the Eyes of Scott Robbins

June 7, 2007 - "Eyes" Screening Raises Over $1000 for Cancer Charity!

Minneapolis, MN - Our June 7th benefit screening was a total success! We raised $1060 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. The crowd was great, the response was great, and a theater full of people left knowing they helped do something to fight this terrible disease.
Thanks to all the Minnesotans that came out to the movies thursday night!

June 7, 2007 - Citypages Review!

THE EYES OF SCOTT ROBBINS
Review by John Behling
This mock-documentary about a television producer who turns the camera on himself in order to capture his fatal struggle with pancreatic cancer often plays like a learning Channel miniseries. Scott Robbins (Kenneth Alan Williams) is asked by a former teacher to capture a day in his life on camera. Soon after, Robbins is diagnosed with cancer, and he decides to turn the project into a journal of his struggle, attaching a camera to a pair of glasses and documenting everything from surgery and treatment to emotional discussions with loved ones. Filmmaker Jason Smith (a native Minnesotan) goes to great lengths to balance the warmth of a personal story with the attention to detail of a medical training video. As Robbins faces an endless parade of terminology and technology, he self-medicates with upbeat, reassuring narration, an attempt both to demystify and depersonalize his disease. However, when Smith switches lenses from the up close but slightly impersonal medical descriptions to the close-up and inescapably personal moments between Robbins and family, the film is on slightly shakier ground. Heartfelt - and heart-wrenching - though they may be, the scenes between Robbins and family don't have the same strength as the grating moments spent with nurses and CT-scans. Even so, the film is successful in providing a look at a disease that carries a mortality rate of almost 99 percent. Smith and other members of the production crew will appear in person at the screening, proceeds from which will benefit PanCAN, a.k.a. the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
-John Behling, Citypages

June 6, 2007 - St. Paul Pioneer Press

FILM FOCUSES ON PANCREATIC CANCER
"The Eyes of Scott Robbins" tells the story of a documentary producer who is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given six months to live. Kenneth Alan Williams ("ER," "Will & Grace") plays Robbins, a Los Angeles-based film producer who turns the cameras on himself to describe what it is like to undergo cancer treatment. Director Jason Smith spent five years interviewing more than 60 pancreatic cancer patients, survivors, doctors, caregivers and family members for this "fakeumentary," which was shot at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. Actors filmed alongside real-life patients. Doctors and nurses became part of the film. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The premiere screening and benefit will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Riverview Theater in Minneapolis. Profits from the screening will benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
For more information, got to www.eyesofscottrobbins.com.
-Rhoda Fukushima

June 5, 2007 - Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

LA Filmmaker with MN Roots Premieres Thursday Night
Minnesota bred and now Los Angeles living filmmaker Jason Smith premieres his latest feature film, The Eyes of Scott Robbins, this Thursday, June 7 at the Riverview Theater. With a crew and cast dominated by Minnesotans and Midwesterners, Smith stays true to his roots in this emotionally honest film about a fictionalized LA television producer who uses a lipstick camera attached to his glasses to document his battle with pancreatic cancer.
Smith does not skirt cancers harsh realities... and with a POV that comes from the victim, theres plenty of front-row shots... but his unique, playful tone navigates the darkness sublimely. Take for instance an absurd, Braveheartesque battle scene reenactment that explains the process of chemotherapy. Or a documentary within the film about a submarine torpedo which successfully spoofs the History Channels stoic, reverential tone. Smith’s ability to deftly shift tone from the dramatic to the comedic in a film haunted by impending death is both inspiring and captivating.
Equally impressive is the fact that the cast and crew worked for free so that every cent of the film could go toward cancer research. One hundred percent of Thursdays $10 ticket goes toward PanCAN, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, an organization dedicated to cancer research and education. Smith is clearly of a different ilk.
-David Andersons "LA Log," Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. For the full article, visit David Anderson's LA Log.

