Bill (James Wortham) is a disgraced banker who's now a fugitive on the run from the law in L.A. He meets Angela (Shari Solanis), an illegal Latina immigrant who's all about living in the moment. She takes him in, and the two begin a passionate affair. As their relationship develops, Angela completely changes Bill's worldview through her philosophy, which could alter his life forever, in this sexual and soul-searching drama.
Bill (do James Wortham đóng) là một giám đốc ngân hàng bị giáng chức và hiện giờ trở thành một kể đào tẩu trốn chạy luật pháp ở thành phố Los Angeles. Anh ta gặp Angela (do Shari Solanis đóng) - một dân di bất hợp pháp người La-tinh - là người quan niệm luôn sống trong thời điểm hiện tại. Cô ta đón anh về, và cả hai bắt đầu một chuyện tình đam mê. Khi mối quan hệ giữa họ tiến triển, Angela đã làm thay đổi hoàn toàn thế giới quan của Bill thông qua triết lý của mình, điều mà có thể làm xoay chuyển cuộc đời của anh ta mãi mãi, trong bộ phim tình cảm nhuốm nhiều tình dục này.
Initial release: 2009
Director: Philippe Diaz
Initial DVD release: May 10, 2011
Shari Solanis - Angela (an illegal Latin immigrant)
James Wortham - Bill ( a disgraced banker on the run from law)
Adrian Quinonez - Diego ( Angela's bisexual boyfriend)
Now & Later Film Review
By Kam Williams
Politics Make Strange Bedfellows in Sexplicit Agitprop Adventure
He subsequently became so despondent and suicidal about the prospect of spending eight years behind bars that, rather than face the music, he decided to jump bail without even telling his wife (Marcellina Walker). As a fugitive from justice with little more than the clothes on his back, he sought to keep under the radar by fleeing to the barrio, a place where no one would think of looking for him.
There, on the proverbial other side of the tracks, he hatches a plan to escape to Honduras. But while awaiting the arrival of his getaway driver (Luis Fernandez-Gil), he's directed to hide out at the apartment of Angela (Shari Solanis), a gorgeous nurse from Nicaragua.
The socially-conscious illegal immigrant has bones to pick with Bill about the role he might have played in the oppression of poor folks in Latin America. Still, as an advocate of free love, she's also more than willing to overlook his previous profession, and proceeds to seduce him on the spot.
With nothing left to lose, Bill is happy to indulge, and the two shed their clothes and start cavorting with abandon, like a couple of dogs in heat. Not content with just conventional sex, adventurous Angela ups the ante by asking him to indulge her more kinky fantasies. When he hesitates, she goads him by saying, "You Americans are such a bunch of frustrated hypocrites."
It's difficult to discern whether the jaw-dropping Now & Later is designed as politically-progressive agit-propaganda or merely as a thinly-veiled pretext for soft-porn, since it serves up generous helpings of film fare which border on both. Regardless, it's compelling enough to keep your eyes glued to the screen for the duration, given the unbridled passion of a mismatched pair you'd never expect to see in the same zip code, let alone sharing a bed.
To top it all off, the plot thickens when Angela's bisexual boyfriend, Diego (Adrian Quinonez), arrives home from the road unexpectedly. Will tension or a triangle flow from this combustible scenario? It's anybody's guess, given this unlikely trio.
The most sexplicit romp you'll encounter in theaters this year, guaranteed.
Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee. Contact him through NewsBlaze.
Chính Trị Tạo Nên Cặp Đôi Kỳ Lạ Trong Một Cuộc Phiêu Lưu Tình Dục Cổ Động Bốc Lửa
Sau đó, anh ta thoái chí và nghĩ đến tự tử trước viễn ảnh phải sống tám năm trong tù, và thay vì đối diện với tình thế, anh ta quyết định bỏ trốn mà không nói cho vợ anh ta (do Marceliina Walker đóng) biết. Làm một kẻ đào tầu khỏi công lý với chỉ bộ quần áo trên người, anh ta tìm cách thoát khỏi sự truy nã bằng cách trốn đến một khu vực mà không ai nghĩ đến việc tìm kiếm anh ta.
Ở đó, trong một hoàn cảnh như thế, cũng như những người khác, anh ta ấp ủ một kế hoạch trốn thoát đến Honduras. Nhưng trong khi chờ đợi người tài xế (do Luis Fernandez-Gil đóng) đến đón, anh ta được chỉ dẫn để ẩn náu tại căn hộ của Angela (do Shari Solanis đóng) - một y tá quyến rũ đến từ Nicaragua.
