Unfortunately I need 10 Lines to post. Attempts to pad are prohibited and I may be called on my padding here but in my defense I'd like to use a quote from a famous comedian."Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." Need he have been forced to say more?

gore1234 How could anyone like this self-indulgent, over-rated, bore-fest of a film. Alright, lets start on the technical side of things & then work up to (or should i say down to) the personnel involved. OK. I get it. This is a low budget film. Thats cool. Too many of todays big budget films are diluting the quality of the movie output,year after year,all over the world,not just in Hollywood. I like low budget. Its a more exciting form of film. But this was below the quality you would expect from even the lowest of budgets. I'm not a big fan of DV & this film is the perfect example of why. The scenes are poorly lit, too poorly shot & the sound is at best awful. Surely these are the things that turn cinema into an art form. So why disregard them. Coffey should have spent more time figuring these out instead of figuring out how to get himself on screen. Terrible work all-round. Now onto watts. What was she thinking?. Tour-De-force it ain't. Its over-acting at its worst. She must have taken this role to be "cool" and "hip" but she comes out of it looking the fool and her acting capabilities must forever more be called into question. I know its supposed to be ironic. But she comes off looking desperate to be taken serious as an actor. Its just a bad performance. If i think about it anymore I'm gonna get angry.Look, i know this film has won awards, i know there are people on this site telling you how great this film is. But don't be fooled. This is a perfect case of an industry afraid of critiquing its self. Its as simple as this. This film should never have been released onto the unsuspecting public. The film industry should have had the guts to stand up and say this is not good enough. Go away and do it again. This film lowers the standard of independent films. Its a perfect example of why people refuse to support indie films. I spent my hard earned money to see this. I spent 95mins watching this. Time i could have spent with my loved ones. I got fooled by the reviews. I want my money back. I want those 95mins of my live back. Do not waste your time, money and effort to see this film. It should not be supported. 1 star out of ten is kind. It deserves less but this site doesn't allow that.