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Indieopolis: Reports from the Front Part 31
by Lola Bianca
Shall We Dance? The indie crisis has reached critical mass. Many mid-’90s indie hits wouldn’t even make it onto the dance card these days – including car-eer-launchers like Kevin Smith’s Clerks (Film-makers Trophy 1994) and Ed Burns’ Brothers McMullen (Grand Jury Award 1995), both no-namers reportedly made for $25,000. Inside sources report that the LOWEST budget in competition at Sundance ’02 is a cool mill, and money like that doesn’t come without star involvement. Yeah, sure, Geoff Gilmore boasts that this year’s crop features more no-names than ever be-fore. (Take, for example, The Dancer Upstairs, the Park City opener which marks the helming debut of total unknown John Malkovich! Just kidding – Lola knows that the Big GG is only referring to the American Spectrum section of the fest.) Meanwhile, the Slamdancers, in spite of their irreverent application form (which asks for “Director’s shoe size” and “Number of credit cards used”) seem to be moving in a serious, Eurofied direction this year with their 12 feature pix (out of 2,500 submissions!).
Have Names Will Sell. Sundance buzz is strong on Bark, an underdog (pun intended) starring scriptor Heather Morgan and Lee Tergensen, along with Lisa Kudrow, Hank Azaria, and Vincent D’Onofrio. (What did Lola tell you?) The digital dramedy/love story about a man coming to terms with his wife’s mental illness (she’s a dogwalker who comes to believe she’s a dog) was directed by 1st time helmer Kasia Adamik. Adamik is the daughter of Agnieszka Europa, Europa Holland (a famous Polish filmmaker who is now a successful Hollywood director) and Laco Adamik (a famous Czech filmmaker). Not a bad pedigree. But none of it would have come to pass without the commitment of Kudrow, who is known to have a good nose for indie quality (The Opposite of Sex). And Kudrow won’t be the only Friend to hit the Utah slopes: Jennifer Aniston stars in The Good Girl, a fable about adultery directed by Miguel Arteta, written by Mike White (the always interesting team behind Chuck and Buck). All of these are names which don’t open movies but can still get them made because of FRF (foreign recognition factor). Truth is, the indie market’s in the toilet, US distrib is iffy, and a strong concept and good execution just aren’t enough when no one (except Ms. Kudrow, whom Lola nominates for indie sainthood!) is willing to trust their instincts anymore.
And yet one needn’t look far for proof that the indie world has reinvigorated the industry. Both the NY and LA Film Critics gave their coveted blessing to 3 indiewood films: David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, Todd Field’s In the Bedroom, and Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, with nods to Memento, Ghost World, Waking Life, Iris, Moulin Rouge, Last Orders, and Agnes Varda’s documentary The Gleaners and I. LA awarded Best Foreign to No Man’s Land; while NY favored In the Mood for Love. Studio fare like A Beautiful Mind, Black Hawk Down, and Ali were totally ignored, though Denzel did nab a Best Actor for Training Day (LA).
The National Board of Review cast a significantly wider net, with Baz Luhr-mann’s Moulin Rouge a favorite. Iris, Hedwig, Monster’s Ball, Shrek, and Amores Perros were also winners in various categories. Best Docu went to George Butler’s The Endurance (see interview this issue pgs. 8-9).
What does all this mean for Oscar? Maybe 2002 will be another year like 1997, when the 5 Best Pic noms were all indies, with The English Patient sweeping the prizes. So Lola’s not complaining: it’s all part of the natural cycle; and when an entry-level indie vacuum arises, something will come along to fill it. The beast always needs fresh meat!
-Talk to me! indieopolis@hotmail.com.
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Zingers
AMELIE
“A magical fairy tale for eccentric grownups. Wonderful! Although it did strike me as odd that couples consummated their introductions by jumping into bed instead of, I dunno, maybe a handshake. Oh, those wacky French…” –Dave Rolfe
AUDITION
“Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night. On second thought, don't bother; we're going to crash and burn. But in the meantime, oh, my God...”
– Dave Rolfe
FROM HELL
“A sleeper. Should have been a big hit. Great movie, great story, great acting, great directing. Depp at his best. It is NOT full of gore.” –Miss P
HARRY POTTER and the SORCERER’S STONE
"I was charmed by the movie. Everyone was perfectly cast, especially Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who played Harry Potter, and Alan Rickman, who was perfect and excellent as the sinister Snape.
