Father Geek here with another of Latauro's missives from his "under the Great Barrier Reef" lair-office to post. Sooooo, here it be...
The Downunder Report...
Good at chess usually means bad at life. But then again, I'm bad at chess...
AICN-DOWNUNDER
Good at chess usually means bad at life. But then again, I'm bad at chess...
AICN-DOWNUNDER
35-year-old Melbourne filmmaker Carmela Baranowska couldn't be contacted earlier this week. SBS, the Australian broadcasting network for whom she worked, couldn't track her down. Her travelling companion Muhibullah, a Time Magazine correspondent, as well as their driver, were also missing. Zabul province security said that a car Baranowska was using had been found broken down near Kandahar. There were also reports from the Taliban that they had captured a foreign woman and an Afghan man.
Baranowska won the Rory Peck Award for her documentary EAST TIMOR: THE LAW OF VIOLENCE, and was working on a documentary about Afghanistan's preparation for free elections.
Days after everyone began fearing the worst, SBS received word from Baranowska who assured them that she was fine, and that she was not the woman the Taliban claimed to have captured. She is currently moving to safer areas to continue her work on the documentary.
Should make for an interesting work when it screens on SBS later this year.
* (By the way, my own personal favourite Brando moments? GUYS AND DOLLS. Be it "Daddy, I got cider in my ear!" or singing "Luck Be A Lady Tonight" or saying "Chemistry?" to a drunken Jean Simmonds... this is my own favourite Brando film. If you're considering a Brando retrospective to honour the man, you must must must add it to the standards of APOCALYPSE, GODFATHER and SUPERMAN.) NEWS
Plans to make CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW have suffered a minor set-back completely unheard of in the Australian film industry: lack of money. Hoping to raise $33million, producers were unable to reach their minimum target of $21million, and have returned investors' money. Producer Mark Pennell believes that not having a confirmed star in the role of Clancy harmed the revenue-raising, and will now take the project to studios in the US.
* Bill Bennett (KISS OR KILL) will, for his next project, direct the $7mil flick THE FARE. That's all I gots.
* In the continuing (and, now, disturbingly familiar) saga of films being banned in Australia, the just-released Catherine Breillat film ANATOMY OF HELL will be examined (heheh) by the Classification Review Board. The decision on whether the film will have its R18+ retracted (and, thus, the film will not be allowed to be publicly screened in Australia) will be handed down next Wednesday. The film, about a woman who pays a gay man to stare her genitals for four nights, was adapted from Breillat's own novel "Pornocracy". The complaints about the film were made by the Australian Family Association, who have also requested a banning of IRREVERSIBLE, which is due for release on video and DVD. The Classification Review Board late this week refused to reverse the classification, and IRREVERSIBLE will get its nationwide video release. All I can suggest to the Australian Family Association is that they buy up as many copies as possible and burn them in a big bonfire in the middle of the street. And, hey, maybe you could design yourself a catchy flag while you're at it! Now I think about it, Poland hasn't been invaded for a while...
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL
It was the last festival for SFF director Gayle Lake, whose final outing saw thirty-four sold-out sessions (compared to the eight of last year), as well as a nine per cent increase in attendance. The festival also marked a very rare event: HARVIE KRUMPET losing an award - the Yoram Gross Animation Award, this year going to BIRTHDAY BOY, directed by AFTRS graduate Sejong Park. Other major winners included PALERMO: "HISTORY" STANDING STILL in the general category, and HELEN'S WAR: POTRAIT OF A DISSIDENT in the documentary section. (HELEN'S WAR, incidentally, screened on SBS Television on Thursday July 1 for those of you lucky enough to catch it.) My favourite piece of news: audiences voted brilliant 1919 silent film THE SENTIMENTAL BLOKE as Best Feature Film. I absolutely cannot wait to see the restored version of this classic!
MELBOURNE UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
The brilliant (and often controversial) antidote to the Melbourne International Film Festival will this year focus on the subject of (wait for it) "violence". Playing at the festival is the Australian film WHY WE HAD TO KILL BITCH. I've been sent some info on this film from the makers, and it looks like funny stuff. For more info, head on over to the MUFF site www.muff.com.au or the BITCH site www.killbitch.com.
BOX OFFICE
Next week, the Amazing Peter Parker will displace the Ogre, which will please to no end all the spoil sports such as myself who think that the PDI fantasy is horrendously overrated. But I've spat on the film enough, particularly given I don't actually think it's all that bad. Hm. How did I let this preamble get away from me? On with the list!