Cô gái di dân bất hợp pháp biết nhiều về các vấn đề xã hội này đã táo bạo nói với Bill về vai trò mà anh ta có thể đã đóng trong việc đè ép những người dân nghèo khó ở Châu Mỹ La Tinh. Tuy thế, là một ủng hộ viên của thứ tình yêu tự do, cô ta dễ dàng sẵn lòng bỏ qua công việc cũ của anh ta, và tiến tới quyến rũ anh ta ngay tại chỗ.
Không còn gì để mất, Bill vui sướng để buông thả, và cả hai cùng lột bỏ quần áo, và bắt đầu đắm đuối trong sự phóng túng, như một cặp chó đang động cỡn. Không bằng lòng với chỉ việc chung chạ thông thường, Angela vốn là người thích phiêu lưu đẩy mạnh cuộc chơi bằng cách bảo anh ta cùng cô đắm mình vào các tưởng tượng lập dị hơn. Khi anh ta do dự, cô ta khích anh ta bằng cách nói: "Bọn người Mỹ các anh chỉ toàn là một lũ đạo đức giả tuyệt vọng."
Thật khó để phân biệt bộ phim Bây Giờ Và Sau Này gây sốc này được thiết kế để tuyên truyền chính trị cấp tiến hay đó chỉ là một cái cớ phủ mỏng bên ngoài cho một phim khiêu dâm hạng nhẹ, vì nó có đều chi tiết phim ở cả hai mặt. Cho dù như thế nào, nó là một bộ phim đầy thuyết phục khiến người ta dán mắt vào màn ảnh trong suốt chiều dài phim để theo dõi niềm đam mê bất tận của một cặp đôi không tương xứng mà bạn sẽ không bao giờ nghĩ rằng họ sẽ ở cùng khu vực, chứ nói gì đến việc ngủ chung giường.
Quan trọng hơn tất cả, cốt truyện trở nên ly kỳ hơn khi bạn trai lưỡng tính của Angela (do Adrian Quinonez đóng) bất ngờ trở về nhà. Liệu là một sự căng thẳng hay là một bộ ba sẽ được hình thành từ tình huống tế nhị này? Dựa trên tính không tương hợp của bộ ba này, mỗi người có thể tự đoán lấy.
Bảo đảm với bạn rằng đây là bộ phim đầy những cảnh bốc lửa nhất mà bạn được xem ở rạp trong năm nay.
(Kam Williams là một nhà phê bình phim và sách gởi bài cho hơn một trăm tạp chí. Ông ta là thành viên của Hội Các Nhà Phê Bình Phim Trên Mạng của New York, Hiệp Hội Phê Bình Phim của Người Mỹ Gốc Phi, và Ủy Ban Đề Cử Giải Thưởng Hình Ảnh NAAP.)
Shari Solanis
A Philadelphia native, Shari's first love was singing. She began performing at age 12 in an all girl doo-wop harmony group. She discovered acting as young teen while attending the High School for Creative and Performing Arts where she excelled at musical theatre.
Shari found the performing arts to be a constructive outlet in her struggle to be a part of something definitive and positive: Shari was an only child from a mixed background. She grew up with her Russian/Hungarian mother and stepfather in an all white Jewish neighborhood, and had a second family with her Morrocan/Mexican father who is a Vietnam Veteran. The worlds were very different and Shari often didn't know where she fit into it all.
After graduating from high school, she moved to the Big Apple to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Working with the New York Theatre Workshop, Shari played "Alissa Cruz" in a musical called "Mister" with Anthony Rapp. She continued to work the theater circuit, and did small parts in TV/film, and eventually found that singing independently was a more viable creative outlet...less conformity.
She relocated to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of acting and singing once more. Like most struggling actresses, she worked as a waitress, with a stint at the iconic Swingers restaurant. After experiencing Hollywood casting director's propensity for stereotyping, Shari was relieved to find an intelligent role that celebrated ethnic diversity.
Q & A with Shari Solanis:
Tell us about your character - who is she, what drives her?
She is a free spirit, who has met true suffering, poverty, hardship, and pain in life and whom chooses to deal with it in positive ways. She is driven by a deep need to help the world around her. On account the suffering she has seen, she has learned what is truly valuable and precious...the beauty and splendor in life. Therefore she strives to live every moment to the fullest. On account of the lies and oppression she sees...she is driven by truth, and freedom. In a world of solitude and loss...she treasures people and unity. In a world of pain and hate....she treasures pleasure and love.
What do you think peoples' reaction will be to the explicit sex?