4 broomsticks." - Lily Raven
“Not as good as the book, but it’s beyond
adequate.” –Hannah Bering
HEIST
“Very David Mamet-y.” –Lime
IN THE BEDROOM
“Please wear make-up next time, Sissy. Tom Wilkinson was wonderful as The Husband/Father.” –Miss P
K-PAX
“If the story were as good as the cinematography, people would be dying in the theater. A visual feast. But it’s just a movie.” – RD Floyd
“After an hour or so of setup, some events finally occur that are slightly less banal than what has gone before, assuming you're still awake to appreciate them.” –Dave Rolfe
LIFE AS A HOUSE
“Too similar to American Beauty. Rebel son is a standout. Kline should have bathed at least once.” –Miss P
“A very good movie, but I could feel the hands of 3 or 4 writers on it.” –RD Floyd
THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE
“The Coen Bros. have become even more minimalist and are now practicing a form of zen surrealism – making the mundane sublime by inference, implication and subtext. They say more by not saying anything than anyone else working in film today. Never has a chrome hubcap meant so much.” –Alex Hajdu
Should be re-titled The Man Who Was There Too Long. BB Thornton smoking endless cigarettes staring into space...and what a waste of a role for Frances McDormand. But it looked terrific.” –Marion Siwek
MONSTERS, INC.
“The main character is named Boo, because she says that all the time. And the big eye guy (Billy Crystal’s voice) is really good because of the way they show his emotions, even though he only has one eye and one eyebrow.” –Alyssa Fricks (age 12)
“Nice guys finish first in this movie.” –Laura Snow
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
“Watchable and fascinating – if you can put yourself in the mood to go along for the strange ride, at least until you're ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint. But when the credits roll, you dust yourself off and ask what it means… Oh, did anybody get the number of that truck?” –Dave Rolfe
NO MAN'S LAND
“A really great and incredibly funny anti-war movie in the comedic tradition of
M*A*S*H, Catch-22 and Dr. Strangelove.” –Phil Bergdorf
OCEAN’S 11
“It was sort of like, if you just took a piece of cookie instead of the whole cookie… Very stylish, but...” –John Romo
“Wildly improbable, with lots of very pretty people!” –Hannah Bering
THE ONE
“Almost, but no cigar. I was way too calm watching the stunts. Weak story.” –Miss P
TAPE
“Uma Thurman never looked better.” –Miss P
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A Beautiful Mind
by Sean Chavel
Whenever a director is given the daunting task of filming a scene of a mathematician at work, there is at least some attempt of visual pizzazz to make the answer to the paradoxical equation look thrilling. Russell Crowe is the legendary mathemagician John Forbes Nash in Ron Howard’s pleasingly engaging A Beautiful Mind, and the exhilaration of watching this Hollywood biopic is seeing Nash solve insurmountable problems that take up an entire blackboard which aren’t likely to appear decipherable to any average member of the audience. It’s not the act of math solving that’s dazzling, it’s watching a peculiar genius at work, maybe at play, that is in realm dazzling.
The most remarkable thing about the movie is how Crowe is able to take his cerebral math-geek character into as much a commanding and arresting performance as his Oscar-winning Maximus. We first meet Nash at Princeton University in 1947 and already he is too above the institutional standards and chooses to skip class. He spends most of his time in his dorm room searching for a discovery of a new theory. When he does go out to socialize, he turns games of billiards or picking-up girls into mathematical calculations.
A woman does come into his life, and she’s played by the exceptional Jennifer Connelly. She’s a devilish flirt and an incisive brain - an intellectual match for Nash as well as the needed sexual aggressor of the relationship. There are also fine supporting turns from Paul Bettany (A Knight’s Tale) as Nash’s extroverted buddy, and Ed Harris (feel echoes of his performance from The Rock) as a government operative whom enlists Nash to decode hidden communist spy messages.
The paranoid government plot has too many invariable inconsistencies, but that’s also part of its strategy. The interest lies in the clinical study of the eccentric exteriors and the enigmatic interiors of Nash, a troubled and obsessed genius. Crowe takes typical movie biography material and makes it his stomping ground, to bring a cloistered shell of a braniac full to life and engaging as a rubik’s cube. ***
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Blacklisting? FTAC RALLY: Celluloid Warriors
open fire on Canada by Cheddy Hart
As reported in the December 11th issue of NoHo>LA, The Film and Television Action Committee (FTAC) filed a petition with the Commerce Department and the Internat-ional Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that the annual subsidies of up to $1 billion have robbed the U.S. of 25,000 jobs and $30 billion in economic loss for the past 3 years. The Commerce Dept. has 20 days to respond as to the validity of the filings. A favorable ruling would spearhead an investigation by the Commerce Dept. and the ITC.
