Morgan's Cake - early Sundance (1989) selected indie classic, in NYC 4/20

MORGAN'S CAKE (84min., B&W/Color, ©1988) a film Written, Directed, Shot, Edited and Produced by Rick Schmidt.

“Schmidt’s Morgan’s Cake is a deadpan, unpretentious delight. The title character, played by the film maker’s son, Morgan Schmidt-Feng, is no less comically out of sync with the world around him than the gorilla-suited David Warner character in the 1966 movie for which Morgan was named. Morgan’s Cake adopts his point of view and reflects his bewilderment in sly, fresh, unexpectedly comic ways. One of the most promising films of this year’s New Directors/New Films series.” –– JANET MASLIN (THE NEW YORK TIMES, March, 1989).
"To capture real life on film, Schmidt fashions a creative weave out of the threads of narrative, documentary, and docu-drama film forms. His actors draw on their own experience enabling him to create a unique blend of fact and fiction. In the end, Schmidt makes art and life intermingle and imitate each other." — Vic Skolnick, CINEMA ARTS CENTER
“At last there’s a film about adolescence that resounds with truth and humor.” — DENVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
“This is Schmidt’s personal attempt to answer his son’s and other young people’s questions: to understand what these kids really want out of life and what motivates them.” — BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
“Rick Schmidt’s approach to independent filmmaking doesn’t aim to beat down the doors to Hollywood. His latest “no-budget” film (Morgan’s Cake) has a refreshingly personal point of view and captures sympathetically and with quiet humor the life of a late-’80s California teenager.”
— Lawrence Smith, SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

Morgan's Cake (1989, dir. Rick Schmidt)- In this deadpan, no-budget gem from the late '80s, 17-year-old Morgan (played by the director’s son, Morgan Schmidt-Feng) navigates the messy threshold of adulthood in scrappy San Francisco. With a possibly pregnant girlfriend, a just-lost job, an artist mom heading to New York, and a cash-strapped dad sharing wild Vietnam-era draft-dodging tales in their tiny shared room, Morgan wrestles with draft registration, looming responsibilities, and the quiet absurdity of it all. Shot with raw intimacy and gentle humor over just nine days, the film builds to an oddly perfect act of rebellion: baking a cake. Refreshingly honest and free of Hollywood gloss, Morgan's Cake captures the bewildered innocence and understated courage of real teenage life with sly charm and unexpected warmth—making it a standout Sundance Dramatic Competition entry that still feels remarkably fresh.

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Host or Publisher Sujewa Ekanayake