The power dynamics and sexual hunger of men in prison was the primary subject of Jean Genet, the great French novelist and playwright. Genet wrote from his own experience; he was a thief and had done time in prison. One can give no greater compliment to writer/director Brett C. Leonard’s debut feature than to say that it bears comparison to Genet’s “Green Eyes” and “Our Lady of the Flowers.” Virtually a two-hander for the compelling actors Michael Pitt and Stephen Adly Guirgis, “Jailbait” is intensely claustrophobic experience. Pitt plays Randy, who’s barely more than a teenager when he finds that thanks to a three-strikes-and-you’re-out law, he’s behind bars for 25 years. Randy’s androgynous beauty makes him a target of jailhouse rapists. His cellmate, Jake (Guirgis), offers him protection. But Jake, who’s doing life for murdering his wife, has an agenda of his own. Soon, he and Randy are locked in a power struggle that takes several unexpected turns. Pitt, a gifted young actor who recently starred in Bertolucci’s THE DREAMERS is very moving, but the surprise is Guirgis, a playwright with the LAByrinth Theater, who gives a performance that’s subtle, creepy, and terrifying all at once. (Amy Taubin)

Grand Jury Prize – Lake Placid Film Festival

Director/Writer: Brett C. Leonard
Producers: Dan O’Meara, Brett C. Leonard, Rene Bastian, Linda Moran, Corbin Day

Linda Moran
PRODUCER

Linda Moran is the co-producer of Michael Cuesta’s award-winning L.I.E., which appeared at both the Sundance and High Falls Film Festival in 2001. She is a partner in Belladonna Productions, which produced JAILBAIT