Joel Joseph, chief of the Made in The USA Foundation, was quoted by Daily Variety (12/5’01) as saying at a press conference outside the Commerce Dept. that America is under attack - not from (terrorists,) but from our neighbors to the north, that the Canadians are stealing tens of thousands of jobs from U.S. film workers with illegal subsidies.
The Petition, started by FTAC, is supported by the legislative board of Screen Actors Guild (SAG), five Teamster locals, and approximately 12,000 film pros and support vendors. Opposition comes from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Directors Guild of America (DGA), American Film Marketing Association (AFMA), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), and the Film U.S. Coalition of Motion Picture Commis-sions. The Petition claims that Canadian subsidies and incentives give a 25% savings that are illegal under the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs.
Jack Valenti, MPAA chief, issued a strong opposing statement, according to Daily Variety, claiming the Petition is dangerous and is opposed by the majority of the film industry, that it is an incentive to a trade war that goes against the trade polices of the U.S. Government. Joel Joseph countered by saying the MPAA opposes the Petition simply because studios do not want to lose lucrative subsidies, and while union leaders oppose it, the rank and file members strongly support it. In a recent FTAC meeting, it was disclosed that International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) head Tom Short strongly opposes the filing, fearing isolation, secession from Canadian IATSE workers, and has demanded that American IATSE business agents not support FTAC and the petition.
Since the filing last month, the ITC has sent a questionnaire to all major studios and networks for an accounting of their history and records of Canadian operations, including three years of financial statements of past production costs, and current and future production in Canada. They also have been asked to provide yearly totals, overhead, depreciation, net income, and the book value of their productions. Their response will be consolidated with info on other companies and will form a statistical base for the ITC to determine the next course of action.
This action by the ITC has caused great concern within the studios and networks. The legal action has spurred accusations towards FTAC as to the validity of the signatures on the petitions. Legal counsel for the studios and networks have asked to see the petitions, but the request was denied by the ITC citing it as a possible weapon of retribution towards individual petitioners. The filing will result in a two-pronged effort: one by the Commerce Dept. to determine if the Canadian subsidies are legal, and the other by the ITC to examine the extent of financial loss to the U.S.industry. The ITC has assigned over half a dozen staff people to the investigation. Lynn Feather-stone, director of ITC’s Office of Investigation, told Daily Variety that this is not your usual investigation, it could bring up a number of interesting issues.
The ITC will make its first decision this month, but together with the Commerce Dept., it could well take between 200 and 300 days to decide. Many opponents of the Petition filings believe it will be tossed out. Just last week, the Federal Government encountered potential problems probing the Canadian subsidies. They have told FTAC that it needs far more detailed information, such as a description of what the film industry is. In other words, the Feds are accustomed to dealing with corporations or companies and not individual craftsmen making up an industry; which needs to be defined as a corporation of individual sub-contactors.
The investigation, also stated Valenti, will jeopardize the tax incentive legislation sponsored by House Representatives, David Dreier (R-Ca.) and Howard Berman (D-Ca), supported by all segments of the creative community. The legislation offers rebates and incentives to productions, similar to those in Canada, but in some cases, not as great. From the warring opposition in Canada came a statement made by Martine Lagace, spokeswoman for the Department for Foreign Affairs and International Trade about regrets that some in the U.S. entertainment sector have filed the Petition but that the Deptartment firmly believes that Canada’s support for the film and video sector is in line with their international trade obligations. They will review the allegations and decide shortly with a response (Daily Variety).
More and more support for FTAC and the Petition is gaining ground due to the effort of that committee educating the average worker. FTAC members have been invading studio lots and location productions with information and continuing to gather signatures. I recently tagged-a-long with a Petition organizer. Many IATSE and DGA members signed the Petition in defiance of the union business administrator. “They don’t speak for me, and I doubt that the rank and file oppose this petition,” said a DGA member who, with others on the stage, stood in line to sign the petition. Although there were enough required signatures, the rank and file who had not signed, did sign, and remain vocal about the runaway production issue. “We want our voices heard!” says a local IATSE 44 craftsman. “My income has drop-ped to half of what is was two years ago. With the dwindling local productions headed up north, we need to send a message.”
From a casual survey of film workers, we discovered that many are near to filing or have already filed bankruptcy. Many have lost their homes, many families have been torn apart, and others are seeking outside-industry employment. The decline in the economy and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 combined with the threat of SAG and WGA strikes earlier last year have also contributed to the slowdown of local productions.
