"Secretary" is just that; it has all the elements of traditional movie romance (they meet, they become attached to each other, he can't come to terms with his feelings, she encounters a rival for her affections, etc.), but it's built around a relationship whose foundation is physical pain.
It is a great testament to this film that the majority of an initially hostile audience stuck with it and warmed to it as the tale went on; that they went away with some understanding of the strength of the heroine's feelings, if not of her desire itself.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is remarkable in this central role. She never allows the character to be reduced to the sum of her psychological problems, but plays her, even when deep in depression, as a complex, imaginative, sometimes exuberant young woman. This makes it much easier to understand how the attraction between the central characters develops". Source: www.eyeforfilm.co.uk
Maggie Gyllenhaal with her beloved brother Jake at Toronto Film Festival - Secretary Screening, 2002.
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal at "Uncle Vanya" Off-Broadway Opening Night After Party, 2009..jpg)
Sesame Street: Word on the Street video, featuring among other guest stars, Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
"When I reported on Crazy Heart in 2008, the film was affiliated with the CMT network, yet drew my interest with a cast that included Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Robert Duval. All of these actors excel in roles steeped in the weathering of life and excess, and this tale of, “a washed-up, alcoholic country singer (Bridges) who gets his life back on track thanks to a reporter-type (Gyllenhaal),” obviously played to those strengths on the surface. The addition to the cast of Colin Farrell, forever in our good graces for In Bruges, made this a must-see no matter what.
Here is the updated synopsis: Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean, a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. Bad also becomes the mentor to a contemporary country star, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), while simultaneously struggling in the rising young crooner’s shadow.
Duval plays a character named Wayne Kramer, but the role is apparently unrelated to the same-named guitarist of the Mc5. 
At this point in his career, it would take a serious misstep by Bridges not to accept him in a salt-of-the-earth, man’s-man role such as this. There aren’t a lot of great, non-metro actors left who are genuinely convincing and not polarizing in “heartland” material, and with Bridges lending vocal duties to the songs as well, the number decreases yet again. The title also reminds me of Bridges underrated performance as a struggling father on the fringe in American Heart. Country rock musician T Bone Burnett contributed original music and co-produced the project.
With less than a month before it’s theatrical roll-out, expect a trailer shortly. Fox Searchlight will release the film in select cities on December 16th". Source: www.slashfilm.com
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