Julia
Film poster
Directed by	Erick Zonca
Produced by	Bertrand Faivre François Marquis
Written by	Michael Collins Camille Natta (adaptation) Erick Zonca (writer) Aude Py (co-writer)
Starring	Tilda Swinton Aidan Gould Saul Rubinek Kate del Castillo
Music by	Pollard Berrier Darius Keeler
Cinematography	Yorick Le Saux
Editing by	Philippe Kotlarski
Distributed by	Studio Canal (France) Magnolia Pictures (US)
Release date(s)	March 12, 2008 (France) May 8, 2009 (US, limited)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	France
Language	English Spanish
Budget	$6,000,000 (estimated)[1]
Gross revenue	$1,327,897 (worldwide)[2]

Julia is a 2008 crime drama film, directed by Erick Zonca, starring Tilda Swinton. It was shot in California and Mexico. The film was inspired by the John Cassavetes film Gloria.^[3]

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast 3 Reception 4 Release 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

In California, an alcoholic woman named Julia (Tilda Swinton) is out of control, partying every evening, and waking up in unknown homes with no memory of the previous night. Due to her reckless demeanour, she loses her job and begins losing money. She soon meets a mother Elena (Kate del Castillo) at an AA meeting. Elena takes Julia into her apartment after she finds her passed out on the pavement one night. The following morning Elena explains that she wants to kidnap her son Tom (Aidan Gould) from his wealthy grandfather and asks Julia to participate for $50,000. Julia declines the idea, though after some time she decides to do it for her. She visits an old friend to make her own deal and asks for his cooperation, but her offer is refused. She rides to the Mexican border, kidnaps the little boy and blackmails Elena's father in law for 2 million dollars. The police discover her whereabouts and she flees, accidentally crashing her car through the wall dividing United States and Mexico. There, the boy is kidnapped in turn by Mexican kidnappers. Her friend, Mitch (Saul Rubinek), arrives in Mexico and gives Julia the ransom money. During the exchange, the Mexican kidnappers escape with the money, leaving the boy safely with Julia. Julia returns to hand the boy over to his mother, and to face the law.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Tilda Swinton	Julia
Aidan Gould	Tom
Saul Rubinek	Mitch
Kate del Castillo	Elena
Jude Ciccolella	Nick
Bruno Bichir	Diego
Kevin Kilner	Johnny
Ezra Buzzington	George
Eugene Byrd	Leon
Horacio Garcia Rojas	Santos
John Bellucci	Phillip
Roger Cudney	Frank
Neko Parham	Ejay

[edit] Reception

The film premiered in February of 2008 Berlin Film Festival and received very positive reviews in Germany as well as in other European countries. David Gordon Smith, writing for Der Spiegel, called it "one of the most stylish movies" in the competition and referred to Tilda Swinton as an "unforgettable leading lady."^[4] Markus Zinsmaier, in Die Zeit, said the film was one of the highpoints of the festival and had high praise for Swinton.^[5] Immediately after its success in Berlin, the movie was widely distributed in Germany.^[6] The film was praised in the French press also and called a "French film with English dialogue."^[7] L'Humanité felt that the film ought to have won the competition^[8] and that Swinton should have won for best actress.^[9] The Dutch press praised the movie also. Kevin Toma of Cinema.nl called the movie "uncompromising," of "recalcitrant, dizzying beauty."^[10] Another Dutch reviewer, Constant Hoogenbosch of Moviemachine was less positive, stating the movie was too long, but in the end was saved by Swinton's powerful performance.^[11]

A few US reviewers disagreed with the generally positive European reviews. For example, Eddie Cockerell of Variety felt the scenes with Aidan Gould tied up and at gunpoint were "uncomfortably exploitive" and that Julia's redemption at the end of the film was "more convenient than emotionally earned," feeling that the film would not do well when brought to the U.S.^[3]

[edit] Release

The film made its debut February 9, 2008 at the Berlin International Film Festival, and then was released for worldwide theatrical release: March 12, 2008 in France; May 7, 2008 in Belgium; June 19, 2008 in Germany; August 10, 2008 in India; August 14, 2008 in Netherlands; August 21 in Kuwait. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States commencing April 24, 2009 and was released on DVD August 18, 2009.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Julia at the Internet Movie Database
• Julia at Rotten Tomatoes
• Julia at Metacritic
• Julia at Allmovie
• Julia at Box Office Mojo
• IONCINEMA.com Interview with Erick Zonca