The Grand Illusion

A new restoration of one of the great cult classics of the 1980s, starring character actors Kevin J O’Conner and Harris Yulin, with a supporting cast featuring real-life music legends Tom Waits, Leon Redbone, Joe Strummer, Dr. John, David Johansen and more. CANDY MOUNTAIN combines the keen eye of legendary photographer Robert Frank with novelist/screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer’s mythic American prose to produce the quintessential road movie.

New York City, 1980s. A struggling, deadbeat musician named Julius has fallen on hard times. With no guitar, band or paying gigs, he cooks up a get-rich-quick scheme – to find the legendary, yet elusive guitar-maker Elmore Silk. Considered one of the greatest luthiers in the business, Silk’s disappearance from the scene has only made his work more coveted by musicians and executives looking to make a buck off his name. Julius agrees to track the man down and sets out on the road. Meant to be a simple journey upstate, Julius stumbles down a long, winding road full of dead-ends and wrong turns towards an eventual revelatory conclusion in the Canadian wilderness.

“Ambling along like a wry, laid-back Heart of Darkness, this likable and touching film makes good use of Frank’s remarkable photographic eye and Wurlitzer’s witty, acerbic, and quasi-mystical handling of myth that has served him well in his novels.” Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

“Watching Candy Mountain, we’re lulled into a mood of uncertain but pleasurable anticipation. It’s the kind of sensation that comes from not quite knowing where you are, or where you’ll wind up next, like driving through unfamiliar territory without a map. This isn’t an experience that we encounter much at the movies these days, and that’s not meant as a criticism; it’s high praise.” Hal Hinson, Washington Post