''Naked Singularity'' is a 2021 American
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...
crime thriller film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
, directed by Chase Palmer in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Palmer and
David Matthews. It is based upon the 2008 novel
of the same name by
Sergio De La Pava
Sergio de la Pava (born 1970/71) is an American novelist and lawyer. He is best known for his novel '' A Naked Singularity''.
Biography
Sergio de la Pava was born and raised in New Jersey, to parents who immigrated from Colombia. He attended ...
. It stars
John Boyega
John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first rose to prominence in his native Britain for his role as Moses in the sci-fi comedy film ''Attack the Block' ...
,
Olivia Cooke
Olivia Kate Cooke (born 27 December 1993) is an English actress. In television, she has starred as Emma Decody in the thriller '' Bates Motel'' (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama ''Vanity Fair'' (2018), and Alicent Hightower in th ...
,
Bill Skarsgård
Bill Istvan Günther Skarsgård (; born 9 August 1990) is a Swedish actor, producer, director, writer, voice actor, and model. He is best known for portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the supernatural horror films '' It'' (2017) and '' It ...
,
Ed Skrein
Edward George Skrein (; born 29 March 1983) is a British actor, film director, screenwriter and rapper. He gained experience as an actor in independent films or television series. In the years that followed, he became known for portraying Daario ...
,
Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin (born October 15, 1937) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom ''Alice'' and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway.
After acting as a child, Lavin joined the C ...
, and
Tim Blake Nelson
Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright.
Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in '' Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pend ...
.
It had its world premiere at the
San Francisco International Film Festival
The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...
on April 9, 2021, and was released in a
limited release on August 6, 2021, prior to
VOD on August 13, 2021, by
Screen Media Films
Screen Media Ventures, LLC. is an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition as its exclusive nonprofit partner in launching the Spotlight Initiative. The partnership permits the p ...
.
Synopsis
"An idealistic young New York City public defender burned out by the system, on the brink of disbarment, and seeing signs of the universe collapsing all around him decides to rob a multi-million drug deal of one of his clients."
Cast
Production
In December 2018, it was announced
John Boyega
John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first rose to prominence in his native Britain for his role as Moses in the sci-fi comedy film ''Attack the Block' ...
had joined the cast of the film, with Chase Palmer directing from a screenplay he wrote alongside
David Matthews.
Ridley Scott will serve as an executive producer under his
Scott Free Productions
Scott Free Productions is an independent film and television production company founded in 1970 by filmmakers and brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. They formed the feature film development company Percy Main Productions in 1980, naming the ...
banner.
Dick Wolf
Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American film and television producer, best known for his ''Law & Order'' franchise. Since 1990, the franchise has included six police/courtroom dramas and four international spinoffs. He is al ...
will also serve as an executive producer. In April 2019,
Olivia Cooke
Olivia Kate Cooke (born 27 December 1993) is an English actress. In television, she has starred as Emma Decody in the thriller '' Bates Motel'' (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama ''Vanity Fair'' (2018), and Alicent Hightower in th ...
joined the cast of the film. In May 2019,
Ed Skrein
Edward George Skrein (; born 29 March 1983) is a British actor, film director, screenwriter and rapper. He gained experience as an actor in independent films or television series. In the years that followed, he became known for portraying Daario ...
and
Bill Skarsgård
Bill Istvan Günther Skarsgård (; born 9 August 1990) is a Swedish actor, producer, director, writer, voice actor, and model. He is best known for portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the supernatural horror films '' It'' (2017) and '' It ...
joined the cast of the film.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
began in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in May 2019.
Release
It had its world premiere at the
San Francisco International Film Festival
The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...
on April 9, 2021. In June 2021,
Screen Media Films
Screen Media Ventures, LLC. is an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition as its exclusive nonprofit partner in launching the Spotlight Initiative. The partnership permits the p ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released in a
limited release on August 6, 2021,
prior to
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
on August 13, 2021.
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 26% based on 38 reviews, and an average rating of 4.70/10. The critics' consensus reads: "''Naked Singularity'' has wild ambition and a talented lead on its side, but neither ingredient is enough to offset the film's clumsy jumble of tones and ideas". On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
References
External links
*
* {{Allmovie title
2021 films
American drama films
Films about the illegal drug trade
Films about lawyers
Films based on American novels
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Scott Free Productions films
2021 directorial debut films
Films about Mexican drug cartels
2020s English-language films
2020s American films