Nice to see our Rav survived the Italian earthquake, we were beginning to wonder... Harry left our Austin Geek Headquarters Compound at the crack of dawn today, headed out into the badlands of the far west Texas desert to meet up with one of our ace Hollywood spys at the site of a historic battle between Comanches and Buffalo Hunters about 150 years ago. Topic of the meet? Well, I'm sure Lorenzo DiBonaventura ears will be burning... but enough of that, here's Rav...
Heya guys,
Well this is likely to be my last Venice report until I get back in the USA on Monday, I've still got plenty of films to review for you guys once I get back and four interviews to transcribe. Honestly I can't fricken wait to get back to Austin, nothing against Venice or anything, but its wearing on me pretty badly now. Also it seems all of the American and English speaking journalists have already vacated the premises for the film mecca that is Toronto. I've had quite a few ackward experiences here over the past twenty four hours, a couple of weird firsts one being an entire 2,000 person audience cheering at a line that basically said that Americans are all murderers who then jump back and claim they are the victims (during the premiere of 11'09'01 this morning, again its not the line that was suprising it was the fact two thousand people cheered for it that was ackward) and some sort of medical problem that caused complete chaos at the first screening of Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things (I still dont fully understand what happened there). Still two more days of the fest left, so in the next forty eight hours I will see John Malkovich's directorial debeut and an Italian animated childrens film that seems to be about a man training Indians on how to rebel against colonists or something like that, oh and I'm interviewing Beat Takeshi tomorrow too. So I'm going to give you guys some quick looks at a few movies I saw today.
Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things is quite an entertaining ride all the way through. Its already been reviewed pretty well from test screenings so I am going to keep this short and hopefully not be repeating things you already know. The film follows Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) an illegal immigrant in London who used to be a Doctor before he moved there is now getting by as a taxi driver and with a little hotel job at night. He also manages to rent a room from a beautiful refugee that works at the hotel named Senay (Audrey Tautou). His whole life is turned apart when he begins to discover body parts around hotel rooms, and the immigration services start out to nail Senay. In short Stephen Frears directed the hell out of this movie, the cinematography is outstanding. Audrey Tautou is just flat out wonderful, the english transistion seems fine as she is as good as ever here. This guy Chiwetel Ejiofor is fucking great, where the hell did they find this guy? Go see this movie whenever you can, and hopefully no one will have a heart attack half way through your screening.
Ripleys Game is quite a mixed bag, Malkovich is good, Winstone is good, just the film itself seems a tad lifeless I guess. Its about a now rich Tom Ripley turning a dying neighbor into a hitman. Dougray "Wish I was Wolverine" Scott does a decent job. Ennio Morricone contributes a slightly upbeat score. Lena Hadley and Chiara Caselli also contribute fine performances. I guess the real problem with it all is that it basically seems to turn into a popcorn action/adventure flick in the end, also halfway through the film I stopped giving a shit about Tom Ripley or even Dougray Scott's character. I can't wait to see Wim Wender's original version of Ripley's Game, I am sure it is a tad better than this was.
Dolls is another really fucking good movie from the master himself Takeshi Kitano. The film has three seperate stories, one about a guy who runs out on his wedding to take care of an ex girlfriend another about an aging yakuza, and another about a famous pop star's relationship with her biggest fan. Here Kitano has made a much more dramatic film than his previous films, I say this in the sense that there isnt really much action instead there are just great fucking stories for once. Kitano's DP did a once-in-a-lifetime job with this film, he has created such a surreal look in this its quite amazing. Go take a look at this film if you can.
Sorry for the really short update here I'm typing this on a break during the tail end of a seven movie day. I am quite jealous of some of you Toronto guys, heres a few titles for you guys to skip so you dont have to waste your precious Toronto time, Public Toilet (yes its real shit), Between Strangers, and Julie Walking Home (an entire audience boo-ed this one away).
I cant wait to see everyone back in Austin soon. Oh yeah I get to speak with Takeshi Kitano tomorrow woooohooo!
