Father Geek here, freezing my butt off in the Texas Hill Country, with the latest from our man Latauro, way down yonder in the land before time where evolution drew a wild card, annnnnd the seasons are all upside-down...
The grass is so green. The sky is so blue. Spectre is really great.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
AICN-DOWNUNDER
(The following has nothing to with films, Australia and New Zealand. I'm self-indulgent, shoot me.)
Okay, I couldn't help notice there's going to be a new "CSI" show on the Tele. I mean, let's be honest, they're only going to stop making them when they stop rating (they'd keep going until well after they run out of cities, trust me). And I'm excited about the concept of "CSI: New York". Why? Because I've uncovered a secret formula. AICN-D will be the first to reveal, using simple mathematical statistics, who the two lead actors will be.
THE LEAD ACTOR WILL BE ROY SCHEIDER
Think about it. The original "CSI" has William L. Peterson, who was big in the 80s, but then took a nose dive. Also, one of his most notable film roles was TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., which was directed by William Friedkin.
"Miami" has David Caruso, who was big when he was in "NYPD Blue", and then took a nose dive. His most notable starring role was (shamed to say) JADE, which was directed by William Friedkin.
Scheider was big a while ago, but definitely took a career nosedive (punctuated briefly by the Talking Dolphin Action Hour). And Scheider, of course, starred in Friedkin's WAGES OF FEAR remake, SORCERER.
THE LEAD ACTRESS WILL BE KATHLEEN YORK
Jorja Fox's first big role was in "The West Wing", playing a supporting character (the President's daughter's Secret Service guard). She then went on to slightly bigger fame (though noticeably worse scripts) with "CSI".
Emily Proctor's first big role was in "The West Wing", playing a supporting character (a feisty blonde Republican lawyer). She then went on to slightly bigger fame (though noticeably worse scripts) with "Miami".
There were a lot to choose from here. I almost went with Danica McKeller, but if they're casting Scheider they'll want to go with someone marginally older. Someone who could believably have UST with Scheider (although anyone having believable UST with Roy Scheider...). So I'll have to put my tick next to Kathleen York, whose most notable role was (arguably) her supporting character in "West Wing", playing Toby's ex-wife Congresswoman Andrea Wyatt.
So there you have it. Tune in next week when I convince you all that Carrot Top will be playing the captain in the new "Star Trek" spin-off "Star Fleet Academy!".
(Oh, and one more thing: I've changed email accounts. No longer send your
fan letters, spam, or queries about the number of orcs seen in any given
shot in ROTK:EE to Downunder@aintitcoolmail.com. Please forward them all
onto AICNDownunder@hotmail.com. Cheers!)
* You'll never guess what. Remember when we told you about the Hammer remakes?
The new wave of Hammer films? You remember... Looks like Joel Silver has
booked the Movie World lot in Queensland to remake... You ready for this... HOUSE OF WAX. And he's
hired a Spanish TV commercial director to helm it. But my source failed to
tell me the most important piece of information: WILL IT BE IN 3-D?!? We'll
let you know.
* Sydney, meanwhile, will play host to a telemovie about the early years of
"Dynasty". Many Australian actors and actresses are being auditioned, but
the big question remains: is this with the original cast, or the remake that
John Travolta was vying for? With Joan Collins as part of the cast, I'd say
the former... but then, who cares? We'll probably just wake up and discover
it was all a dream, anyway...
* The brilliantly funny Gerry Connolly (if you live in Australia and don't
know who he is, shame on you) will star in THE QUEEN AND I. My spy tells me
that Connolly co-wrote it with director Michael Pattison, and that it's
'very funny'. There are going to be some big cameos (and not necessarily
from actors), but names cannot be divulged yet...
* THE EXTRA, one of the films funded by the big Macquaire Bank money splurge
program, will be the first project to use the Central City Studios, the $110
million complex that's opening in Melbourne next month. The Docklands
studios has had a lot of problems in the years it's been under construction,
but when it's finally built, it's hoped that it will be suitable competition
for Sydney and Queensland.
* Well, the Free Trade Agreement between the US and Australia got signed,
sealed and delivered. And though the ones who got pooch-screwed more than
anyone else were the sugar farmers, those in the film and television
industry were crying foul. Geoff Brown, executive director of the Screen
Producers Association of Australia said their quest to protect local content
felt like a defeat, and that 'we are even worse off than the can producers'.
