Elvis and Anabelle | |
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Directed by | Will Geiger |
Produced by | Carolyn Pfeiffer Nick Quested Gregory Collins Tom Schatz |
Screenplay by | Will Geiger |
Starring |
Blake Lively Max Minghella Joe Mantegna Mary Steenburgen Keith Carradine |
Music by | Blake Neely |
Cinematography | Conrad W. Hall |
Edited by | Sandra Adair |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | The Weinstein Company |
Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Elvis and Anabelle is an American romantic drama, directed by Will Geiger. It premiered on March 10, 2007 at the South by Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas. It also premiered on HBO in September/October 2012.
Groomed by her overly ambitious mother, Anabelle is on the road to winning the Miss Texas Rose title when she dies tragically due to an eating disorder after being crowned on stage. Her death lands her on the embalming table of Elvis Moreau, an embittered young man whose sense of family duty and love for his ailing father keep him from following his dreams. When Anabelle is miraculously resurrected on Elvis' embalming table, the two unexpectedly connect and sparks fly. With the help of each other and Elvis' father, they discover love, freedom and happiness as the real world and their own demons threaten to force them apart.
The film received a 75% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and Movieline Magazine cited is as being "A dark and dreamy slice of Southern Gothic Romance, having all the hallmarks of a cult film in the making, destined for Gen-Z status." The film was seen as a Blake Lively's "wakeup calling card to Hollywood." and Max Mingella's performance was described as having "the appropriate blend of affected cool, vulnerability and victim mentality for his angsty hero", noting that "Minghella should now be on every director's watch list."