I'm sure we'll get extremes of opinion. It will not be black and white. I'm sure we'll confront hard-core puritans, as well as the broadest and most open artistic perspectives....and everything in between. I feel confident that it was done tastefully and believe in the statement that Philippe makes with the film: the hypocrisy in American culture. We'll watch people getting blown up, chopped up, blood squirting out, death, fire, torture, destruction....but God forbid we watch a beautiful natural sexual act...or even see the human body!
How did you prepare for the intimate scenes with co-lead?
"We talked about it openly. We shared our thoughts and feelings about it. We created a mutual trust and respect. That's the only way. Even if there were frustrating times, we knew that there were good intentions, because we got on the same page early on. We built a foundation of trust. We kept it professional."
JAMES WORTHAM – "Bill"
James Wortham has been acting since 2004, when he decided to add a creative alter ego to his medical career. He tries to achieve a balance between his two passions--medicine and the performing arts, recognizing that although the combination is a challenge, they need not be mutually exclusive. He has appeared in several independent films, including "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "The Tucson Comedy Horror Show," and also is a host and a medical expert for numerous television programs. In his spare time, James is an avid photographer and world traveler, having visited over thirty countries, and is always eager to take on his next adventure.
Q & A with James Wortham:
What did you think the first time you read the screenplay?
"I was impressed that someone would want to attempt a film so bold. I had to really ask myself if I was ready to be a part of such an ambitious endeavor. After reading the screenplay again I could begin to see how compelling the underlying message was, and that is what convinced me to say "yes."
What made you decide to take on the challenge of doing this provocative of a film?
The idea that American society is so obsessed with violence, so eager to glorify it, and yet cannot openly discuss or appreciate something as natural as human sexuality or the naked body without labeling it as pornographic, fascinated me. As a doctor who has rotated through emergency and surgical fields, I have witnessed the effects of violence first hand. I also encounter the human body, and discuss human sexuality on a daily basis. I think this dichotomy primed me to want to be a part of something that would force people to examine both their values and their taboos. I also knew it would be a rewarding experience to get to live through my character Bill's transformation--from dark, apathetic isolation to this incredible rebirth of optimism and all of the shades in between. It was really his character arc and the relationship that he develops with Angela that made me most excited about the film.
Did you have any hesitations about the sex?
"Of course! It is not every day that someone asks you to get that intimate with a stranger, and then let even more strangers see it. I think the two things that kept me most guarded at first were concerns about the ramifications it could have on my career, and what my parents would think when they saw it. I also had to feel ready to justify the film to any of my patients that might see it one day. In the end it came down to truly believing in what the film was about, and remembering that we all have bodies, we all have sex, and we should not be so ashamed of it."
MARCELLINA WALKER – "Sally"
Marcellina Walker has a strong commitment to independent film, and has worked with a range of filmmakers in the category including Diaz and Henry Jaglom. Educated at Mills College and the Actors Conservatory Theatre, Marcellina seeks out roles that challenge her knowledge and understanding of human nature. A recent performance was juried at the Aspen Comdey Film Festival. She is currently working to adapt a short story to film.
About Sally:
My approach to playing Sally needed to be open-ended, yet precise. The director asked if I would be willing to create the character without reading the script. Always curious about process and experimentation, I agreed. I was given a handful of details about Sally and my dialogue. The few pages I was given of the script clearly defined where I needed to be emotionally. As it is with most good writing, I found all I needed in those few pages.
LUIS FERNANDEZ GIL –"Luis"
Luis trained in NYFA and started his professional acting career on stage in New York with the Broadway terms production of "Don Quixote of La Mancha". After touring and performing on stages around 48 states of the US he decided to make LA his new home in April 2003. Film credits consist of over 30 movies including WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION, THE YEAR BOOK, and ASIAN STORIES (BOOK 3).
TV credits include Series Regular in Bo' Selecta (Channel 4 UK 2006) and English for Success (KLSC 2006) and regular guest appearances in Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC).
Luis is currently rehearsing for the September 2006 new production of Don Carlo by Los Angeles Opera and will be seen in a recurring role on a popular MTV show.
ADRIAN QUINONEZ –"Diego"
Adrian is originally from Texas and has performed in theatre, television and feature films. He is also a talented dancer with skills in Ballroom, Club/Freestyle, Swing, Hip Hop, Salsa, Modern, and Disco.
