RODNEY EVANS – WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Critical Acclaim for THE HAPPY SAD
“Director Rodney Evans gets wonderful performances from an impressive young cast.”
-Kevin Thomas, San Francisco Examiner
“Sexy and soapy, this modern-day romance about sexually adventurous couples mixing things up is a gem. Director Rodney Evans maneuvers us through the spiced-up interminglings of two attractive New York couples -- one gay, the other ostensibly straight. The result is a resonant adult drama that explores our sexual desires with candor, insight and, of course, melodrama.”
-Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News
“A tantalizing picture of some contemporary conundrums….Carradine, the daughter of Keith Carradine, makes an especially strong impression. McClain and Barnett give adroit performances, and Scoggins, who also wrote and performs several songs in the movie, has unmistakable rapport with McClain.”
-Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter
“While you might think THE HAPPY SAD will turn out to be just another in a long line of films where a straight person has a same-sex affair, then decides its not for them, leaving a queer lover in the lurch, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. At its heart, it’s a film about the politics of open relationships and the sociality of bisexuality.”
-Diane Anderson-Minshall, The Advocate
“Round and round it all goes, with dizzying speed and invention. You’d feel like telling these kids to snap out of it if the film didn’t give you such narrative vertigo, but that’s half the fun….The cast is so game, and so adorable, you want to follow them wherever they might be going.”
-The Edge-San Francisco, Kilian Melloy
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Critical Acclaim for BROTHER TO BROTHER
“Breathtaking….a fascinating and absorbing tale…heralds the emergence of an exciting new voice in filmmaking”
-Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
“A captivating drama….Tremendously accomplished filmmaking by writer/director Rodney Evans”
-David Germain, The Associated Press
“The story Evans tells of the spiritual link between a contemporary black gay New York artist and the trailblazers of the 1930’s Harlem Renaissance is an excitingly ambitious one, conveyed with guileless passion of purpose”
-Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
“Haunting…a film of great beauty and conscience”
-Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
“BROTHER TO BROTHER brings depth and intelligence to black politics and sexuality”
“Excellent…a gifted cast brings to vibrant, sexy life the likes of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin and Eldridge Cleaver, and in the process conjures the neatest hat trick of all — making the loves and woes of the past resonate with those of the present.”
“Heartfelt. Filled with ideas and nice acting, especially from Mackie and Robinson”
“Mackie and Robinson are superb actors….has the quiet urgency of a story that must be told. ”
-Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer