

JUNE 2023
VoyageTampa interviews Director Susan Winter on the making of Pousse Café

"Pousse Café is a colorful layered cocktail of exotic liquors as well as the title of an artful, gorgeous film at [SXSW] . Tantalizingly spiked by the father and son dynamic it portrays…Shot in vibrant, tropical colors, this film depicts how a charming but dysfunctional family becomes functional with theatrical aplomb. [Winter] fashioned [this] vision into a heartwarming and subtly intoxicating directorial debut that gives modern life a lovely classic air."
— Rob Patterson, Austin American Statesman
“Has there ever been another film quite like Pousse Café? It’s a love anthem to that hallowed institution, the cocktail hour, and it’s also a theatrical tour d’force for the father and son Englishmen Anthony F. Hamilton and Dominic Hamilton-Little, coming to terms with one another’s foibles. Elegantly stylish, wittily bitchy, gorgeously colorful.”
— Seattle Gay News
"It is difficult to believe that Pousse Café is the first film of Susan Winter, because there is so much assurance and ease with which this director carries this luscious production… the characters are so well drawn, both actors are superb, the dialogue possesses the elegance and the reparté of Dame Edna. An admirable movie."
— Eric Fourlanty, Voir, Montreal
“Pousse Café is the festival’s major discovery...The dazzling modern look of the film hints at Hal Hartley, while the sparkling dialogue sounds like a gently inebriated Harold Pinter...Raise a glass high to director Susan Winter, and real-life father and son, Anthony Hamilton and Dominic Hamilton-Little for crafting Pousse Café. ..it’s an American original.”
— The News, Ft. Lauderdale
“One of the most exciting entries was the delightfully funny, touching, and gorgeously photographed Pousse Café...The extraordinary result continues to play around the country at film festivals and will certainly be picked up by a distributor.”
— Drama-Logue, Los Angeles
“Pousse Café works its considerable charm as a good glass of wine… sharp writing and accomplished acting… an unusually intricate, often hilarious look at a modern family.”
— Variety
“Cleverly directed by Susan Winter, Pousse Café updates Noel Coward in surprising ways, while both Anthony F. Hamilton and Dominic Hamilton-Little play father and son with an engaging and touching charm.”
— SXSW Film Festival
“... an absorbing blend of character study and cocktails... it’s deft handling of an original idea such as this should draw attention from a distributor. Pousse Café is a classy concoction...”
— St. Petersburg Times
“A hilarious take on the age-old struggle known as the generation gap. Pousse Café is beautifully shot, with a precise, witty, often biting script, and excellent casting, all of which add up to a wonderful picture offering up ingredients of that elusive well-made movie smorgasbord: humor and drama… Here’s to a wider release!"
— Terminal City, Vancouver