Hi people. Today I attended the press conference which introduced the Venice Film Festival. Would you like to know what we'll see between the end of august and the first days of september? Here we are, but before that, a very important announcement for all the Tolkien fans.

Two weeks ago, I sent the official program of Hobbiton, the largest event dedicated to Tolkien in Italy (which is available, updated today, here: Just Click To See It)

Well, I have to communicate a major change. Unfortunately, the Italian Tolkien Society was forced to move Hobbiton from Udine as previously planned to the small town of San Daniele del Friuli, near Udine. What's the matter? Well, the recently elected regional council of Friuli not only decided to cut off a previously conceded funding to the event of 20.000 euros (not a great sum, considering that another local event, Mittelfest, received last year ONE MILLION euros and was only able to gather a similar audience than Hobbiton), but asked 25.000 euros to rent the Villa Manin Park. Thus, the Italian Tolkien Society (which, as the all TS worldwide, is a non-profit organization), had to move abrutply Hobbiton to the more friendly San Daniele del Friuli. Anyway, the Regional Council decision, as you can imagine, is provoking a lot of problems for the planning of Hobbiton, the most important the serious risk to go overbudget.

Thus, we are asking all the Tolkien fans worldwide to help us by sharing our protest by sending a message to to the Regional Council President at this mail address: presidente.giunta@regione.fvg.it . Please, send a copy of your protest also at the Tolkien Society (so we can count you) at this address: Click now

There is no need to send long mails, it's enough to make clear the reasons of your protest.

Venice Film festival

It seems that the audience who will attend the Venice Film Festival has many reasons to enjoy. In fact, you can see at Lido premiers of Intolerable Cruelty by the Coen Brothers (even if the copy presented won't be exactly the same released in theaters later, in fact the Coens declared they have to shoot a pair of new scenes yet), The Dreamers by Bernardo Bertolucci, Anything Else by Woody Allen, The Human Stain by Robert Benton, Once Upon a Time in Mexico by Robert Rodriguez and Matchstick Men by Ridley Scott. All these movies will be presented out of competition. Indeed, the only american movie in competition is 21 Grams by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (a mexican director, by the way). The director of the Festival explained that many american movies which will be at Lido refused to partecipate at the competion. Thus, we'll see, among others, the latest works by Takeshi Kitano, Marco Bellocchio, Jacques Doillon, Manoel de Oliveira and Tsai Ming Liang competing for the Golden Lion. In the second competitive section, called Controcorrente, we'll see new movies by Sofia Coppola, John Sayles, Raul Ruiz and the iranian Babak Payami.

You can see a full list of movies showing at Venice here:

By Just Clicking Now

Last but not least, two new reviews by our James Bartlett:

The Man Who Sued God

Director: Mark Joffe Billy Connolly, Judy Davis, Colin Friels, Wendy Hughes, Emily Browning Due for Release 102 mins

Steve Myers (Billy Connolly) is an ex-lawyer who gave it all up to be a fisherman. When his boat is sunk by a bolt of lightning on a stormy day, he goes to claim his insurance and is told it was an "Act of God" - so there's no kerching.

This is not good news; Steve owes the money for his boat to his ex-wife Jules's (Wendy Myers) new boyfriend; if he can't repay it, the caravan park Jules runs will have to close and they'll have to go to Perth - taking daughter Rebecca (Emily Browning) with them.

Steve asks his brother and fellow lawyer Daniel (Colin Friels) for help, but is told to forget about it - no-one ever takes on the big insurance companies and wins. After making a drunken fool of himself in a restaurant, Steve decides to go for broke - he'll sue God for the cost of his boat (or at least the highest religious representatives in the land).

So, the Presbyterians, Catholics, Jews and others are soon served their papers - and Steve's case is taken up by ambitious reporter Anna Redmond (Judy Davis). With bush fires raging closer and closer to the city, Steve's campaign gains momentum and he is soon speaking for many others who have been shafted by the insurance suits - is he a heretic, a lunatic, or a man with a good point? And is there any way the rich religious organisations are going to let him get away with this?

There are some really good things here; the film has an undoubted charm and the idea is simple and plays out well. It's also got hints of screwball comedy - Davis (playing an unusual comedy role) and Connolly (an inspired bit of casting, as this sort of subject is one he'd cover in his comedy shows) is a delight - they work really well together.