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Slamdance Announces Special Screenings
Anarchy Online Global Competition and $99 Specials for 2002
The 8th Annual Festival Slamdance 2002 opens on January 11 with a special screening and world premiere of director Alexandre Rockwell's, 13 Moons, starring Steve Bus-cemi. A total of 3 feature films and 4 shorts will screen in the Special Screenings category together with a special edition of Spike & Mike's Twisted Animation Festival, the 9 finalists in the year round "Anarchy Online Global Competition," and the 9 Slamdance “$99 Specials.”
The majority of the festival will take place at the Silvermine in Park City. "For Salt Lake residents who want to avoid the Hollywood hype that sometimes infects Park City during festival week, this should be a great opportunity to see films the way they were meant to be seen: with a beer in one hand, and a slice of pizza in the other," added co-founder at large Dan Mirvish.
Some festival passes are available (323-466-1786). Many films are available for review prior to and during the festival. Press kits are available, and filmmakers are available for interviews. For credentials to cover the festival, send a fax (323-466-1784) on letterhead from your media outlet that indicates you have a specific assignment to cover the festival, or www.slamdance.com/2001/festival/info/pressintro.asp. Award-Winners will be shown at "On The Road" Screenings around the country, including "The Best of Slamdance" at the American Cinemathè-que's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Feb 6 & 7, 2002. www.egyptiantheatre.com.
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Not Another Teen Movie
by Sean Chavel
Not Another Teen Movie doesn’t hit its target as much as graze the surface of other teen movies it attempts to parody. The movie is juvenile in the worst way possible, and the actors are content with playing crude material and taking it to the lowest common denominator. It’s funny to talk about a Cruel Intentions parody with a young vixen teaching an elderly woman how to French kiss, but not much fun to watch it. Neither is it funny to watch characters get boulderized by a backed-up toilet full of excrement.
When the movie doesn’t concoct half-baked ideas for parodies of American Pie, Bring it On, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, or Sixteen Candles, it settles for the gross-out shock value that scores on the titillation meter but not on the amusement meter. The sophomoric scheme of the plot is chiefly lifted from She’s All That, where the popular jock (Chris Evans) gets hoodwinked into a bet he has to take a dainty bohemian nerd (Chyler Leigh) and turn her into a bodacious prom queen. These actors are hardly special and deliver their performances with half-sincere, cheap sentiment, precariously skimming the line between parody and audition-tape drama. These actors generally think they have a chance at future casting calls in upcoming teen movies. As if.
You’ll be left wondering why the movie has fun portraying caricatures of the Cocky Blonde Guy, the Snotty Cheerleader and the Pretty Ugly Girl but has not much creative input with fleshing out the farcical possibilities of the Stupid Fat Guy and the Beautiful Weirdo. They are stereotypes - flat, one-dimensional lampoons. That sums up most of the movie, which is full of hum-hum chuckles over humor that’s dumber than an ox. Chances are you’ll smile when you recognize some of these teen movie clichés and the reference to the school’s name, John Hughes High, but as the Token Black Guy would say about this tired teenage wasteland, “That is whack!”
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Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
by Leopold Kist
Something about the subject of this film has latched onto the zeitgeist of our time. I'm not sure I can put my finger on it, but in this global, mechanized, computerized, airplane traveling, post millennial, 9/11 obsessed age of decreasing possibilities, there are fewer and fewer new frontiers, and our privacy, civil liberties, and freedom to travel are eroding (modern passports didn't exist until the time of this expedition, much less X-ray machines and ID scanners at airports, or magnetic stripes in dollar bills). Yet today this story has drawn more attention than ever before.
Shackleton was not celebrated in his day. He led an expedition to walk across the Antarctic continent, and he never did. He did something else instead. He rescued all his men from impossible circumstances. Unfortunately, he did this at the beginning of World War I and no one cared. For some reason we care now.
Perhaps it's because a very good storyteller has retold the tale. Caroline Alexander wrote the book, The Endurance, after she found Frank Hurley's photographs of the expedition moldering in the Royal Geographical Society. The Endurance was a surprise best seller two Christmases ago. Caroline wrote and co-produced this film with its director George Butler (see interview pg 8). Possibly, more than anything, the story is compelling because of the perils these men miraculously survived, in spite of every conceivable misfortune. However, that doesn't quite explain why Kenneth Branagh is making a series, or why Wolfgang Petersen is making a feature film. These projects, among other things, led The Wall Street Journal to title an article "Get Ready for Shackleton-Mania."
