Published at: Aug. 14, 2005, 11:18 a.m. CST by staff
AICN-DOWNUNDER
Here I am at AICN-D number #100. It's a bit of a hollow celebration, given
there were plenty of AICN-Ds before I started, and given the number
probably
isn't 100 anyway if you include top ten lists and film festival reports
and
the like, but damn it, it's a big round number and I'm going to celebrate.
I didn't actually have any celebrations planned. I just thought people
might
like to send me money.
If, however, you feel I don't deserve money for this tripe, please scroll
down to have your opinions confirmed by a lacklustre news section followed
by a review that's sure to piss everybody off.
Enjoy!
NEWS
Kiwi actors Emily Barclay (IN MY FATHER'S DEN) heads to New South Wales to
join Michael Dorman in SUBURBAN MAYHEM. Directed by Paul Goldman
(AUSTRALIAN
RULES, THE NIGHT WE CALLED IT A DAY) and written by Alice Bell (SUBURBAN
MAYHEM), the film follows a nineteen year old girl accused of killing her
father. The film will lens in Sydney and Newcastle, and will hopefully
out-gross FANTASTIC FOUR 2.
VOODOO LAGOON, a film I'm certain I've reported on fairly recently but
can't
be bothered searching the archives for, has begun production up north on
the
Gold Coast. The film is a co-production between Australia and the UK, and
will feature characters, story and conflict.
Reader JRS has written in to let us know about the closure of the Valhalla
cinema in Sydney. Apparently this has taken place a week before the
closure
of another arthouse cinema, the Chauvel. The importance? "That leaves less
than the number of fingers one hand to watch art-house or indie films in
Sydney city, without having to travel to fox studios. (or opera house, no
parking) Sad day indeed for the aspiring filmmakers and the indie
market/crowd. What is Australia doing with the industry?" Don't worry,
JRS!
I'm sure when DUKES OF HAZZARD comes out, there'll be plenty of mainstream
cinemas playing it! Thanks for your letter!
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
AUSTRALIAN SCREEN DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
The ASDA will be holding its annual conference this September at the
Sydney
College of the Arts. The conference, entitled "Creating Freedom: Dreaming,
Planning and Realising the Low Budget Film" will feature guest keynote
speaker Joel Schumacher. As much as I'd love to make a Schumacher joke (I
don't care how out-of-fashion they are, I still get a kick out of them),
he's actually a pretty good choice. If there's anyone who knows how to get
a
film made when all hope is lost, I'm sure Joel is the man.
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Adding an impressive *nine* world premiers to its iPod playing list, TIFF
has managed to secure THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN, helmed by Southern
Hemispherarian Roger Donaldson.
44TH MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
A few of the winners from MIFF's Short Film Competition included Iran's
SILENT COMPANION (Grand Prix for Best Short Film), the Iranian/Swedish
PROSTITUTION BEHIND THE VEIL (Best Documentary Short), Chris Cunningham's
RUBBER JOHNNY (Best Experimental Short) and Australia's IN MY DAY (Best
Animated Short). Hope we'll see some of those come Oscar time.
14TH BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
BIFF also wrapped up, announcing the three winners of the Jury Awards last
Saturday. The film critic's award for the best Asia Pacific Film went to
LOOK BOTH WAYS from Sarah Watt. The 2005 Interfaith Award for a film
promoting humanitarian values went to Gregg Araki's
no-longer-in-danger-of-being-banned MYSTERIOUS SKIN. The Netpac Award for
the Promotion of Asian Cinema was awarded to SPYING CAM, a South Korean
psychological thriller from Whang Cheol-mean.
RELEASED THIS WEEK
Adrian Brody finds some gulfing attire, Will Ferrell models his life on
that
English guy who spent a year saying "yes" to everything, Stephen Chow
makes
THE MATRIX for film critics, a Culkin gets revenge on someone twice his
size... with hilarious results!, Danny Boyle's agent comes up with an
interesting pay day negotiating tactic, and someone thinks of a new suffix
for the word "wedding".
THE JACKET
KICKING AND SCREAMING
KUNG FU HUSTLE
MEAN CREEK
MILLIONS
WEDDING CRASHERS
BOX OFFICE
Doing pretty good business in its second week (phenomenal business,
compared
to its US opening) is Michael Bay's suddenly-litigious cloney island film.
Nice work getting Romero to third spot, by the way.
1. THE ISLAND
2. MONSTER-IN-LAW
3. LAND OF THE DEAD
4. FANTASTIC FOUR
5. SIN CITY
REVIEWS
WEDDING CRASHERS
(massive spoilers)
I'm a fan of ANCHORMAN and DODGEBALL and ZOOLANDER. Generally speaking, I
dig the output of the Stiller-Vaughn-Wilson-Wilson-Ferrell troupe, and
will
see most everything they collectively do. Last Monday I skipped work to
see
a media screening WEDDING CRASHERS, which I'd been hanging out for. After
all, Wilson and Vaughn are, in my opinion, the most charismatic of the
two,
and seeing them paired together was impossible to resist.