Others in the industry are annoyed, but not as vehement, as the general
consensus seems to be that, yes, it seems like nothing too bad has happened,
but we won't really know until the rules have been tested. And when those
rules are tested, we'll let you know.
The prestigious French festival recently awarded the Special Jury Prize to
Australian short drama DELUGE, which was directed by Flordeliz Bonifacio and
produced by Samantha Jennings.
Australian-produced doco CHILDREN OF TIBET: THE EXILE GENERATION has been
selected for competition in the 2004 festival. The 53-minute documentary
recounts three young Tibetan refugees' journey by foot over the Himalayas to
India.
Ngila Dickson is the big name in the charts this week, with two films in the
top five. Burton's BIG FISH jumped to the top, knocking down ALONG CAME
POLLY.
Gandhi moves in with Emma Murdoch, Gaspar Noe shoes us the ugly side of
rape, Kevin Costner plays a cowboy and still does a better English accent
than he did in ROBIN HOOD, Anakin furthers his fall to the dark side by
faking newspaper articles, skateboarders get put in jail, Greg Kinnear
attempts a career revival by parasiting himself onto Matt Damon (prompting a
last-minute conjoined twins-themed script rewrite), and Diane Lane gets her
groove back.
(Also: those of you in Melbourne will be lucky enough to catch a double bill
of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, and FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE - and they're both
restored prints! I'm the only person in the world for whom FOR A FEW DOLLARS
MORE is the best of the Dollars Trilogy... hope to see you a the Astor!)
I saw this a number of weeks ago, and never got around to reviewing it.
Couldn't tell you why, it's just something I delayed. I think because, for
me, this is a film that just ran a marathon and is now sitting on the ground
a couple of metres before the finish line, waving at the crowd.
No, I promised I wouldn't do this. I wouldn't do that thing I do, which is
focus on one or two things that bugged me and end up with an unintentionally
negative review. No, not this time.
I'll start with the cast. Ewan McGregor is one of those guys you cast when
you need someone to nail a character. I mean, the guy slays everything he
does. He can do the melodramatic scenes that Hollywood sometimes demands
without faxing it in, and yet he revels in the quirky. He's walking that
fine line between arthouse and cineplex, and his balance is awesome. He is
the man Albert Finney's Edward Bloom was, and he's the man he imagines he
was.
Finney is predictably spot-on, and a perfectly-suited elder version of
McGregor. He's convinced everyone around him that his stories are real, and
his reality is where he wants it. Except for his illness. And his son. The
two things that he hasn't managed to control are coming back to him at once,
and you can see the conflict in him. But it's all his eyes. Bloom is used to
being a man in control of his situation, and without ever drawing attention
to it in the film's text, it's all there. All in Finney's eyes.
The film's style is turned up to eleven. The town that Bloom comes across in
the forest is scarily beautiful. Small flourishes, like an English-to-Asian
phrasebook really make the film what it is: something that sounds like it
could be possible until you squint to check out the details.
Only problem is, that's what the film is on more level than one.
Okay, this is the bit where I tell you my problems with the thing: it was
all candy. It was pretty and terrific on its surface, but dig a little
deeper and you come out the other side. There's really nothing underneath it
all, and if I were to analyse the deeper meanings and hidden subtexts, I'd
either be applying my own deeper meanings and hidden subtexts or I'd be
seeing the work of the brilliant actors (see Finney above).
I've always been amazed at how someone as strange as Tim Burton can be so
mainstream, but now it's pretty obvious. Aside from the standard
people-will-see-anything-if-they-like-the-actors-enough, he goes with the
easy surprise. With the pretty picture that really doesn't mean anything. I
mean, I love his work and if we're talking about directors with an acute
visual sense, Burton would be high on the praise list. But this film feels
like it needed more. It feels like it ignored the more.
I haven't read the book the film is based on, but I feel that the fish we
see in the film's opening had something more to it. It represented
something, or many things. And sure, the film eventually gives us the idea
that Bloom is himself the big fish, but it just leaves it dangling there. We
don't know enough about the fish for this to mean much more than anything.