The whole cast works well too; there are familiar faces here (partly due to Australian actor's union involvement in tv/film - it's a hard business to get into, so those who do get lots of experience and are usually better actors as a result).

There's plenty of laughs and a good question at the core of the story; in a world when many people believe God doesn't even exist and we have scientific explanations for most "force majeures", how can insurance people can get away with that term anymore?

This is an Australian film and like many films that come from Down Under, it has a refreshing lack of frippery and gloss, concentrating on the story and the characters, but still managing to have logical and satisfying twists and tense moments.

There are some problems though, as some important areas aren't really explored; the seemingly amicable relationship Steve has with his ex, even though it seemed a messy divorce, the actions of his brother and Anna's near-psychological problems regarding her father.

Made several years ago, this is no doubt on the cusp of a release due to Jim Carrey's success in "Bruce Almighty" - see the Big Yin in this too and decide on the better film. A clue? More money does not equal more quality.

Veronica Guerin

Director: Joel Schumacher Cate Blanchett, Ciaran Hinds, Gerard McSorley General Release 98 mins

Dublin in the 1990's and journalist Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett) has got her eye on an ignored and growing story - the spiralling drug problem in the North of the city. As dealers in leather jackets and designer watches drive round in Mercedes, young kids share needles and kids play in the streets amongst discarded syringes. The Gardai (Police) seem powerless to stop it happening, so someone has to stand up for those who cannot help themselves.

Guerin sets her sights on John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley) and uses her Police contacts and one of Gilligan's hoods - John "The Coach" Traynor (Ciaran Hinds) - to try and draw a net around Gilligan and hopefully start a chain-reaction in public opinion and get a renewal of efforts from the Gardai.

With the South Dublin drug dealers now getting involved in a turf war and the IRA claiming the credit for the murder of John "The General" Cahill (another suspected drug dealer but more famous as an art thief and himself the subject of several films in recent years), it was obvious that there was going to be a time when Guerin began to step on the wrong toes. When she finally receives a death threat, she begins to think that she should give this up and safeguard her husband and son - as well as herself.

This film is a complex one; it has been an enormous hit in Ireland, where Guerin and her exploits were a huge story - especially because of her questionable journalistic skills, lifestyle and liking for publicity. There would also be those who said that her quest was a selfish one, as *plot spoiler* she was murdered herself, after ignoring the warnings and even an assassination attempt.

Others would argue that her work - and death - highlighted a horrendous (and rarely mentioned) drugs problem in the city and led to the change of some laws that meant that the assets of supposed criminals are now frozen.

However, as with nearly all biopics, you have to conquer the "Who?" factor - and I doubt many outside Ireland know who she is. Also, the fact that she dies (and we see this at the beginning of the film, as the story is told entirely in flashback) does make you realise that, whilst she took a stand and did some good, the drug problem still rages in Dublin, especially in the North of the city - so what was it all for? Related to that, it is inconceivable that the IRA were barely mentioned in any context in this film, just as it is inconceivable that they would have not had a say in the drugs trade in Dublin.

That said, Schumacher directs at a pace, the actors all work really well and if you can get over the clumsiness of the way that Guerin (whether this is true or not) virtually seems to go out of her way to make herself a sitting duck and never listens to or explains herself to her family (including an utterly wasted Brenda Fricker as her mother), you may find this an interesting story of a woman who went close to the edge to try and change things - but fell over the cliff.

Whether this can be classified as an "important" film about an important person, I'm not sure; it's too intricate to be pure entertainment, because we'd have had more guns, nudity and balaclavas if it was (after all, this is - as we keep being told - a Jerry (Black Hawk Down, Bad Boys, Armageddon, The Rock) Brucknheimer film, but scenes such as the one when Gilligan confronts Guerin are truly shocking, so it sort of falls between stalls; neither a shady undercover danger-around-every-corner expose flick, but neither a traumatic family drama either (I would certainly hope Guerin's real family did more to stop her than we saw here).

James Bartlett

That's all for today See you next week

Robert Bernocchi

rob.bernocchi@caltanet.it

http://www.caltanet.it/2003/?id_arg=2003&desc=CINEMA