The film itself is a combination of wonderful ingredients: a good script, Frank Hurley's amazing footage and photographs which inspired the project to begin with, beautiful new film of the very same locations, interviews with descendants of the men who participated in the voyage, as well as old radio interviews, and felicitous excerpts from the diaries of the crew. These parts are assembled with delicacy into a compelling narrative. You can usually tell what footage is new, which I think is good. I was not sure about a sequence where men get into a dingy to row to land. I also have a trifling quibble with the score. I'm not persuaded didgeridoo music (or is that throat singing?) is evocative of the South Pole.
If you don't already know every detail of the story, or even if you do, go see the film and find out why Shackleton-mania is a new vocabulary word.
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Lantana
By Sean Chavel
Lantana is a series of interlocking stories that bind personal crises, revolving character revelations and start-ling coincidences. The title comes from the classification of a type of flower, one that has a colorful tropical bloom that hides a dense and thorny undergrowth. As films that refer to blossoms go, it nowhere comes close to the electrifying Magnolia, but it’s humble yet rewarding plot developments will garner it laurels. This is a lower-key multi-character study with a deliberately unfolding plot that pins its characters to the wheels of chance.
The first shot of the movie moves slowly through an underbrush to reveal a corpse, an unabashed rip-off of the first scene in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. But then the movie backs up and sets up its characters, taking a look at four married couples, not all particularly happy. Some of the characters find refuge in affairs, taking us into their bedrooms for elicit relations.
Barbara Hershey plays a psychiatrist married to an icy professor (Geoffrey Rush), whom both have suffered from losing their only daughter. Anthony LaPaglia plays a cop whose dedicated work is distancing him from his wife (Kerry Armstrong). Vince Colosimo and Daniella Farinacci are happily married but financially choked, strapped with three children they have a difficult time feeding. Their next door neighbor (Rachael Blake), is bored and flirty in response to an estranged husband whom she never sees.
The cast is superb, the plot is quietly intriguing. It’s easy to forget about the budding murder plot because the intimate details of sex, deceit and betrayal provide crucial interest. This is a rare murder mystery - fascinating due to characters distressed under psychological warfare. The pay-off is there, too, - that rare treat of a complex plot with a juggling act of characters that satisfyingly comes full circle.
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The Shipping News’ Admirable Delivery
by Sean Chavel
Kevin Spacey plays a mild-mannered man that sees himself as a failure in life in The Shipping News, the new film by acclaimed director Lasse Hallström. His jobs never range beyond the menial and are devoid of human interaction. Into his thirties he has never experienced love, and withers away at home alone. Unexpected arrivals, lucky coincidences and turns of fate are what move this poignant story as it explores the subtle changes that can take place in a man when forced to make challenging social extensions.
Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel by E. Annie Proulx, it envelops both drama and the sublime human touches of comedy. Spacey has been damned with the awful name of Quoyle - his ancestors were infamous savages. His character, though, is painfully shy that when blessed with his first encounter with a woman (Cate Blanchett, playing a cheap hussy named Petal), he feels eternally grateful. He ends up as a parent of a daughter and then sole caretaker.
Quoyle’s destiny leads him to a fishing outport in a small populated dump in Maine. The dense novel doesn’t have a chance in this film adaptation to see how Quoyle functions as a parent, and doesn’t fully succeed in showing what those complications entail. It is, however, divine in exploring the maturing process of Quoyle, especially when he applies to the local newspaper in hopes of acquiring technical skills in the printing process but unwittingly lands a job as a reporter. The news is cheap and sensational, Quoyle’s main duty is to provide a news’ story on a car wreck on the slippery roads of windy, hilly town for the weekly paper. Quoyle’s inept writing experience ironically develops into simple poetic prose, and he becomes a respected correspondent for the community.
Julianne Moore plays Wavey, a single mother with a young boy who befriends Quoyle. Wavey is a woman with demons in her past, not ready to share her unsavory history. Quoyle is the guy that feels that if he can open her up, he can make her love him. Intelligent attention to character movement swells under the dense grey skies of this quirky and unusual town, providung a rich canvassing portrait of human self-discovery and newfound satisfaction.
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Iris
by Sean Chavel
The opening scenes of Iris promises that we are going to learn about “the most brilliant woman in England.” It promises that we are going to get an inside look at Iris Murdoch, the renowned philosopher and novelist of 26 books. She loved freely, experimented daringly, but settled with a socially awkward, lumpish Oxford scholar that would fortify her talent. An unusual love story between a wild free spirit and a goosey, love-starved intellectual, perhaps? Maybe not.