His television credits include 'CSI: NY' 'Women's Murder Club,' 'Days of Our Lives," The Bold and the Beautiful," and 'Life on Top.' He is represented by Trusik Talent Management.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
The movie is before anything else the clash of two worlds, first in a literal sense, but also as an image. Bill and Angela represent these two worlds: he was raised in a traditional, conservative American family devoted to success and power; she was raised in a political environment, a mixed-race person left to herself, but immersed in culture. One represents the principal of reality and the other the principal of pleasure. While Bill always thrived for more and lost, Angela was happy with what she had and was able to find a way to remain positive and move forward. Bill feels that he is at the end of his life: he is drowning in the "tragedy he made for himself."
It's also the story of these two worlds: one full of soul, solidarity and humanity which Angela represents: she works as a volunteer in a free clinic for illegal immigrants during the day and is a waitress at night in a Central American restaurant that feeds poor people and even assists with their paperwork when they need help. She listens to world music, enjoys the flavors of Latin-American food, and of course any sexual experience is always welcome. While Bill, the international trader who made "hundreds of millions" buying and selling the futures of emerging countries (like Algeria where Angela's mother came from or Nicaragua) still seeks more.
It is the story of a world where we see violence where we see violence in all forms everywhere, in everywhere, in every piece of entertainment but where sex is hidden and taboo.
Downtown Los Angeles, where the movie takes place, also represents these two worlds. Angela lives on the terrace of a transient hotel and from there "you can see all levels of society." As she explains to Bill, "on one side you can see the skyscrapers with the most powerful banks and corporations in the world, on the next side are the middle class in their condo apartments with their big screen TV's, and the last side has the poorest people."
Angela teaches Bill about world politics and new philosophy of life. She makes him realize that the way he lived his life was maybe not the right one; that perhaps he didn't fully understand what life was about and that he'd spent too much time living in the future when the only thing that we have is "now"… not "later." She will teach him through sex and other worldly pleasures that the source of life is "in the body not in the mind"… she will bring him back to life.
The film is about translating these two philosophies into images and sounds. Making sex and all of its components (erection, ejaculation, masturbation, as well as any and all forms of sexual pleasures) as natural as eating food, listening to music or simply enjoying life. Angela will teach Bill not only how to enjoy sexual pleasure but also how to be comfortable with nudity and his own body. As an activist, I am trying to bring back sex in entertainment as a natural part of life as much as politics and philosophy. It is a film in which we reverse the usual way to depict sex and violence. Here we show the sex and only talk about the violence. As Wilhelm Reich says: a sexually repressed society will resort to violence.
The film is seen through the eyes of the characters. We are discovering downtown Los Angeles and Angela through the eyes of Bill; we are seeing Bill's redemption through the eyes of Angela. The camera always stays at the level of the characters without trying to make some "cinema" where we are dealing with matters of life. The images and sounds of the city play a major part and collide with the room where Angela lives and where Bill will find refuge. The city is cold and aggressive and her room is warm, colorful and therefore peaceful.
Philosophers and sociologists should have something to say about this film. I studied philosophy for many years at La Sorbonne in Paris and NOW & LATER is in part inspired by the work of Wilhelm Reich and a reflection on the war in which America found itself embroiled.
Specifically Reich's work on sexuality and politics explained that, in societies where natural sexual impulses or instincts are repressed, there is more violence. He analyzes various societies to show that a sexless society lives in violence, most famously Nazi Germany. At an individual level, Reich showed that sexual instincts start at a very early age and to repress these instincts will cause frustration. This in turn will transform frustration to inhibitions and violence. It is interesting to note that the United States is probably the only country in the world where teens go to school with guns and shoot their friends.
More generally Freud explained that people and society live based on two different principals: pleasure and reality. A child begins his life based on pleasure but the difficulties of living in a society immersed in repressive cultures will force him to switch to a different reality: a reality that requires him to compromise and repress his natural instinct.
Does this then mean that US culture is more geared towards reality than pleasure? Definitely. We should remember that in many primitive and even some very advanced societies – like the Greeks – sex was something social, enjoyable and with very few limitations. It was part of life and accepted by all. Consenting teenagers had sex with adults of both sexes and such acts included a sophisticated courtship system. The Judeo-Christian monopoly on religion and culture changed all that.
The idea for this film began when I first moved here: I was shocked to see that while everything about sex is banned in the media and more generally in American entertainment should I say culture? everything about violence, even extreme violence, is available for everybody to see 24/7. Why is it that something that is natural and life creating is never portrayed – at least realistically – in film and television? And how can we accept that serial killers, bloodthirsty monsters, angry aliens and leading men wielding big guns are widely accepted instead?
I understand that parents who are raising children want to protect them from "bad images" that could somehow damage them. If I had the choice between showing my kids sex or violence, I would definitely chose sex, which I'd hope they practice with a lot more vigor than violence.
