Reviews

"Choose Connor" won the Jury Award for Best American Independent at the 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival, and has screened in competition at numerous other festivals, including the CineVegas, Rome, Woodstock, Outfest, Omaha, Byron Bay, New Filmmakers, Method Fest and Newport Beach Film Festivals. It was named one of the the best undistributed films of 2007 by the New York Press. In addition, here is some positive notice the film has received:

"Luke Eberl's "Choose Connor" is a real stunner, an unusual coming-of-age story that packs a wallop in unexpected ways. It is all the more remarkable because writer-director-editor and co-producer Eberl was only 20 when he made it.

Eberl has both a dryly cynical grasp of how the world of politics can work and a gift for complex characterization coupled with an ability to draw from actors spot-on portrayals of much range and depth. He can suddenly unleash a jolting fear yet not let his film lapse into a standard suspense thriller; he is skilled at the visual as well as the verbal, a filmmaker of formidable powers of persuasion.

After a prologue that is daringly disturbing, Eberl cuts to a middle-school graduation where U.S. Senate candidate Lawrence Connor (Steven Weber) gives a speech and presents 15-year-old Owen (Alex Linz) with an award -- and ends up recruiting the admiring Owen as the spokesman for his youth campaign. Owen is a brainy but innocent idealist bedazzled by a glib politician who sees himself heroically walking a tightrope between high principle and necessary compromise.

That Owen learns politics can be a dirty business -- and hidden within that world much darker secrets -- is not all that shocking, but what makes "Choose Connor" so special and unsettling is the consistent adroitness and perfect timing with which Eberl makes his revelations. As equally impressive as Weber in the role of Connor is Escher Holloway as his troubled adopted nephew, a talented artist of dark visions."
–The Los Angeles Times

"Draws you in by creeping you out ... What makes the journey compelling is the relaxed chemistry between the young actors and an insistently apprehensive tone that pervades even the most prosaic exchanges ... The filmmaker's choices - long, easy takes instead of jumpy camerawork, spare background music instead of a mood-pop soundtrack - smoothly evoke a world of backslapping cronyism. Here business and politics share more than financial interests, and idealism and innocence rarely go unpunished."
–The New York Times

"A Brilliantly devised political thriller."
–Movie Maker Magazine

"Strong thesping and solid mise-en-scene."
–Variety

"For politics what "Wall Street" did for capitalism. It shows us with subtlety and finesse how the people in power, blinded by the spotlight, begin to lose sight of the people they're supposed to serve."
–Las Vegas Weekly

"This excellent independent film exposes the corrupt politicians that support American capitalism, and simultaneously rails at the white-collar Americans who support them ... This film compares favorably with much bigger pictures with similar themes, such as Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney."
–Political Affairs Magazine

"The performances and the writing were in perfect synch and created a provocative and timely (and timeless) examination of politics."
–Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer

"There is nothing more thrilling than seeing a young director ascend to the ranks of the majors. Twenty-one year old Luke Eberl, the writer/director of CHOOSE CONNOR has successfully launched himself as a serious filmmaker. Writer/director Luke Eberl makes some extremely wise choices, fleshing out the demons while blanketing them with so much outward respectability that they may never be exposed. Owen Norris, as the spokesman for youth becomes a suburban celebrity. His likeness is on posters; he's in television ads. His parents feel the afterglow of their son's new found recognition. Owen does his job so well that the campaign starts to swing in Connor's direction. By the end of the film he has opened Pandora's box. The storyline is both original and unnerving. Steven Weber, a fine actor who is always remembered for his starring role on "Wings", rises to the political heights, making Larry Connor both charming and menacing. In the scenes where he allows us to glimpse his weaknesses, his loneliness, his inability to genuinely connect with his constituents, he almost makes us feel sorry for him. Escher Holloway as Caleb has the right amount of sexual intensity, innocence lost, and friendship found."
–Jetsetters Magazine

"Choose Connor is Alex Linz's first real chance to show the world what he has as an actor, and Linz nails his role... Eberl's voice could become a vital new one for cinema... he is definitely a name to keep an eye on."
–The Film Lot

"It's really pretty startling that a work of such insight and maturity was written and directed by Luke Eberl who isn't even 21 years old. "Choose Connor" has much going on both on the surface and under and Eberl's a confident director who allows both areas to grow and breathe on their own. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's an overall feeling of creepiness to the whole film. As things play out on screen, they do become downright creepy, but way before that there's a sense that at any minute, the phony congressman Connor could snap…or fall apart. I was impressed with the tone of the entire film and Eberl deserves kudos for that. Excellent directing coupled with a smart script and solid acting make "Choose Connor" a movie worth your time."
–Film Threat

"Eberl's smart, concise script and steady direction are propped up by a slew of star-making performances, most notably Linz and Holloway. Linz is the perfect nerd with ambition, a kind of mini-Bill Gates of the political world, shouldering the burden of being a kid at the center of an adult film about an adult world with an almost eerie ease. Holloway is nothing short of a revelation, conveying the twisted innards of a disturbed individual with an adroit sense of timing. He doesn't lose his cool so much as he loses his cool facade and replaces it with one just enough above room temperature to make him sweat. It's this bottled-up boil that makes Choose Connor so compelling -- it's as controlled as a nuclear test site."
–Las Vegas City Life

"A level of insight that rivals the great political drama writing of TV's "The West Wing" and Robert Altman's Secret Honor. This is a slow-burn political thriller of great complexity that not only rings true to life but also packs one hell of a surprising punch."
–Michael Lerman, Philadelphia Film Festival