Those of you who disagree may think I'm harping on about the most minute
thing I could find, but it's really a significant thing. It speaks to the
rest of the film (or it should), and is what stopped this film from reaching
its potential.
Tim Burton has made a film which is very, very good. I enjoyed it a lot, and
I look forward to more viewings when I eventually buy the DVD. But it
stopped short of greatness. It could have really been about something, but
instead chose to look like it.
Uh... Latauro? What the fuck? You know this film came out years ago, right?
Does it really take that long for you to right reviews?
The answer is, of course, yes. But I debated whether to bother with this
one. I mean, there have been a number of new releases I've seen and not
reviewed (if anyone can list me the merits of reviewing CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN
on AICN, please write to the address below, or just flame away in the
talkback area), why am I reviewing this now?
Firstly, because I only just saw it for the first time. Secondly, because
director Clara Law is a director on par with Terry Gilliam, Alex Proyas, and
mid 90s-era Gus Vant Sant. This is an Australian film that came out in 2000,
and was the first big role for Rose Byrne (who will soon be seen in Wolfgang
Peterson's TROY and in the generally unnecessary US remake WICKER PARK).
A snake collecting Japanese man is flying to Australia to buy his dream car:
a 1967 Citroen. When he gets to the house, he finds the car is in the
possession of a pretty blind girl. To buy the car from the correct owners,
she says, they must drive for five days to find him. The man goes along with
this, and on the way we get glimpses into the girl's history, and the
history of her mother.
The cinematography is mind-blowing - anyone who regularly and nervously
watches Australian films knows that this is a rare thing. The end credits
told me it was shot by Dion Beebe, who recently knocked socks off with his
work on CHICAGO. But it's how Law and Beebe use these visuals that makes it
something more than a pretty picture. When they bleach-bypass the film
stock, it's not because it looked cool in ALIEN RESURRECTION. There's a
reason for it. When the characters are driving through the city, the
background isn't rear-projected to cut costs. The more you watch this film,
the more the layers reveal themselves.
It's why she reminds me so much of Terry Gilliam. Gilliam is one of the very
few directors out there who has something interesting going on at *every
level*. Whereas Burton resides on the surface (and does it - mostly - with
such artistry that it's hard to criticise), Gilliam ensures that every frame
position, every morsel of colour, every prop and set means something. They
always look nice, but there's always something else going on. Clara Law is
on the same level as Gilliam, and it's shocking that she's not made a film
since.
The plot turns and the way each element is revealed should not be spoiled
for the uninitiated, which is why I've given you so little to go on. But
still, why? Why have I bothered to write a review for a film you can get
down the local video store? Because most Australians will not have seen it.
More will have seen SCARY MOVIE 2 than GODDESS, because Hollywood rules our
multiplexes. Also, a large percentage of you aren't even Australian. You
won't have had it released anywhere near you, and that's why you've got to
hunt it down. Trust me on this one. Make this film the SYMPATHY FOR MR
VENGEANCE you absolutely had to track down, the film you can't see at the
local cinema or hire at the local Blockbuster and so have to put some effort
in finding and take a chance on.
I've got my fingers in perpetual crossed mode in anticipation of ONE PERFECT
DAY, hoping that it will help weigh down the plus column under 'Local'. As
someone who wants so desperately to promote the local industry and yet
hardly ever sees a film worthy of excess praise, I'm hopping from
foot-to-foot as the days to ONE's release tick off. And all the while, THE
GODDESS OF 1967 was sitting on a shelf. Soon, it'll be on mine, and (I hope)
on yours.
- British distributors change the title of A's latest film to 0.74 OUNCES
- Ken attributes break-up with Barbie to her on-set affair with Russell
Crowe
- In an effort to win back support, Michael Eisner proposes to poison the
world's drinking water as part of a big new marketing campaign
(note new email addy! note the lack of hyphen!)
NEWS
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
CLERMONT-FERRAD SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
BOX OFFICE
Here's the winners at the BO...
RELEASED THIS WEEK
Annnnnnd here are the new releases...
REVIEWS
BIG FISH
THE GODDESS OF 1967
NEXT WEEK
Peace out,
Latauro
AICNDownunder@hotmail.com