There is old Iris (Judi Dench) and young Iris (Kate Winslet). Any young woman who would grow into the graceful and wise embodiment of Dame Judi Dench has reason to be grateful. But this is a now- and-then demonstration of the disease “movie-of-the-week” tearjerker where old Iris suffers the indignity of being afflicted with Alzheimer’s. The pathos of inevitable deterioration is presented with forced sentimentality.
This movie wants be appreciated as a love story between old people, with Iris being cared for by the undying devotion of her husband John Bailey played by the splendid Jim Broadbent, a recent winner of the best supporting actor award from the National Board of Review. Unfortunately it is never heartrending or inspiring because it doesn’t succeed as anything more than an effective clinical study presentation. Alas, we feel for Iris and for the sadness that entails her ailing condition. But the movie only works in the most facile and ambiguous of terms because we never get a grasp of the great woman that she supposedly was.
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Mirrors to Nature
By Dr Jim
Hollywood has always taken its art, its business and its seasons very seriously, ergo your local video place is chockablock with features about the biz, and about how we could do it better, appropriate to New Year’s Resolution time.
An early standard-setter was von Sternberg’s The Last Command of 1928. Emil Jannings (before getting eaten alive by Marlene in Blue Angel) copped the first-ever Best Actor Oscar playing a deposed Tsarista working as a screen extra in Hollywood. What sends him over the top (and into one of the great set-destroying temper-tantrum mad-scenes) is getting cast to play himself in a flick about the same events that had catapulted him out of the palaces of Russia and into the gutters of Hollywood. After you see this, you’ll wonder they didn’t name the coveted statuette the ‘Emil’.
The great golden age Hollywood myth is undoubtedly A Star Is Born. The original, in 1937, was helmed by Wild Bill Wellman (another first Oscar-winner) and penned by the immortal Dorothy Parker. In that one, Freddy March sacrifices his own star to transmogrify mousy Janet Gaynor into manipulative producer Adolphe Menjou’s cash cow.
A couple of wars later, in 1954, James Mason took the wander into the waves as Frances Gumm (aka Judy) sang-and-danced her way from Esther Blodgett to center stage, ending up smiling through tears as ‘Mrs. Norman Main’, in spite of getting hay-makered in public by a blottoed Norman. And if all those original songs-&-dances weren’t enuff, a few years ago they re-injected twenty more minutes into the piece to make a real sadist’s version (it’s kinda like doing reverse liposuction on Jabba the Hutt or injecting more collagen into Angeline’s silicone mountains.)
The third re-make transferred the scene to the music-biz to accommodate its stars, Kris Kristofferson and La Streisand. Suffice it to say that lots of eight-track tapes were sold, Kris chose to drive into the hazy sunset rather than swim into oblivion and the star-producer sported an unfortunate coif that gave new meaning to the term ‘poodle-head’.
The continent chose the ’60s to make its incisive insider view known to the movie world, most spectacularly in Fellini’s 8 1/2, in which Italy’s greatest star, Marcello Mastroianni, played none other than Il Maestro himself, panicking over what to do for his ninth movie, and ending up with the clowns in the circus ring at the foot of the spaceship, all to the magical score by Nino Rota, God’s gift to film music.
Jean-Luc Godard got his licks in with 1964’s Contempt, in which auteur pioneer Fritz Lang plays auteur pioneer Fritz Lang, auteur Jean-Luc Godard plays Herr Direktor’s assistant and auteur Brigitte Bardot plays mostly scenery, in a behind-the-camera struggle over rival interps of Homer’s Odyssey.
Francois Truffaut, a veritable new wave unto himself, politely withheld his comments until 1973. Then, the result was Day for Night (La Nuit Americaine), a glorious romp through the chaotic fears and joys of filmmaking and as wonderful a paean to the collaborative effort as ever was made. M. Truffaut appears as the director, his cast includes Jean-Pierre Leaud, Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese ("But Federico never makes us memorize words! We just say numbers, and they dub in whatever language they want later. As long as the feeling’s right, what does it matter?") and Jean-Pierre Aumont. A young Nathalie Baye serves on the crew, which is a tribute portrait of those who serve thanklessly behind the camera. Georges Delerue contributed an unforgettable score and this film wins for best kitten scenes since Birth of a Nation.
For those less sentimental about the Celluloid Jungle, Billy Wilder set the Hollywood insider movie standard in 1950’s Sunset Boulevard, a reel monkey funeral of a film, with silent star Gloria Swanson (erstwhile squeeze to Papa Joe Kennedy) doing the vamp to end all vamps as Norma Desmond and auteur pioneer Erich von Stroheim as her loyal devotee Max, and personality-vacuum William Holden doing what he always does best (floating face down in a swimming pool?).
