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Attleboro filmmaker ready for big debut



Attleboro School Committeeman and independent filmmaker Frank D’Agostino directs actress Marilyn Chambers in a scene in his new movie “Solitaire.” The movie, filmed last summer, debuts June 14 at the Columbus Theatre in Providence. (Staff photo by Martin Gavin)




For Frank D'Agostino, movie buff, filmmaker and member of the Attleboro School Committee, there's never been an opening night bigger than this.

On June 14, D'Agostino premieres his first full-blown feature, "Solitaire," at the Columbus Theatre in Providence. The film, which stars former adult film star Marilyn Chambers and an ensemble cast, is a quirky, coming-of-age story about a group of teenage boys for whom adolescence is a platform for crime.

Doors will open at 6 p.m.

Chambers, who plays a Pawtucket police officer, is on to the gang and keeps the pressure on the film's hero, played by college student Nick Jandl, to turn his life around.

D'Agostino, who directed as Victor Franko, conceived the film more than 10 years ago and co-produced it with Rand Alan Sabatini and Vin Fraioli.
The part-time movie director, whose profession is medical equipment sales, said the wait was worth it.

"The premiere has allowed me to reconnect with a lot of people I haven't talked to in awhile," said D'Agostino, who added that word-of-mouth concerning the project is building.

The premiere will be accompanied by a trailer of a poitnant documentary about the Station nightclub fire filmed by Christian de Rezendes, the cinematographer and editor who worked on "Solitaire."

Filmed mostly in the Pawtucket area, Solitaire revolves around a quartet of rootless teens who split time between hanging out in local video stores and robbing them - mostly for copies of the James Cameron film ,"Titanic."

As frequently happens in teen crime dramas, the guys get in much deeper than they planned.

Jandl plays Richie, a bored video store clerk, who along with fellow actors Kenny Harris, Alex Fraoli and James Margelony, fall in with shadowy "Morris" -played Fagin-like by ex-midget wrestler Short Sleeve Sampson, who serves as the mastermind who directs the boys to commit a series of break-ins.

Juliana Fraioli plays Richie's love interest, Ruby, who happens to be a clerk at a rival video store.

Chambers, now the mother of a teenage daughter and well beyond her heyday as the prodigal seductress in "Behind the Green Door," plays it all professionally as a uniformed cop who is on to Richie and his pals. But in the end she gives him just enough wiggle room to allow him to evolve beyond a life of petty crime.

Filmed entirely in black and white, "Solitaire" features locations that include local warehouses and stores and the legendary Morris Novelty Company, which serves as a backdrop for the boys' plotting.

D'Agostino, who studied film production at Rhode Island College, has produced three previous films, including two horror-related projects and a documentary on the Catholic Church.
RICK FOSTER can be reached at 508-236-0360 or at rfoster@thesunchronicle.com.

 


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