FILM THREAT
by MARK BELL

A gem of a film that explores race relations, genetic fate and the allure of family, Neo Ned is a quality feat of filmmaking. Take a basic premise of two people falling love, add that they both met in a mental institution and then further mix it up by making one a white racist skinhead and the other an African American woman who thinks she’s channeling the soul of Hitler, and you’ve got one Hell of a film. The kind of film that could really go south quick if any aspect is lacking.
Luckily, that’s not the case. The acting is top-notch, as Jeremy Renner’s skinhead Ned is played less with the stereotypical hateful racist sneer and more with the ADHD charm of someone who joined a club just to be a part of something and doesn’t really comprehend what’s right or wrong with that choice. Only when forced to come to grips with his romantic feelings towards his supposed enemy, Gabrielle Union’s Rachael, does he finally begin to question his life. And holding up the other end of the film is Gabrielle Union’s performance. Union’s Rachael has finally let the cracks show, and when it has overwhelmed her to the point of convincing her that Hitler’s hanging out inside her body, you can’t help but feel for her. At the same time, the strength it takes for her to move forward and eventually make the ultimate decision she has to make is uncommon in a character seemingly so vulnerable.

It’s very rare that you can feel that a film has a strong directorial hand (“feel,” not “notice,” which is a BIG difference). Most times it seems like the actors are just doing their thing, whatever that is, and some guy or girl is just off camera happy that they got the lines right, or that the shot was framed a certain way. Neo Ned, however... not only are the performances stellar, even from the smaller roles like Ned’s mother played by Sally Kirkland to the psychiatrist portrayed by Cary Elwes (who proves here that he’s not just the scene-chewing goof he recently portrayed in Saw), but you feel a strong directorial voice guiding them. We’ve seen all these actors perform in the past, we know what they’ve been capable of and they all elevate their game with this one and I can only imagine that it’s due to Van Fischer’s directorial influence. In that aspect the film becomes a worthy study for film students as well as a solid film.

Neo Ned is rare in today’s independent film world in that it is a very unique take on the concept of love and family. Never boring, never pretentious, never preachy, Neo Ned could find its place alongside some of the great independent romance films of all time, if enough people are able to catch a glimpse of it.

DVD TALK - '06 Sundance / Slamdance Festival Report
by GEOFFREY KLEINMAN

The premise of Neo Ned sounds pretty fantastical - a neo nazi falls in love with a black woman who believes she's the reincarnate of Hitler. But don't let this fairly insane premise fool you, Neo Ned is really an indie romantic comedy with the kind of depth, character development and exploration you'd expect from a quality independent film. Featuring a solid cast, including Jeremy Renner as Ned and Gabrielle Union as Rachel, Neo Ned is one of the more enjoyable indie love stories I've seen in a while. Renner is simply fantastic in playing the duality of a skinhead in love with a black woman, and Union shows that she's got the chops to play much meatier roles than she's been given so far. Also of note are strong supporting performances from Sally Kirkland, Cary Elwes and Ethan Suplee who does much better playing a character with some intelligence and heart rather than the dolts he usually plays. Neo Ned succeeds because it focuses on the relationships between people and their path to self discovery and healing; it isn't a message movie about racial tolerance or bathed in political messaging, it's just a charming and heartfelt film that is definitely worth checking out.

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DAILY VARIETY
By JOHN ANDERSON

The tale of a neo-Nazi skinhead in love with a black single mother who's channeling Adolf Hitler in a psychiatric hospital, "Neo Ned" may be ludicrous on paper, but it has what fans of independent film are looking for -- atmosphere, humanity and just a dash of fantastic drama. And while swastikas and racial epithets are part and parcel of its emotional and tonal consistency, the film's abundant humor never fails to show through, which could translate into cult and sleeper hit status in the right hands.

Title character is a young man committed to a psychiatric hospital for his involvement in the murder of a black man. There, he meets another patient -- a beautiful remote young black woman who appears possessed by Hitler.Yet, a potentially disturbing set of circumstances is made not just palatable but touching, because Ned (Jeremy Renner) is so desperately alone, and Rachael (Gabrielle Union) is so smart she won't be baited by a guy she feels is more deserving of pity than hate.Despite the characterizations, the undertone of "Neo Ned" is actually one of tolerance and understanding. Rachael, who sporadically barks out orders in German, is a poignantly broken young woman with a history of being sexually abused. And Union, on the verge of major stardom ("Bring It On," the upcoming "Honeymooners") doesn't miss a beat. Ned comes from a home where his father was incarcerated much of the time and his mother (a winning cameo by Sally Kirkland) is a regular guest on Jerry Springer-style TV shows. What he wants is to belong -- and if no one else will have him, he'll take the Nazis. Renner gives a captivating performance, laying bare Ned's underlying pathos even as the character ostensibly tries to hide it.

Some auds might find it hard to sit through Ned's regular use of the N-word; that the movie is so kind to a jackbooted racist, even a half-hearted one like Ned, might rub people the wrong way, too. But director Van Fischer -- working off the Slamdance award-winning screenplay by Tim Boughn -- balances things like the guy with the pie plates.

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NY NEWSDAY
By GENE SEYMOUR

With more than 250 movies to choose from and only so many hours of a given day to absorb as many as one can, the Tribeca Film Festival teases and feeds the craps shooter living within every itinerant filmgoer. Having all the inside information in advance isn't always an assurance that you'll pick something out of the schedule that pleases, stuns, inspires or all of the above. Buy the ticket, take the plunge, shrug off the disappointment and move on.

For some, the gamble was rewarded by Jonathan Hock's "Through the Fire," a documentary about Brooklyn basketball prodigy Sebastian Telfair's decision over whether to go straight from high school to the pros. (Hint: It's not as easy as it may sound to those on the outside, even if your cousin is Knicks' star Stephon Marbury.) For still others - many others, judging from the Saturday evening crowd at Stuyvesant High School - it was Charles Dance's "Ladies In Lavender," a gauzy between-the-wars period drama buttressed by the strong performances of old pros Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Of course, with a movie like "Lavender," you're playing the percentages, especially with its blue-chop cast and tony, PBS- friendly landscapes. The true gambler finds gold in unlikely places, diving heedlessly into a selection whose premise sounds so off-the- wall and provocative that the movie may not find a distributor right away - and thus, may constitute a small, bright little discovery.

Such a film is "Neo Ned," directed by Van Fischer from a script by Tim Boughn which proves, among other things, that even independent films aren't immune to high-concept storylines. A hyperactive, swastika-brandishing skinhead (Jeremy Renner) meets an African-American single mom (Gabrielle Union) in a psychiatric clinic. He's serving time for accessory to murder, while she blurts out German phrases, claiming to host the soul of Adolf Hitler. Needless to say, they fall in love. "Neo Ned" may not be the most graceful or fluffiest of romantic comedies. But its edge, grit and risk broaden the paradigm of screen romance - and, for that matter, possibilities for movies everywhere.

"Neo Ned" is scheduled for a couple more Tribeca screenings this week. You should check out the festival's Web site at www.tribecafilmfestival.org. And if you're really looking for cross- cultural and aesthetic adventure, you should seek out William Greaves' "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take Two and a Half," a sequel to Greaves' 1968 multi-linear experiment in performance and narrative that's every bit as Pirandellian and affecting as the original. "Excavating Taylor Mead," a portrait of the octogenarian, still- outrageous underground actor-cult hero, offers, as does Greaves' film, a window on hipness that stays fresh despite the passage of time.

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