And the top five are...
- 1. SHREK 2
- 2. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
- 3. MEAN GIRLS
- 4. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
- 5. THE PRINCE AND ME
RELEASED THIS WEEK
Catherine Breillat's film tries to make as much money as possible before next Wednesday, Roger Mitchell follows up NOTTING HILL's tagline with the question 'Can some old woman fall in love with the bloke from ROAD TO PERDITION?', thirteen year old girls excitedly anticipate the latest Eugene Levy film, Philip Seymour Hoffman proves that he can play more than just buffed wise-cracking action heroes, Zvyagintsev tries to pull demographic audiences away from MEAN GIRLS and the Olsen Twins, and even the second Spidey film is nervous at opening on the same day as itself.
Sooo the new ones are...
- ANATOMY OF HELL
- THE MOTHER
- NEW YORK MINUTE
- OWNING MAHOWNY
- THE RETURN
- SPIDER-MAN 2
REVIEWS
Despite the international release of SPIDER-MAN 2, I did not manage to see
it. Since the moment of the film's release I haven't had a spare minute to
go catch it. I was hoping to get a review to you before this column went up,
but alas, I'm catching it tomorrow so you'll get the thoughts next week. In
the meantime, I did manage to catch a flick this weekend past...
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
The work of Stephen Frears has always been hit-and-miss with me. HIGH
FIDELITY is one of my favourite films, and one of the best adaptations ever
made. DANGEROUS LIASONS is superb, and, similarly, the best film adaptation
of the French novel. But despite my vague enjoyment of it upon first
viewing, MARY REILLY isn't all that good, and I have to again place myself
in the minority as someone who really didn't like THE GRIFTERS. I wasn't
sure what type of film THE GRIFTERS wanted to be, but as I felt it had
failed on most counts, I supposed it didn't matter.
And that's my problem with Frears. He's not an auteur like, say, Soderbergh,
who always works closely with his screenwriters (just about every Soderbergh
DVD features a commentary between Soderbergh and his screenwriter, as if to
emphasise this point). His films don't feel like they have his indelible
stamp on them, there's no way to watch a film sans credits and pick it as a
Frears film. But perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps it allows him to take
a back seat to the story and the characters, two elements that DO appear to
be consistent throughout Frears's filmography. Despite that, I'm never
convinced that he's the driving force behind the film. It feels like they
unfold despite his involvement.
Again - and maybe it's just my wording - but that could be a good thing.
Possibly. Either way, I'm never overly excited about the prospect of a
Stephen Frears film. I'll go see them, but I'm never seeing 'The Latest
Frears Flick'. This time around, the most exciting prospect in the credits
list was Audrey Tautou; an actress I would pay to see reading the phone
book. Silently. And she was good. But, to my surprise, she was not the main
character.
The main character of DIRTY PRETTY THINGS is Okwe, played by Chiwetel
Ejiofor. This guy - who, by the way, had me convinced he was really
African... turns out he's English, born and bred - is phenomenal. A real
star turn that should, with time, be considered the turning point in this
guy's career. He's had minor roles in AMISTAD and LOVE ACTUALLY (as did
every other working actor in Britain today), but following this he's got a
role in SERENITY, and, hopefully, much more. Given he's in practically every
frame of film, it's essential that he be sympathetic and mysterious and
captivating - and he is at every moment. It's an understated performance
that is worthy of any of the great character actors of today, of Philip
Seymour Hoffman or William H. Macy, of John Malkovich or Gary Oldman. The
fact of his performance is not the core of this film - I wouldn't, for
example, describe this as an actor's film - but I was so blown away by it, I
felt that he was worth the excess praise.
There are two other things that really got to me during the viewing of DIRTY
PRETTY THINGS. The first (and I must mention that this was pointed out by my
companion), the internationally-flavoured scene where the African character
is having dinner with the Turkish woman played by the French actress
drinking Australian wine in an English film. The second is what I feel the
film is really truly *about*, and it's something that's not (or at least,
hardly at all) mentioned in the text of the film: refugees. We are not
spoon-fed a political opinion, we're not even presented it as an issue.
We're shown the plight of a handful of immigrants whose treatment as
refugees is a plot device used to colour the main plot. It's deftly-handled
by the screenwriter, and it makes this film an important one to slip under
people's radar.
