Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with Grib's catch of the day. Below you'll find reviews of FORTY SHADES OF BLUE with the awesome Rip Torn playing an old bastard it sounds like. It's what he does best! God, I love Rip Torn. Also talked about is THE DYING GAUL which has a great young cast, lots of drugs, gayness and a '95 look at the internet all in one movie! Finally, the movie with the worst title at Sundance this year MARILYN HOTCHKISS BALLROOM DANCING AND CHARM SCHOOL starring Robert Carlyle, John Goodman (shut the fuck up, donny!), Mary Steenburgen and Marisa Tomei and it seems to be a really warmhearted, well put together flick. A trio of winners it seems!
Hi, Harry,
Grib here with my last report from Sundance '05. I'll give my thoughts on three films:
Forty Shades of Blue:
This is a melancholy, quiet family melodrama from co-writer/director Ira Sachs. Set in Memphis, the story revolves around Alan James (Rip Torn), a music producer (a character obviously inspired by Sam Phillips, legendary head of Sun Records) and Laura, his Russian girlfriend (Dina Korzun), with whom he has a three-year-old son. Alan met Laura on a business trip and brought her back to America, where he set her up in a nice house with beautiful clothes; the problem is that he ignores her while paying attention to every southern belle who shows up at the lavish parties he seems to be constantly throwing. Alan, played wonderfully by the foghorn-voiced Torn, is a local legend who is comfortable as the boisterous life of a party, but shows little interest or aptitude as the head of his own household. Laura withdraws into herself, drinking too much white wine, which leads to liaisons with the locals which she often fails to remember the next morning. Into this icy homefront comes Michael (Darren Burrows), Alan's estranged adult son, who has a host of issues of his own. The ostensible reason for his begrudging visit is a big party for his father, but the real reason is his need to escape his newly pregnant girlfriend, with whom he is considering breaking up. Michael and Laura quickly form a bond borne of their common rejection by the loutish Alan. The rest of the film follows these two as they try to reconcile what they wanted out of life with what they got. The only disappointment is Burrows' character, who is given little to do other than sulk about with a haunted look on his face. Torn is brilliant as the bull in the china shop, but the revelation here is Korzun, in a role that requires emotional restraint reminiscent of Jane Austen. She is capable of spanning a wide range of emotions with the slightest of twitches of her remarkably expresssive face, and her eyes reflect a world of pain. The film recalls the best of Ingmar Bergman in its depiction of so much emotional depth with so few words. The langorous pace will be off-putting to some, but Korzun's spellbinding emotional journey makes "Forty Shades" worth the effort.
The Dying Gaul:
Craig Lucas' screen adaptation of his play of the same name is more of a thriller than I expected. It is a good film that could have been great, but is cheated by a subpar last act. Indie stalwarts Patricia Clarkson, Campbell Scott and Peter Sarsgaard all deliver great performances, especially Clarkson, of whom the script demands a vast range of emotions. Sarsgaard plays a West Hollywood screenwriter whose screenplay about his lover's decline and death from AIDS is under strong consideration by exec Scott and his studio. The catch: it's 1995, and the studio feels that a gay-themed film not starring Hanks and Washington, no matter how well-written, spells box office doom. Scott leans on Sarsgaard to rewrite the lover's part for a woman. Sarsgaard balks, but Scott dangles a cool million in front of him. Scott introduces Sarsgaard to his wife (Clarkson), who takes an immediate liking to him. Before he knows it, Sarsgaard is sucked into the dysfunction that is the Scott/Clarkson marriage, and all three begin to become unhinged. The internet, still in its infancy in 1995, plays a large and ingenious role in the intertwining of these characters' lives. The first half of the film is tighter and better written than the second, during which the plot teeters on the edge of implausibility. (It helps to remember those heady early days of the internet, when we were intoxicated by the possibilities of this new frontier and not yet so wary of its potential dangers.) The film also ends on something of a false note. Still, "The Dying Gaul" is an impressive debut film from Lucas, and it further cements the already stellar reputations of Scott and Clarkson while reminding us that Sarsgaard is here to stay.
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School:
This is Randall Miller's feature-length expansion upon his short film that debuted at Sundance fifteen years ago. (Much of the short is incorporated in the feature.) Robert Carlyle plays a baker from South Pasadena who happens upon a one-car accident on the highway. The driver of the wrecked car (John Goodman), is seriously wounded, but manages to tell Carlyle a story in the ambulance: forty years before, while a student at the eponymous dancing school, he promised a girl that he would meet her at the school on a certain date in 2005 no matter what happened in their lives in the interim. Goodman asks Carlyle to find her and explain why he couldn't keep his promise. Carlyle, who has recently lost his wife, goes to the dance school and finds comfort in the lessons taught by Mary Steenburgen, who, it turns out, is an incredible dancer who still has quite a bit of sex appeal. Carlyle and the other students (including Marisa Tomei and a hilarious Donnie Wahlberg) experience various personal transformations as they learn to dance. This is a heartwarming film that deserves to be seen.
