Starting out limited, in NYC and LA, the film is a wonder to behold and Schnabel, a filmmaker to watch.
It’s not a secret that I adore the film making of Julian Schnabel. I mean, I grew up on his oeuvre and films like Basquiat and Before Night Falls belong in the history books. But usually talent this great skips a generation or is never repeated again in the family. Although, as we say in Italy, every rule is always confirmed by an exception and Olmo Schnabel is that rare offspring of talented parents who becomes a force to be reckoned with, all of his own.
The first efforts of Olmo, the son of Schnabel and Spanish actress Olatz López Garmendia, were as a set assistant, starting out on Schnabel senior’s At Eternity’s Gate and working with Martin Scorsese on the 2023 Killers of the Flower Moon. I mean, even before that, Olmo played a tiny part in his dad’s 2000 film Before Night Falls, starring Javier Bardem.
Since then, he’s evolved into a producer and some of his behind-the-scenes efforts can be seen in films like the 2019 Giants Being Lonely by artist and filmmaker Grear Patterson, Michel Franco’s Memory and this year’s Lurker by Alex Russell. Upcoming, there is Julian Schnabel’s Hand of Dante, on which Olmo is also listed as producer.
But his own directorial debut, Pet Shop Days is the stuff cinematic dreams are made of. Something completely different, unseen, offbeat and utterly New York, which is I guess what really attracts me to his work, all around. That New York City blood which runs in every New Yorker’s veins is required perhaps for viewing Schnabel’s work. But fear not, as that is something completely attainable, even if you’ve only been to the Big Apple once. Or have lived there for part of your life, as yours truly has.
After the film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, it was subsequently acquired by Utopia (Shiva Baby, Sick of Myself, The Sweet East) for distribution. Pet Shop Days will be released in New York on March 15 at the Roxy Cinema, with a screening in Los Angeles at Now Instant Image Hall on March 28. Additional screenings in other cities will be announced shortly.
Pet Shop Days stars The House of Flowers actor Darío Yazbek Bernal (Gael Garcia’s brother) and frequent Schnabel collaborator Jack Irv—who co-wrote the film along with Olmo and Galen Core. Following an accident, Alejandro, played by Bernal, arrives in NYC from his privileged, yet problematic upbringing in Mexico, only to find in Jack, you guessed it played by Irv, a soul mate and a peer. But will this union be beneficial for both, or neither of these beautiful young men?
Pet Shop Days was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Jeremy O. Harris, and features an outstanding cast including Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Maribel Verdú. The screenplay was written by Jack Irv, with Galen Core, and Olmo Schnabel.
To read more about the film, check out this piece I wrote for Flaunt after Venice in 2023 featuring my first impressions of Pet Shop Days, as well as this in-depth interview I conducted with Olmo from his days on the Lido.
All images courtesy of Utopia, used with permission.