I was raised in Europe where sensuality and sex are much more accepted in life and our entertainment. In my doctoral studies at Sorbonne, I was intrigued by Reichian principles which I have applied cinematically to sexual repression as leading to violence. Sexuality in cinema has mostly originated from Europe or elsewhere in the world and has historically challenged the Production Code or the MPAA. any of these films pushed open the way for others to follow: Bertolucci with "Last Tango in Paris", "Sheltering Sky" etc., Chereau who introduced male frontal nudity and homosexuality in high quality films, Ferreri who studied the source of human perversions: "La Grande Bouffe", "Tales of Ordinary Madness" etc., Oshima "In the Realm of the Senses," etc., to the more recent "Humanity" by Dumont, "9 Songs" by Winterbottom to the less interesting "Baise Moi" by Despentes or "The Story of O" and the "Emmanuelle" series. All of these are films that are produced from outside American borders.
Even if "all characters are purely fictional," they are based on real people that I met and real situations I had the chance to experience. The world is full of Bills and Angela's, I wish every Bill to meet his Angela. The film is, before anything else, their story.
Philippe Diaz, Los Angeles 2011
SYNOPSIS
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Sex, politics and American culture are mixed into a combustible combination in Now & Later. Angela (Shari Solanis) is an illegal Latina immigrant living in Los Angeles who stumbles across Bill (James Wortham), a disgraced banker on the run. She takes him in. Through passionate sex, soul-searching conversations ranging from politics to philosophy, and other worldly pleasures, Angela introduces Bill to another worldview. As their affair heats up, the course of Bill's life begins to take an abrupt and unexpected turn.
The film was conceived by the director in reaction to American's penchant for violence in our culture and our puritanical censoring of anything involving sex. Familiar with philosopher Wilhelm Reich's notion that a sexually repressed society turns into a violent one, Diaz makes an unabashedly sexual yet cerebral film that challenges the perception that sex in media is harmful.
LONG SYNOPSIS:
Bill was a golden boy of the banking industry. Living the good life in Los Angeles, he had a nice house, a good job, and a loving wife. Then he got greedy, lost everything, and was sentenced to an eight-year prison term. Instead of giving up his freedom, he jumps bail. While in hiding, his former driver Luis finds him and offers to get him out of the country. But Bill must hole up for a few days more before the truck will leave. Luis brings Bill to Eddie's, a cheap Central American dive in downtown LA. There, Bill meets Angela, a free spirited Latina.
Bill has been on the run for weeks; he's depressed and suicidal. Angela offers to take him in when she discovers he has nowhere to go.
Bill had always succeeded when he focused on the future, but finds himself at loose ends with the present. He was always concerned with the next big sale, buying a bigger house, a bigger car. He never learned to stop and enjoy the moment. His ambition and his desire for more power and money is what led him to overextending his reach at the bank and ultimately to a prison sentence.
Angela, on the other hand, lives in the now. She doesn't worry about tomorrow – she'll deal with that when it happens. She believes in living life to the fullest and experiencing everything as deeply and as fully as possible.
In her apartment, a "living scrapbook," Angela exposes Bill to a whole new way of thinking. She explains how his actions at the bank – as well as those of his government – have far reaching consequences for other people in the world, something he'd never considered. She begins to show him how to live in the now and to really feel things, not just breeze through life focused on what will happen in the future.
Angela points out to Bill that his problems were caused by the American way of life and American culture. For Angela, who migrated to the States from Nicaragua, a country that had been devastated by civil war, everything she has or was given is deeply appreciated. As a child, she had very little: the Contras had killed her parents and her grandmother raised her. For Angela, the American way of life – always running, running after more money to buy more things and paying more bills – seemed so disconnected from living. She tells Bill that, "rather than enjoying what you had, you killed yourself for the future."
For Angela, sex is another way to live in the now. Bill, raised in a traditional family where desires were hidden, had sex with his wife once a week. Angela, on the other hand, believes there is no reason not to find pleasure wherever she can. She wants to enjoy life as much as possible, and finds the greatest physical joy in life is through uninhibited sex. She pushes Bill's sexual boundaries to open his mind to new experiences, and to focus on the now, not the future.
When her lover, Diego, returns unexpectedly from a trip, he interrupts Angela and Bill's nascent love story.
Through Angela, Bill is forced to look at his mindset and his old way of life. He comes to terms with the excess of his American lifestyle and makes the connection between wealth and global policies. After confronting his ex-wife, and strengthened through Angela's generous spirit, he is able to leave his country and find a new life.
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