The sardonic surreal continues to inform Hollywood insider glimpses. Peter O’Toole embodies the ultimate mad director willing to do anything to get the right shot in Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man (1980). Dustin Hoffman’s turn as the producer willing to create a war (with Albania?), in spite of reality, the CIA and Woody Harrelson, gives 1997’s Wag the Dog real impact. Check out Hoffman’s utter inability to limit his commitment ("Never tell me I can’t do that! Never say that to me!") no matter what the cost. And last year’s Shadow of the Vampire offers Cary Elwes’ juicy portrayal of the archetypal DP (landing on the set at the last minute in his own bi-plane, immediately able, with one look, to tell where to point the lights, how to angle the tripod, and which lens to use, always in on the deepest, dirtiest, truest dope on everything) along with John Malkovich as the real monster (the auteur) and Willem Dafoe as the ultimate star.
And in 1992 Robert Altman (on everybody’s list of candidates for auteurification and nobody’s list as an Old Boy Network insider) gave us The Player, maybe the greatest behind-the-scenes Hollywood movie ever. With Tim Robbins positively floating on air as just-past-prime enfant-terrible Griffin Mill and a supporting cast of no less than 65 honest-to-gawd names, this could have been called The Love Life of the Shark cuz it’s got more bite than all four Jaws movies added together. My favorite cameos are those from Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis at the end, but keep your eyes on a sizzling Vincent D’Onofrio in a very key role, and love those locations—I mean, really, can you think of a more perfect place to pull off the perfect murder than behind that Chinese place a few doors up from the Rialto?
Whatever you resolve for yourself, just make sure Mr. DeMille knows when you’re ready for your close-up.
- Dr. James C. Lundstrom is Dean of Academics at Columbia College Hollywood.
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Other Reviews
The Majestic
by Sean Chavel
The Majestic is a movie for those people who love Jimmy Stewart movies with a sweet-meringue sprinkle of Capra-esque fairy dust. Jim Carrey plays the gosh-darned deified incarnate of Jimmy, an idealistic and heartfelt fellow who awakens in a small town after losing his memory and changes the townsfolk lives forever.
Carrey’s true identity is of a 1950’s Hollywood screenwriter by the name of Peter Appleton who is wanted by the House Committee of Un-American Activities, but in the town of Lawson, he is mistaken for a long-lost war hero named Luke Temble. Martin Landau plays Harry Temble, Luke’s father, and believes that his son has miraculously returned home. Newcomer Laurie Holden plays the old-fashioned dame with a heart of virtue and her scenes with Carrey share together an abundance of warm chemistry.
It’s picture-perfect small town life, it’s also romantic fantasy spun with touching pathos and many cinematic moments to treasure. The most special sequence involves Carrey and his surrogate father resurrecting the town’s broken down movie theatre, which after repairs, comes to life as a genuine movie palace. These scenes are gems, as is the blissful romantic conclusion that’s unapologetic in its far-fetched but glorious whimsy. The only acknowledging fault in this production is the elastic-stretched pacing that comes close to suffocating the movie before it has a chance to breathe.
The movie saunters with contrived disputes in the first half. Unnecessary silences between characters take place when problems could be resolved with just a few spoken words. Carrey is too self-preserved as a reactionary saint when he should be making inquiries about his past. The slack pacing is balanced out by the picaresque craftsmanship of Frank Darabont, director of big artistic successes like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Let’s hope in the future he knows that all movies don’t have to be long expansive epics and that modesty suits better that sweet-candied confections like this one. This is a case nonetheless when the virtues of patience can pay off rewardingly if you give it a chance. ***
The Royal Tenebaums
By Sean Chavel
Wes Anderson is a filmmaker of tremendous gifts, and one of them as a storyteller is exploring the peculiarities of the “genius.” With co-writer Owen Wilson they have made Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998), which have met as cult favorites with audiences. Their new film, The Royal Tenenbaums shares spirited similarities with their last film in exploring misunderstood, eccentric prodigies.
Gene Hackman plays Royal, the father of three remarkable children, although he only pays attention to his favorite, Richie (Luke Wilson), a prodigy tennis player. This troubles his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston), who feels he has a negative influence on his family. Chas (Ben Stiller), a self-made real estate magnate by his early teens, grows up to sue his father for stealing bonds. Margot (Gwenyth Paltrow) is a melancholy artist and playwright whose first produced play is dismissed from her father “as not very believable.”
