THE GRAND is an improvisational comedy set in the world of professional poker. The story follows six players that make it to the final table of the world's most famous high stakes tournament, the GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP OF POKER.
An eclectic cast brings together many of today's top comedic actors; Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Cheryl Hines, Richard Kind, Ray Romano, Dennis Farina, and more. It also heralds the first pairing of Werner Herzog and ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Gabe Kaplan, an onscreen team up that film fans have been waiting for since Herzog's "The Wrath and Ecstasy of the Schoolteacher Kotter" was scrapped in favor of a more conventional sitcom pilot. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
In THE GRAND, director Zak Penn uses the camera to film things, then "edits" those things together with music and voices that he has recorded, to create an impressionistic tone poem that he refers to as "movie." The second such "movie" he has directed, Penn takes more chances than in his initial film, "Incident at Loch Ness." Often, the camera is perched in precarious places where it could easily fall and break. Surfaces are dark and slick; the audience feels as though they could slip at any moment.
The film touches on many subjects and themes. The role of luck, in life as well as poker, is explored, as are nostalgia, cancer, David Lynch's "Dune," lightning survivors, fantasy football, animal cruelty, child rearing and mnemonic devices. Together they create a pastiche of images that represents the first attempt by a New York born filmmaker to make an improvisational comedy in a post 911 world without in any way dealing with those tragic events. The result is a film that critics have already referred to as "not yet available for screening."