THE PASATIEMPO NEW MEXICAN REVIEW (12/11/03)

A little jewel of human drama set against the backdrop of police work, EvenHand is the story of two small-town police officers and the day-to-day, unglamorous grind they live. Probably more realistic than most cops-and-robbers pictures, EvenHand benefits from some low-key but very real performances by actors Bill Sage and Bill Dawes. (R.N.)

ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS REVIEW (9/17/03)

BY Chris Hewitt, Movie Critic

Police Procedurals are big this year. Hollywood’s “Narc” and “Dark Blue” were outstanding. The fest’s opening night movie, “Evenhand,” is even better. A sharply acted little gem, it’s reminiscent of “Training Day” at first: a new cop (Bill Dawes) gets an eye-opening introduction to his beat from a veteran with shaky morals (Bill Sage). But their relationship shifts as the film becomes a compassionate portrait of the demands of police work. 7 p.m. today, St. Anthony Main theaters, Minneapolis.

indieWIRE: Surveying Year Two of the Tribeca Film Festival (5/14/03)

Joseph Pierson’s “EvenHand” was another delight. This was a cliché-busting look at two small-town Texas cops, helped by excellent performances by Bill Sage and Bill Dawes, and a note-perfect script by Texas-born screenwriter Mike Jones (a former indieWIRE editor).

– Eugene Hernandez

indieWIRE: On the Scene at the Florida Film Festival (3/25/03)

In the dramatic competition, a highlight was Joseph Pierson’s “EvenHand.” A buddy cop story unlike most, the film stars Bill Sage and Bill Dawes (it was written by Mike Jones, a former indieWIRE staffer, and shot by Tim Orr). Set in a fictional Texas town, and shot primarily in San Antonio, the drama unfolds quietly as the two cops make there way from incident to incident until a defining moment on the job changes everything. Dawes performance as Officer Francis draws in the viewer and offers a humanist portrait of a sensitive man struggling to be the best cop that he can amidst the inherent turmoil of his job.

– Eugene Hernandez

THE NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN REVIEW (4/26/03)

*** EvenHand, directed by Joseph Pierson

Smells like Training Day, the cop flick with the well-meaning officer and his unruly partner. The similarities end there, though, as EvenHand introduces us to San Lovisa, Texas, a small town where beat officers know their suspects by their first names and arrests seem more like reunions. No sexy, headline-making drug busts here, just junkie juveniles, quarreling couples and a self-destructive psycho or two. Offenders are even forced to carry signs that detail their crimes. EvenHand plays out like an elongated Cops episode: compelling, in large part because of its various suspects. The freak show landscape is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film, though actors Bill Sage and Bill Dawes capably fill their roles as neighborhood cops. The psychological wear of the job propels the plot forward; but just when you get too confident, that sneaky San Lovisa comes back to bite you, proving that small town justice has its own karma and complexity. – A. Tacuma Roeback

indieWIRE (3/16/01)

>> “EvenHand” in Production in the Lone-Star State

(indieWIRE/03.16.01) — Production began recently in San Antonio, TX on “EvenHand,” directed by Joseph Pierson and written by Mike Jones. The film, a South Texas cop story, is being shot by Spirit Award nominee Tim Orr (DP for David Gordon Green’s “George Washington”) and stars Bill Sage (“American Psycho,” “Boiler Room”) Bill Dawes (“Sex in the City,” “Law and Order”).

New York-based production company, Cypress Films and Joseph Pierson are producing the film. Like “Cherry,” starring Shalom Harlow, an earlier project of Pierson’s, “EvenHand” is having its production documented with updated commentary and images on its web site at  www.cypressfilms.com/evenhand, a unique marketing technique championed by Cypress to much fanfare on previous projects.

Writer Mike Jones, a South Texas native and a former managing editor at FILMMAKER Magazine and indieWIRE, recently finished rewriting “Beneath the Banyon Trees” which will be directed by Matt Dillon and he is currently penning the robot-themed “Automata” for Columbia and Stan Winston Productions. Jones will also direct “Miller,” a South Texas “Death of a Salesman” story starring Chris Cooper (“American Beauty” and “Lone Star”) slated to begin this autumn. Production on “EvenHand” is expected to run through April 3, 2001. [Brian Brooks]

FILMBUZZ

Memphis International Film Festival
Top FilmBUZZ Films (What is a Buzz Score?)

Feature Films – BUZZ Score
1. Everybody Says I’m Fine – 85.7
2. Standard Time – 83.0
3. Levity – 80.3
4. EvenHand – 80.1
5. Outpatient – 79.8

PRESS QUOTES ON TIM ORR

Re: George Washington directed by David Gordon Green (2001)

“The cinematographer Tim Orr has accomplished something remarkable: the African-American children seem to have been lighted from within, and their skin has a slight burnished glow, as if the sun is deftly tracing across their bodies. Mr. Orr emerges as a star. This may be the best photographed film of the year.”  – Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times 

“The cinematography, by Tim Orr, is the best of the year.” – Roger Ebert

“The delicacy of Tim Orr’s widescreen camerawork is extraordinary.”  – Rolling Stone

“Terrific 35mm Cinemascope cinematography…kudos to cinematographer Tim Orr for an intelligent use of camera angles and natural lighting that definitely helps set the mood.”  – The Hollywood Reporter