Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
As this film opens in LA and NY today in very limited release, we’re still getting reviews in. People are very divided on this one so far, so let’s see how it shakes down this morning:
Hola Harry,
Just came back from a screening of I Love Huckabees with director David O. Russell in attendance. The film itself is very hard to describe so I will not even attempt. God know I read through some pretty average ones. Afterwards there was a Q and A that brought up some points and stories...
Someone in the crowd, while Russell was headed up to the mike, yelled out that they wanted to hear the mayo story (see the film to get it) and Russell (without missing a beat) repeated the whole story from the film with great pauses, afterwords saying he was pulling a Andy Kaufman
Isabelle Huppert (a second choice for the role, the first was Catherine Deneuve) objected to doing the sex scene because she thought it was distasteful. Maybe it was the fact that 21 years ago she held Jason Schawartzman in her arms as a baby (Jason being a relative of Talia Shire who plays a small but very good cameo and Isabelle being a good friend of Shire's). She eventually went through with it
Russell would let a whole roll of 12 minute film roll sometimes with no cuts, saying that a cut would pull the actors out of the scene.
Russell thank the crowd for coming out on debate night and acted out the debates for the crowd with key points and great imitations of both candidates.
He mentioned a NY times interview that featured pictures a few weeks back and said that half of it was bullshit. Even the actors were taking a stand saying that it was not true.
The review from NY times had just came out and gave it a glowing review, saying it is the post 9-11 screwball side of life (or something to that effect).
Was trying to get a New York baseball player (Jeter? did not catch the name) to be in the film but the owner flat out refused. The day they green lit the film the player was injured by a catcher by the name Huckabee.
The Three Kings Doc (Soldiers Pay) will be included in Uncovered: War on Iraq dvd. Russell says the studio could have easily keep it on the shelf but they let him have it.
Russell wrote Spanking the Monkey while on Jury Duty.
There was no night shooting on the film. The reason? "Shooting nights is a bitch!"
I loved the film and I hope it hold up on the second and third showing, which I do with most of Russell's films.
That is all I have. If you use this, could you call me lookingatanace?
Thank You
I may go back this coming week to see the film with the director and cast in attendance just to see what Russell’s got to say for himself and his film. Here’s another review:
Bottom line - it was a great. It was easily one of David O. Russell's best (not like we're dealing with a huge library) - but also one of the best movies I've seen this year. Here's my thoughts. It's not for everyone - but there is a small market of people deserve this movie very bady. No spoilers - nothing more than you'd get from the trailer:
When this movie comes out there will be big comparisons between it and Magnolia. On the first level, the same guy did the music for both - it's really distinct and magical (I hate that word). The bigger point is the interconnectivity concept, which they both explore. I love PT - more than Russell - but if either of them actually nailed the topic, it was Russell.
Huckabees throws it's message right out in the open - really bizarre, funny concepts about the world and all of us being interconnected - but presented as the most ludicrous dialogue you've ever heard. And then it happens ... the sheet - the Eiffel Tower - the weird stuff that first sounded like a Saturday Night Live sketch starts to make sense. It freaking resonates. Your ironic comedy shield had been penetrated - by none other than - A SLOW BLADE! I mean this thing works like Maus - Cats and Mice in the Holocaust - the genius in being so moronically blatant that the viewer disregards the whole thing as ludicrous and are STILL reached by the big meaning.
The visual style - at first - I thought was nonexistant - but as it got going I liked it more and more. It's like a Woody Allen film - the style doesn't dominate or scream for film students to embrace it (Shyamalan, Fincher perhaps?) It serves the story and shows the confidence of a really great filmmaker.
The cast was incredible. I won't get into each one - I hate long AICN articles - everyone is GREAT. Naomi Watts was beautiful and a great actress - the best I've ever seen of her.
My two complaints... no spoilers...
1) the scene with the parents... eh. Didn't really feel it. (minor complaint)
2) The music. It was beautiful, charming, whimsical, and beautiful. Yeah, it was really good, but if you're going to already draw Magnolia comparisons, don't you think a different composer would be smart?
Lastly, I read these boards a lot and there's a bunch of posts on AICN and IMDB that just trash the movie. My favorite was someone calling the banners of Naomi Watts "gay". Fine. Go watch Sky Captain - and tell me when the Episode III trailer is out. This is not a movie for you guys. But for people who love movies - the way some people love wine or things Italian- this is worth seeing.
I hoped this helped. I'm not trying to convert anyone. And I guess a name is tradition, so if it's not taken, I'm your Huckleberry.
(If that's taken, I will instead be known as Red Dagger)
And now here’s someone who really didn’t dig what they saw:
Hey y'all,
Just got back from the I Heart Huckabees east coast premiere at Mohegen Sun Casino in Connecticut. I don't know if Connecticut's had a big premiere before, but I hope there are more that I can press-whore my way into.
David O. Russell and Mark Wahlberg were the only people there involved with the movie. But I also spotted Jamie Lynn Discala (Meadow Soprano), that bald guy from "The Practice," a couple actors from that show "Entourage," (I've never seen the show but my photographer pointed them out) and Hellboy himself, Mr. Ron Perlman, who was extremely gracious and cool to me as I asked him if he really used to work at a carnival as he said on the Hellboy dvd extras. Apparently he "must have been fucking around."
On the red carpet, Russell compared Wahlberg to Brando, saying something like "You can't take the Brando out of Brando and you can't take the Wahlberg out of Wahlberg."
He spoke briefly before the showing, something not really interesting about existentialism. "You can be from Yale or from jail and you can still ask questions about your existence."
The response to the film was tepid, some clapping at the end and most of the high-rollers leaving before the credits.
I thought it was definitely an actors' movie, kind of like Altman doing a Charlie Kaufman script with a DP who just saw "la dulce vita." There was a very French new wave verve, maybe from all the people in suits standing in fields and riding bicycles. But the camera angles weren't nearly as interesting and fun as fellini. Hardly any movement at all, it was mostly tripod panning.
Jason Schwartzmann not nearly as bad as I expected. Still a little unconvincing as an environmentalist, looking a little more hipster than hippie. But I guess you can blame wardrobe.
Top-notch performance from Naomi Watts, whose transformation from spokesmodel to navel-gazing "Amish bag lady" was astounding. I see her as the next Nicole Kidman, only better. I hope she sticks to these quirky movies.
Jude Law did well also, as Huckabees corporate sap Brad, although his American accent had more than a few lapsed british syllables. "How am I not me?" was one of the most enduring sequences of the film, and probably something more people should ask themselves on a regular basis. Reminded me a bit of Tom Cruise's Magnolia role, kind of taking the piss out of himself a bit.
And Mark Wahlberg, who Russell said he wrote the film for, was his usual clueless self, which I see definitely as an asset. Not the most versatile actor, but he plays the working class stiff really well. Here he's a fireman who is obsessed with not using any petroleum products since what Lily Tomlin refers to as "that September thing."
Hoffman and Tomlin as the existential detectives were a novelty at first, but became disappointingly irrelevent as their cases wound out of their hands. Tomlin has the chops to do some great character work (see Short Cuts), but she was pretty bland.
Unfortunately neither Russell nor Wahlberg answered questions after the film, and most of the movie stars exited the building ASAP, leaving the media to enjoy the open bar and interview themselves.
I wouldn’t even begin to run someone down for disliking this film. It’s eccentric as hell and some people just aren’t going to like it. That doesn’t mean they didn’t “get it,” or that they aren’t smart enough to get it. It wasn’t made for everyone, and that’s what I loved about it. I hope you guys enjoy it as you see it in the next few weeks.
"Moriarty" out.