In the end, what we're left with is a really solid film with really solid
performances and a script that is, in the wash, quite satisfying. And while
some people go to the movies because they love certain actors, or only go to
movies with specific genres, I have discovered that I'm a director's
audience. I go for the filmmaker. And while it may be admirable that Stephen
Frears never once gets in the way of his films, I can't help but wish that
he would.
NEXT WEEK
- James Caan and Roddy McDowell join Omar Sharif in Linsay Lohan comedy
sequel MEAN LADIES
- Red Cross Bolivia has won the contract to supply the blood for upcoming
sequel HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
- Tom Hanks to play Saddam Hussein in Martin Scorsese's HISTORY OF THE WORLD
PART II
Peace out,
Latauro
AICNDownunder@hotmail.com
Despite the international release of SPIDER-MAN 2, I did not manage to see it. Since the moment of the film's release I haven't had a spare minute to go catch it. I was hoping to get a review to you before this column went up, but alas, I'm catching it tomorrow so you'll get the thoughts next week. In the meantime, I did manage to catch a flick this weekend past...
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
The work of Stephen Frears has always been hit-and-miss with me. HIGH FIDELITY is one of my favourite films, and one of the best adaptations ever made. DANGEROUS LIASONS is superb, and, similarly, the best film adaptation of the French novel. But despite my vague enjoyment of it upon first viewing, MARY REILLY isn't all that good, and I have to again place myself in the minority as someone who really didn't like THE GRIFTERS. I wasn't sure what type of film THE GRIFTERS wanted to be, but as I felt it had failed on most counts, I supposed it didn't matter.
And that's my problem with Frears. He's not an auteur like, say, Soderbergh, who always works closely with his screenwriters (just about every Soderbergh DVD features a commentary between Soderbergh and his screenwriter, as if to emphasise this point). His films don't feel like they have his indelible stamp on them, there's no way to watch a film sans credits and pick it as a Frears film. But perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps it allows him to take a back seat to the story and the characters, two elements that DO appear to be consistent throughout Frears's filmography. Despite that, I'm never convinced that he's the driving force behind the film. It feels like they unfold despite his involvement.
Again - and maybe it's just my wording - but that could be a good thing. Possibly. Either way, I'm never overly excited about the prospect of a Stephen Frears film. I'll go see them, but I'm never seeing 'The Latest Frears Flick'. This time around, the most exciting prospect in the credits list was Audrey Tautou; an actress I would pay to see reading the phone book. Silently. And she was good. But, to my surprise, she was not the main character.
The main character of DIRTY PRETTY THINGS is Okwe, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. This guy - who, by the way, had me convinced he was really African... turns out he's English, born and bred - is phenomenal. A real star turn that should, with time, be considered the turning point in this guy's career. He's had minor roles in AMISTAD and LOVE ACTUALLY (as did every other working actor in Britain today), but following this he's got a role in SERENITY, and, hopefully, much more. Given he's in practically every frame of film, it's essential that he be sympathetic and mysterious and captivating - and he is at every moment. It's an understated performance that is worthy of any of the great character actors of today, of Philip Seymour Hoffman or William H. Macy, of John Malkovich or Gary Oldman. The fact of his performance is not the core of this film - I wouldn't, for example, describe this as an actor's film - but I was so blown away by it, I felt that he was worth the excess praise.
There are two other things that really got to me during the viewing of DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. The first (and I must mention that this was pointed out by my companion), the internationally-flavoured scene where the African character is having dinner with the Turkish woman played by the French actress drinking Australian wine in an English film. The second is what I feel the film is really truly *about*, and it's something that's not (or at least, hardly at all) mentioned in the text of the film: refugees. We are not spoon-fed a political opinion, we're not even presented it as an issue. We're shown the plight of a handful of immigrants whose treatment as refugees is a plot device used to colour the main plot. It's deftly-handled by the screenwriter, and it makes this film an important one to slip under people's radar.
In the end, what we're left with is a really solid film with really solid performances and a script that is, in the wash, quite satisfying. And while some people go to the movies because they love certain actors, or only go to movies with specific genres, I have discovered that I'm a director's audience. I go for the filmmaker. And while it may be admirable that Stephen Frears never once gets in the way of his films, I can't help but wish that he would.
NEXT WEEK
- James Caan and Roddy McDowell join Omar Sharif in Linsay Lohan comedy sequel MEAN LADIES
- Red Cross Bolivia has won the contract to supply the blood for upcoming sequel HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
- Tom Hanks to play Saddam Hussein in Martin Scorsese's HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART II
