Hey folks, Harry here. I've been busy as a bee working around geek headquarters and having fun with GrendelKhan who came to Austin for a wedding. Sorry for not updating. But Father Geek and El Cosmico and the supermen of EuroAICN have been doing a bang up job. Well, my secret CANNES weapon, FROGGY, being the lil rascal that he is, has been busily snooping about CANNES and from his reports... sounds like there is some pretty outstanding work being exhibited out there. And it's nice to hear that HARRY (HE'S HERE TO HELP) is a pretty damn good film... I tell ya, there's something about that title I just like a lot!
Reviews for VATEL, HARRY (HE'S HERE TO HELP), BREAD AND ROSES, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, NURSE BETTY and more from the Aussie Frog...
Hi Harry - know that you're getting a fair bit of coverage in from the drizzly Croisette but here are my two cents on the films I've managed to see so far. Bizarrely, it's only the end of day two and I've been very very lucky. Some of them you've covered already, others not.. so here goes
VATEL
The out of competition opener got a very mixed reaction and a lot of people were VERY surprised to learn that Miramax have picked it up for US distribution. Directed by Roland Joffe, its a sort of a cross between RIDICULE and BABETTE'S FEAST, and suffers from that whole Euro/US coproduction feel. Bizarrely it feels like it would have been better not to be in the English language because Gerard Depardieu's dialogue is IMPOSSIBLE to understand!!! Despite being a hit and miss affair it was quite lovely to look at and I can always find time to watch Uma Thurman...
HARRY (HE'S HERE TO HELP)This superb little film kicked off the official competition in unexpectedly terrific style. Lean, mean and as disturbing as anything Hitchcock ever did, it's the story of an ordinary couple who's marriage is seriously drained by economic pressures and their demanding 3 little girls. Into their lives comes an old school friend (the Harry of the title) who decides to 'help' them with their woes. Of course, it all goes horribly wrong...
The film is like a cross between STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. There's nothing incredibly new in the plot but as a piece of genre, it truly won a lot of people over including myself. It looks like a sure hit in Europe and if they can come up with a punchier english language title, it could cross over really well. Look out for it. Will be sold everywhere IMHO.
BREAD AND ROSES
A rather predictable slice of drama from Ken Loach, with a rather unexpectedly ordinary performace from the miscast Adrien Brody, who I thought was so great in Summer of Sam and The Thin Red Line. Basically a pro-union story about mexican janitors in LA fighting for better conditions, this film would be difficult to recommend if it wasn't for one amazing scene between two sisters that literally shut the entire Lumiere audience up (which is a very difficult thing to do given that it seats about 3500). Anyone who ends up seeing the film will know what I mean. The performance of one of the women (not the lead, but her sister) knocked everyone out. Coincidentally this actress has a tiny role in the very next film that I saw which was
THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER
I had read a fair bit of coverage out of Sundance on this film, and didn't really expect much, but it was really quite enchanting.
Directed by the son of the great writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, it was a very Chandleresque slice of interconnecting stories featuring a bunch of knockout performances from very well known actresses. Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Calista Flockhart etc etc.. The real surprise for me though was Cameron Diaz who I hope will get more chance to do some serious drama after her role here as a blind woman. She was great. It will probably be sold as a chick flick which is a shame, because it's quite a moody, thought provoking little piece of work.
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH
Oh my god, Harry. Talk about a cinematic depressant. This is the new film from Terence Davies, adapted from the novel by Edith Wharton. I ain't read the book, but I was expecting a bit of an Age of Innocence/Wings of the Dove type period love story. Boy, was I right and terribly wrong.
It's the story of Lily Bart (played by your and my favourite FBI agent Gillian Anderson), who's a sort of mischievous, gossipy gal in New York society who is on the prowl for a husband. The man she really loves, Eric Stoltz, isn't wealthy enough to support her but she gets in serious trouble when she starts messing with the malicious Laura Linney (truly frightening). Essentially the film starts of as Dangerous Liasons Lite but ends up as a sort of period horror story as Anderson takes a massive dive out of society and onto the scrap heap. The film is absolutely extraordinary to look at but for most people will be far too depressing to be able to recommend.
May I, however, be the first to say that Gillian Anderson has a LOCK on an Oscar Nomination for her performance. I AM NOT KIDDING!! Whether you like the film or not, no one is going to be able to deny that she has a range that the XFiles has only hinted at, and has a career in film for sure. She is BRILLIANT in this film. Congrats Gillian.
Another actress who will blow the socks off people is Renee Zellwegger in NURSE BETTY. This is the new film from Neil LaBute, who up til now has demonstrated a great skill with misogynism and emotional brutality. Boy, has he taken a backflip here.
NURSE BETTY is the v. cool story of a Kansas waitress who is addicted to a soap called "A Reason to Live". She's secretly infatuated with the lead doctor in the show, played by the very well-cast smoothie Greg Kinnear. Unfortunately her real-life husband, Aaron Eckhart (sp?), is a low life car dealing scumball who has ripped off some stolen merchandise. Two hitmen (Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock) brutally murder him in the house, and Betty (who is in the kitchen but goes unnoticed by the killers) is so fucked up by the slaying that she slips into a mental fugue-state and convinces herself that she's a character in the soap. Needless to say, chaos ensues. She ends up in L.A. and in a serious of exquisitely designed circumstances ends up in Kinnear's world. I don't want to say too much because this a film that really deserves to be discovered by audiences. If you haven't worked it out already, I LOVED this movie, and the European crowd absolutely lapped it up... much cheering & applause etc.. The film is solely reliant on Zellwegger, who I have never been that enraptured with until now even though I thought she was very appealling in Jerry Maguire. There has been a fair bit of backlash against her being cast as a Brit in BRIDGET JONES DIARY over a lot of very good English actresses, but having seen NURSE BETTY I don't think there's going to be a problem. I should also point out that Morgan Freeman is again terrific in a very different role. Look out for this movie because I think it's going to be a bit of a sleeper hit.
The only real stinker that I've seen so far was WHAT'S COOKING which I think was also at Sundance. What a waste of an amazing cast. Julianne Margulies, Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Joan Chen, Mercedes Ruehl, the kid from Star Maps etc... Basically a lets-play-out-every-predictable-Thanksgiving-cliche scenario imaginable. Snore.
Oh well, thats it for now. I'm going to read the script for the new Coen bros tonight and then see O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? first thing tomorrow. What a life!
signing off..
Froggy