June 1, 2007 - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

A MOVIE ON A MISSION
Cynics would tell you that a cure for cancer is a pie-in-the-sky-fantasy. The same cynics might tell you it's an even bigger fantasy to think that a filmmaker could talk everyone into working for free so that every penny his movie earns could go to cancer research. Cynics, meet JASON SMITH, whose drama "The Eyes of Scott Robbins" will be screened Thursday to raise money for studying pancreatic cancer. A Minnesota native who lost family members to cancer, Smith staged the movie as a mock documentary. Robbins (played by KENNETH ALAN WILLIAMS) is a documentarian. When he learns he has six months to live, he decides to film everything that heppens, from medical treatments to farewels to his family. The film will be shown at the Riverview Theatre in Minneapolis (7 p.m. Thu., $10) followed by a Q&A with Smith.
-Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

May 25, 2007 - Another Great Review!

"When Real Gets Serious"
Review by Harvest Henderson
By now, the mock-doc genre has been happily absorbed into the menu of American film, largely due to the efforts of mockumentarian Christopher Guest, whose steady stream of movies (among them Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman) has shown us just how captivating it can be when real life is fictionalized and presented as, well, real life.
Now, emerging director Jason Smith has turned the lens of the mock-doc format toward the serious subject of cancer, with The Eyes of Scott Robbins. The movie follows the title character, a thirty-something television documentary producer who transforms a cancer diagnosis into a film project in a unique attempt to process what is happening to his body- and to his life.
Kenneth Alan Williams (Will & Grace, ER) delivers a strong performance as Robbins, running the gamut of emotions with a refreshing subtlety and a transparent, nimble grace.
Through his eyes-- literally, through the tiny video camera adhered to his glasses-- we watch as Robbins tackles the learning curve of a cancer diagnosis, reveals his illness to his sister and parents, battles through radiation and chemo, and builds and surrenders relationships along the way.
Smith, whose past projects include the coming-of-age feature film Wish You Were Here (1999) and the clever, hidden-camera, comedic short Steve Saves L.A. (2004), has crafted a first-person expedition into the healing powers of observation, filled with startling doses of humor, humanity, love and loss.
-Harvest Henderson is a writer and artist in Portland, Oregon. She has written for the Portland Oregonian.

May 17, 2007 - A Great Review from the Great State of Texas!

The Eyes of Scott Robbins
Review by Tim Smith, KRGV-TV
I always worry when a movie star goes against the grain to do a film which is out of his or her normal realm. Like a comedian going serious (Steve Martin, Jim Carrey) or an action star going funny (Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger), it is a risk some simply should not take. Filmmaker Jason Smith takes that risk by making a serious picture with The Eyes of Scott Robbins. Smith's previous films, Steve Saves LA and Wish You Were Here were often laugh-out-loud funny and always action packed. Serious? Hardly. The Eyes of Scott Robbins goes about far in the other creative direction as a film can go. "Eyes" chronicles a television producer's battle with pancreatic cancer. When Scott Robbins (Kenneth Alan Williams) discovers he has the fatal disease, he agrees to wear a tiny video camera mounted on his glasses to document his final days for a final documentary. We see through the eyes of Scott Robbins as he tells his family and friends of his diagnosis. We share their reactions, their tears, their sorrow. When Robbins goes through Chemotherapy, I swear I feel the needles enter my arm. When he gets angry with life - and death - I feel my blood boil too. Portraying a cancer victim in a way which elicits more than profound sympathy is a monumental challenge. The sympathy is the easy part. Smith gets us to feel the energy Robbins has at the beginning, and that he loses at the end. We understand how the family feels and we understand how the friends feel. I think we come very close to feeling how Robbins himself feels. This film works. It is a must-see for families of people suffering from pancreatic cancer. From the medieval fight scene which helps us understand the battle going on in the body, to the dandelion seeds floating in the wind portraying the spread of cancer, Smith's unique and innovative approach to telling a difficult story takes aim at a very small mark, and hits it perfectly.
The Eyes of Scott Robbins is a landmark film and certainly takes filmmaker Jason Smith in a new direction. It's a direction Smith is capable of going and we can only hope he'll continue to stray to give us another brilliant film soon. For two hours, I couldn't take my eyes off of The Eyes of Scott Robbins. Steve Martin did it with Lonely Guy and others, Jim Carrey with The Truman Show and The Majestic to name a couple, and now Jason Smith has done it with The Eyes of Scott Robbins. See this film today.

