10 Items or Less (film)

10 Items or Less
Film poster
Directed byBrad Silberling
Written byBrad Silberling
Produced byJulie Lynn
Lori McCreary
Brad Silberling
StarringMorgan Freeman
Paz Vega
Kumar Pallana
Jonah Hill
CinematographyPhedon Papamichael Jr.
Edited byMichael Kahn
Music byAntônio Pinto
Production
companies
Distributed byTHINKFilm
Release dates
  • September 11, 2006 (2006-09-11) (TIFF)
  • December 1, 2006 (2006-12-01) (United States)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.4 million[1]

10 Items or Less is a 2006 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Brad Silberling and starring Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega. Shot in fifteen days,[2] 10 Items or Less made its release as a digital download – the first such release via the Internet – while it was still in theaters.[2]

ClickStar, founded by Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary, made the film available digitally on December 15, 2006, fourteen days after its theatrical debut. This event was highlighted by the American Film Institute in their AFI Awards 2006 "Moments of Significance".[3]

Plot

Through circumstance, two strangers—an actor preparing for an upcoming role and a cashier—drive around Los Angeles together, having a number of conversations about life and exploring the differences and similarities between their worlds.

Cast

Production

Revelation Entertainment produced the film, and Morgan Freeman served as executive producer.[4][5] The film was shot in fifteen days,[2] entirely in Carson, California and Brentwood, Los Angeles, California.[4]

Reception

Freeman and Vega presenting the film in Madrid, Spain

Box office

The film was released in only fifteen theaters, taking in $35,929 in its first weekend.[1] The total domestic box-office take was $83,291.[1] The film was more successful internationally, grossing $1,315,931 at the international box office, with $486,895 grossed in Vega's home country of Spain.[6]

Critical response

Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader, called the film "A friendly demonstration of how two actors with charisma and a relaxed writer-director (Brad Silberling) can make a nice movie for practically nothing."[7] In contrast, Desson Thomson of The Washington Postwrote the film is "a good-natured but failed experiment in meeting cute -- indie-movie style".[8][9] Robert Koehler of Variety wrote: " Interplay between a jaunty Freeman as an unemployed movie star and the magnetic Paz Vega as a no-nonsense grocery store checker gives pic humanity and lift."[4]

Critical reaction to the film was mixed, with general praise for the work of the two main actors. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film had a 63% approval rating based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The critics consensus reads: "A small film that relies too heavily on the charm of big actors."[10] On Metacritic it has a score of 54% based on reviews from 20 critics.[11]

Accolades

The film was named one of the "Top Independent Films of 2006" by the National Board of Review.[12]

Home media

The DVD was released in the U.S. on April 24, 2007.[13] It includes audio commentary by Silberling, a featurette on 'the making of', and 6 deleted scenes.

Soundtrack

Although a soundtrack was not officially released, the following songs were included in the film:[14]

  1. "Rose" – Martin Blasick
  2. "Latin Thugs" – Cypress Hill
  3. "Las Isabeles" – Mariachi Sol de Mexico
  4. "Cancion Villista" – Ixya Herrera and Xocoyotzin Herrera
  5. "Colorin Colorao" – Jesus Alejandro "El Niño"
  6. "Las Perlitas" – Mariachi Aguila Real
  7. "Con Tu Amor Y Pasion" – Sergio Cardenas
  8. "I've Got The World On A String" – Martin Blasick
  9. "La Receta" – Kemo the Blaxican (song at car wash)
  10. "It's Me Jody" – Herbert Stothart
  11. "En Este Varrio" – Delinquent Habits featuring Ozomatli
  12. "Al Pasar la Barca" – Paz Vega and Morgan Freeman
  13. "Duncan" – Paul Simon
  14. "Let The Horn Blow" – Delinquent Habits

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "10 Items or Less (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  2. ^ a b c "Morgan Freeman to release new film online two weeks after theater opening". The Mercury News. 2006-11-30. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  3. ^ "AFI Awards 2006". AFI. Archived from the original on 17 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
  4. ^ a b c Koehler, Robert (11 September 2006). "10 Items or Less". Variety.
  5. ^ Talcott, Christina (December 1, 2006). "For Morgan Freeman, the Satisfaction of a Job Well Done". The Washington Post. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  6. ^ "10 Items or Less (2006) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  7. ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (December 1, 2006). "10 Items or Less". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  8. ^ Thomson, Desson (December 1, 2006). "'10 Items or Less': Let the Buyer Beware". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  9. ^ "Dame 10 razones (2006)". FilmAffinity (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  10. ^ "10 Items or Less". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  11. ^ "10 Items or Less". Metacritic.
  12. ^ "National Board of Review 2006 Awards". National Board of Review. Archived from the original on 8 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
  13. ^ "10 Items or Less: DVD". Amazon. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  14. ^ "10 Items or Less (2006)". sweetsoundtrack.com. Retrieved November 6, 2022.