After separating from his wife and being ostracized from the house for many years, Royal hires a fraudulent medical staff and fakes an illness in order to be welcomed back home. What a dysfunctional family they are! When you get all of these people inside the same house, you expect an explosion of neurosis-comic hysteria. But Anderson’s weakest area is feeling he has to dissect this genealogical mess. The wildly inventive Anderson is saddled by his own groping psychoanalysis that’s creakier than any Woody Allen movie. There are too many one-on-one ego-control showdowns, too much time spent with characters pouting at each other.
Anderson, with his unique quirky gifts, should know that what makes a person interesting is seeing how their inventive output is drawn from psychological wounds and not the other way around. But when Anderson does get it right, there isn’t a livelier more eccentric comedy to be seen anywhere near. ***1/2
Baran
by Maryam Habibian
It is Tehran in the year 2000. On a ramshackle construction site, a young Iranian man, Lateef (Hossein Abedini), struggles to make a furtive living among illegal Afghani immigrants. One day, an Afghani named Rahmat (Zahra Bahrami) arrives to work on the site. At first, Lateef, who has always been critical of the Afghanis, is jealous of the popular hard-working boy. But then Lateef discovers an extraordinary secret: Rahmat is actually a girl disguised in boy’s attire! The discovery changes Lateef’s life forever. It is amazing to watch him fall in love with Baran (Rahmat’s real name) – to witness the pure teenage love of a boy who has always struggled just to survive. And it all comes to pass without his ever touching or even talking to her, because in post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, men and women are not allowed to touch, and women must be covered from head to toe. Baran is silent throughout the movie, except once, when we hear her singing softly in her private room. That is the moment when Lateef actually sees her true identity, through the curtain.
Director Majid Majidi has placed his indelible stamp on this picture, not only through the camera work, but in the potent tension that builds between the main characters. Much of the drama is conveyed through the facial expressions and everlasting gazes of the two young lovers. (Iranian cinema always focuses on the human face. It is the filmmaker’s way of communicating without words, which are subject to such a strict code of censorship.) In the past, Majidi's main subject has been children – what exists between and within them. With Baran he turns to more censor-sensitive material (romance between the sexes), and the result is a more sensual movie, with more political dimension. The style is simple and realistic, the look sumptuous, with vivid colors and interesting scenery. The lead actors, both newcomers, are very good.
With quiet power Baran touches on themes of love, poverty, and oppression, particularly the oppression of Afghani women. At the end, Baran returns home because there is no place for her family in Iran. After saying goodbye to her would-be suitor, she pulls the burka over her head, disappearing from his view and ours. It is interesting to note that, as timely as the movie is, the ending may already be outdated, as the Taliban retreats and the women of Afghanistan pull the burkas off their heads. We can only hope their freedom will last.
Vanilla Sky
by Sean Chavel
Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky is the most surprising departure in the career for the director of Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, not so much because it is dark and twisted but because it comes from a man who has made feel-good romantic comedies with subjects that have wide appeal. Tom Cruise returns with a sexy playboy role that is cocky, narcissistic and, more surprising in its development, touchingly poignant.
Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz play the sexual conquests, but they are there to cause the consequential damage. The Cruise character, David Aames, is a ne’er do well owner of three magazines and a publishing house but neglects to find a grounded and steady personal life. He is an unabashed bachelor with little need of responsibility in his life, and through rising resentment and scorn the Diaz character experiences, there is a cinematic pledge to give the self-centered Cruise his comeuppance.
Vanilla ventures into some dark territory, but is one of the most emotionally rapturing movies of the year. Cruise’s transgression from stone cold womanizer to afflicted victim is one of the surprising characterizations of his career. Cruise seems at first to have borrowed his Jerry Maguire personification to jump-start an easy star vehicle, but as the movie progresses all of those comparisons become futile. Cruise and company disseminate the puzzles of sex addiction and ego, friendship and love, rejection and retribution in this complex examination of an untamed adulterer.
The movie dances around classic noir themes of love scorned and murder, but in Crowe’s adaptation of the Mexican film Abre Los Ojos, he has decidedly made a film for the new age. Crowe makes reference to Francois Truffaut’s Jules and Jim, Billy Wilder’s Sabrina and the music of Bob Dylan, all to assimilate works of art that orchestrate one’s memory - a media age that creates definition of the human identity. Cruise doesn’t know exactly who he is at the end. Moreover, he becomes the sum of his memories, fantasies and obsessions. This is hyper-realist knockout filmmaking. ****
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