This is one of the films that has been steadily getting rave reviews since it first started showing at fests over in the U.K. back before the summer. So as we track it's performance across the festival circuit it looks like it could very well end up being an Oscar contender, possibly for Jon Voight and otheres. So keep your eye open for this one. It opens here in the U.S. on December 18th.
i was so flattered and thrilled that you posted my review of flowers of shanghai, i decided to belatedly write you about last weekend's fest screening of john boorman's latest film the general. boorman was on hand afterwards for q & a with film critic roger ebert. i don't know if someone else already posted a review from cannes or the new york film fest, but if not here we go. first, let me comment on the sloppiness and ineptitude of the chicago film fest. at every screening i go to, inevitably, there is a projection problem, reels get switched or misplaced, framing is off etc. and in true form, this happened with the screening of the general. with the director present! boorman wryly commented on this fact by saying that kubrick always said the only person with the true final cut is the projectionist. anyway, the film:
IT'S AMAZING!
it's thoroughly entertaining, gorgeously shot on location in dublin in beautiful black & white, and features superb acting especially from the lead brendan gleeson who stars as the notorious irish mobster martin cahill aka "the general". i thought i had never seen gleeson before, but in fact alot of us had. he played mel gibson's crazy irish sidekick in braveheart. he is unrecognizable from that film though. the story is almost like an irish goodfellas, recounting the rise and fall of martin cahill who functioned mainly through the 80s and 90s until he was assassinated by the ira in 1994. cahill is played as a thieving youth by eamon owens (the amazing child actor from the butcher boy). the action quickly moves to cahill's colorful adult years when he rules the underworld as a thief, extortionist, smuggler, and charmer. he carries on with both his wife and her sister (with his wife's encouragement), raises pigeons with his son as a hobby, nails a guy's hands to a pool table when he suspects he's being cheated, and outwits the local police captain (played by the always impeccable jon voight sporting a flawless irish accent). boorman isn't afraid to get right next to cahill - refusing to condone or condemn his actions. despite many of his inexcusable crimes, we can't help but feel sympathy for this charming rogue. my one problem with the film is that the irish accents are so thick that i had trouble at times discerning exactly what they were saying. but otherwise, this is a completely accessible, provocative entertainment. it opens wide from sony pictures classics in december. boorman is an extremely articulate, soft-spoken englishman who shared many affectionate reminiscences about lee marvin with ebert afterwards. this is one visionary filmmaker who has rarely made the same film twice (point blank, deliverance, zardoz, excalibur, emerald forest, hope & glory). anybody who loves movies is in for a major treat when they see this one.
that's all
johnny boy's ghost
