Spread

Los Angeles is often the customary site for mythmaking in the American cultural iconography. It is a place, for instance, where the legend of the sexual exploits of the male gigolo seems perfectly at home in the decadent universe of Hollywood dreams and nightmares. Surely inspired by the classic tradition of American Gigolo and Shampoo, Spread is such a perfectly tuned, contemporary depiction of the trials and tribulations of sleeping your way to wealth and success that, guilty pleasure or not, it’s irresistible. Especially so since it’s driven by the iconic persona of Ashton Kutcher, who plays Nikki and breathes the charged sexuality, fashion and hipness, and sense of entitlement of the sexual grifter as if he were born to it. Stylishly directed by David MacKenzie (Hallam Foe, Young Adam), Spread is a moral tale in a very-modern sense with its characters of a young man and his middle-aged, well-to-do client (played by Anne Heche), his various associates and conquests, and a waitress whom he begins to really care about (unbeknownst to him, she is playing the same game). The world of money, sex, and privilege is an ephemeral one, and the fall can be as sudden as the ascent. Spread is a finely crafted vision of ambition, indulgence, vanity, and self-realization that epitomizes the lifestyle of a fabled Mecca.
CAST
Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, Margarita Levieva, Rachel Blanchard, Sebastian Stan, Sonia Rockwell

David Mackenzie - Born and raised in Scotland, David Mackenzie started his film career making short films, including California Sunshine, Somersault, and Marcie's Dowry, which won the Audience Award at the Brest European Short Film Festival. His first feature film was The Last Great Wilderness (2002), but it was his second feature, Young Adam, that gained him international attention. It won the award for the best new British feature at the 2003 Edinburgh International Film Festival, and he was named British Newcomer of the Year at the 2004 London Critics Circle Film Awards. His other films are Asylum (2005) and Hallam Foe (2007).

Screenings:

Sat. Jan 17 9:15 p.m. - SPREA17CN Eccles Theatre, Park City
Sun. Jan 18 9:15 a.m. - SPREA18CM Eccles Theatre, Park City
Thu. Jan 22 9:00 p.m. - SPREA22WN Tower Theatre, SLC