I came out thinking the film wasn't really that good. It has its funny
moments and its roll-your-eyes-how-did-they-put-that-in? moments, but as
vaguely enjoyable as it was, there wasn't a lot of chemistry. Owen Wilson
and Vince Vaughn didn't have the chemistry that either one of them shares
with Stiller, but both are very funny when featured alone. There were also
some big wastes: the boyfriend that Wilson's trying to win The Girl away
from is too much of a Convenient Arsehole, even by Hollywood standards,
and
Christopher Walken was pretty much wasted.
I came out thinking the film was a bit nothing. Then I thought a bit more
about some of the reactions I'd had at key moments in the film, and
realised
that the entire film is actually about something else, and, on that level,
it's quite brilliant.
When the scene came up on screen, I started to ponder the actual nature of
Claire Cleary (McAdams). If her own feelings and attractions and morals
and
standards are so irrelevant, even to her, then how can she exist? If she
makes decisions based on what John (Wilson) and we (the audience) want -
and
in this case, we are one and the same - then she is not a separate
character, but merely a part of John. His superego. John reacts almost
completely on his id, and in the final scenes he is forced to act as ego
to
counter the two. Claire is non-existent. She is not a character in this
film.
Gloria (Isla Fisher) *is* a character. She certainly has her own opinions
and feelings and goals that Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) is forced to deal with
and
react to. She certainly does exist, and the love story between them -
improbably as it is - is far more important than the one between Claire
and
John. Why?
This is more than just a buddy film. This is a film about Jeremy and John
being in love with one another.
Look, I roll my eyes as well when critics try to read homosexual themes
into, I don't know, TOY STORY or whatever. I don't think Dorothy's red
slippers represent her first period, I just think that the studio thought
red would look better in technicolour than the grey that L. Frank Baum had
written in the book. I didn't go searching for these themes in WEDDING
CRASHERS - they jumped out at me. I couldn't avoid them.
Wilson and Vaughn are in love with one another (I'll stop using their
character names - having seen the film less than a week ago, I still
needed
IMDb to get their monikers). They express this love by finding girls
together, sleeping with them simultaneously, and talking about it
afterwards. The bottle they share at that ubiquitous Washington site is
the
post-coital cigarette.
Wilson isn't happy, though. He wants more and isn't sure how to get it. He
goes for generic, raven-haired beauty at one of the weddings. She's not
any
more beautiful than the other girls we see him sleep with, but we're
assured
that this one is special because she laughs at the vows the couple on the
altar share.
He and Vaughn do their thing, lie about everything in their lives, and,
when
found out, are booted out by the family. The exodus comes after some
encounters with the younger brother of the family, Todd, who basically
represents Vaughn's fear and self-loathing. It's Todd's advances that
ultimately serve as the catalyst for Vaughn going over to the "dark side",
the monogamous heterosexual relationship he'd always despised and mocked.
Kicked out of the Cleary house and spurned by McAdams, Wilson maintains
he's
in love with her, but really it's not that bad. He's able to continue his
life without too much trouble. He pines, but everything carries on as
normal; his life is not thrown into tumult. What *really* screws him up is
when he finds out that Vaughn has been continuing to see Isla Fisher in
secret. At that point, Wilson's life falls apart. He's a wreck.
He then does what many scorned lovers do, and tries to find a replacement.
Who does he find? Will Ferrell. This casting is significant, and it's
revealed to us in what the filmmakers hope is the most suspenseful way
possible, because we know exactly who he is. We know Ferrell. We know the
films he's done with Wilson, with Vaughn, with Stiller. He's one of the
guys. This could easily have been a buddy comedy between Wilson and
Ferrell.
Wilson goes to him to ease the pain of Vaughn's betrayal, and tries to
create something similar with Will.
Of course, it doesn't work out, and that's when Wilson essentially crashes
the wedding of Vaughn and Fisher, and gives that big speech to McAdams.
The
speech isn't that good and shouldn't really excuse him, but she kisses him
and everyone applauds. What really happens in the scene (and again I say
that if the scene was really a reconciliation between Wilson and McAdams,
then their reunion would carry more weight or be, at least, more
believable)
is Wilson making his peace with Vaughn. Asking for him back. Making a
compromise. At first, I thought that compromise is the realisation that if
they hook up with these sisters, then they can be together forever. Then I
realised that if McAdams doesn't really exist, then the compromise is
Wilson
agreeing to tag along and tolerate Vaughn's fake relationship with Fisher.
A successful public declarations of love is not real. Compromise is. And
that, ladies and gentlemen, is what the film is really about.
NEXT WEEK
- Warner Bros. purchases WOLF CREEK remake rights to use as the structure
for DUKES OF HAZZARD 2
- Eddie Murphy goes to the premiere of Werner Herzog's GRIZZLY MAN and the
next day pitches an idea for DR DOLITTLE 3
- Steven Spielberg begins production on a fourth INDIANA JONES movie