MINNESOTA SCREENING JUNE 7TH!

THE EYES OF SCOTT ROBBINS will be screening in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday, June 7. Proceeds from the screening will go to PanCAN (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network), an organization dedicated to helping patients and families devastated by Pancreatic Cancer.
Admission is $10. A discussion will follow including filmmaker Jason Smith, Associate Producer David Ulrich and actors from the film.

Location: Riverview Theater

3800 42nd Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN 55406

When: Thursday, June 7, 7:00pm - One night only!

Admission: $10 at the door.

Check back here for updates!

May 11, 2007 - The Reviews Are In!

The Eyes of Scott Robbins Review by Rick Dominicus
The story itself is simple: Scott Robbins has pancreatic cancer. He has a short time to live. But with that time he will do something unique. Scott, a documentary filmmaker by trade, will chronicle his treatment the best way he knows how: with a camera, through his own eyes.
A self-professed "fakeumentary," Jason Smith's The Eyes of Scott Robbins is an all at once moving, funny, and realistic look a the trials of dealing with cancer. Given unprecedented access to actual cancer treatment facilities and its medical staff, Smith traces Scott's (Kenneth Alan Williams) path from diagnosis to chemotherapy with great accuracy and attention to detail. This, however, is not a boring lecture. Utilizing his experience in the reality television genre, Smith disseminates complicated medical jargon in easily digestible, and often humorous, ways. The best such example is visualizing the effects of chemotherapy through a Braveheart-esque battle, replete with kilted warriors clashing in an open field. Primarily, however, the film is shown, as the title suggest, through Scott's eyes. Much of the footage was captured through a camera mounted to Scott’s glasses. The technique can be a bit dizzying at times, but overall is quite effective.
This documentary/reality style also provides some of Eyes most dramatic moments, lending greater effect where a more conventional approach might have proven stale. This is particularly evident when Scott endures the aftereffects of chemotherapy. The audience is literally able to see Scott's deterioration as he does. His reflection becomes our own, and we stagger, shed weight, and fall, oft times heavily, with him.
Technique, however, is nothing without performance. Williams' turn as Scott showcases a range not many actors can claim. Countless actors have lost weight or otherwise transformed themselves physically for a role. Williams is no different, but he does not rely solely on that to get by. He manages to exude his character's zest for life throughout the film, later eking it out from behind his thinning frame, holding onto hope as the cancer threatens to overtake him. This and his candid nature turn Scott into your best friend, almost without you knowing, making his suffering that much harder to bear.
Williams' performance is buoyed a diverse and talented supporting cast. Though at times they feel a bit underwritten, both Kevin Chesley and Kirsten Gronfield make fine use of the material they're given. Chesley, who is primarily known for his comedic work, is given an opportunity to flex his dramatic muscles in what proves to be one of the film's most somber and sobering scenes. The highlight of the group, however, is Heather Chesley, who plays Scott's sister, Jean. She, like Kenneth, radiates a quiet strength throughout, despite the obvious strain and increasing difficulty in caring for her ailing brother. Heather's Jean too, at points, looks as if she is becoming as hollow inside as Scott is outside, providing a credible parallel as we take the journey with them. She and Kenneth make convincing siblings as well, showcasing that special, private bond and inside history that real brothers and sisters truly share.
The story, at its core, is a simple one, but how it is told is what makes it rise above. Bolstered by realism, humor, and the conviction of its cast, The Eyes of Scott Robbins is a potent look at a disease that befalls thousands every year. Appropriately, the film inspires hope, hope beyond the sickness, and it does so without being heavy-handed. That alone makes it stand heads above its contemporaries.

-Rick Dominicus lives in Los Angeles and pens reviews for DVD ANGLE.