Hey folks, Harry here... Ozymandias forwarded ol Robert's FANTASTIC coverage of the Venice Film Festival. Now Robert writes for an Italian Publication called La Finestra Sul Cortile... and if you want to see images and possible multimedia content from the festival... this is one of the best places you can look... It's all in Italian... so be a little multi-national and explore... afterall.. that's how I found that Taiwanese Glove Puppetry flick... just being adventurous online... Dr. T news is a bit upsetting... But I can't wait to see Kitano's latest... and well... Seom sounds fascinating... Here's the report.. and these will continue to come to you complements of Father Geek, Ozymandias and ol Robert Bernocchi... here's Rooooobert....
Venice Film Festival
Daily of 09/01/00
Robert Bernocchi - La Finestra Sul Cortile
What a day! We are starting with a lot of movies and one interview with the director of the most shocking movie seen at the Festival, Seom. We had two great dissapointments. Dr. T and the Women was very stupid and Denti, by Gabriele Salvatores, is one of the worst movies seen by now. So, when i was coming into the theater at 22.00 to see the new movie by Takeshi Kitano, i was very concerned. It wasn’t worth it. Takeski is a god and he confirmed today. Let’s start.
Brother, by Takeshi Kitano, out of competition (review by Robert Bernocchi)
Yamamoto is a gangster of the japanese yakuza. When his family is destroyed by his rivals, Yamamoto has to escape in the USA, where lives his younger brother. The guy is a member of a ridicolous gang composed mostly by afro-americans. With the help of Yamamoto they’ll become a very powerful organisation. But their ambition will destroy them. Takeshi Kitano is coming back in Venice after he won The Golden Lion for Hana-Bi in1997 and being consacrated as a great modern auteur. And he arrives with his first film shooted in the States. He created an unique style, made by incredible blasts of violence and ironic moments (he’s the contemporary Buster Keaton). And if you like the master of french polar Jean-Pierre Melville, with their characters lonely and ready to die for an ideal, you can’t miss Brother. The audience in the theater was excited. Some great moments. The japanese ideogram that means death made by dead bodies; a fabolous and original basket play; a moving ending. Maybe Brother isn’t a masterwork as Sonatine or Hana-Bi, but it still remains one of the best movies of the year. And Kitano (that’ my humble opinion) is the best living director of the world.
We made an exclusive video interview with Kitano that will be available at our site at the beginning of the next week (don’t worry, we’re preparing an english version, so you don’t need to speak italian to see it). By now, i asked him today at the press conference what will be is next project. He decided to adapt a novel by Monzaemon Chikamatsu, a famous japanese writer of the Edo period (between the 17° and the 18° century). He writed about mens and womens that falled in love, but were obstacled by the strictly rules of that age. These stories usually ended tragically, by the suicide of one the characters (or even both). So, don’t expect to see a japanese version of You Got Mail.
Dr.T and the Women, by Robert Altman, in competition (review by Giovanni Colucci)
The life of Dr. Travis (also known as Dr. T), a gynaecologist loved by his wife, his sons and his patients, changes abruptly. His wife has regressed in a childlike state; one of his daughers is probably lesbian; his sister in law is arrived at home with her three little girls. There are too many women in the life of Dr. T (that’s difficult to believe this could be a problem…). Robert Altman, one of the most important directors of the last thirty years, has done a movie that disappoints even his most faithful fans. After the Oscar to Pedro Almodovar for Todo Sobre mi madre, the masters of cinema continue to tell histories of women. In fact, Richard Gere is the only important male character and he has to face an army of women. His wife, his daughters, his sister in Law and her three daughters, the governess, his lover, his secretary, his patients. “Every woman is special” says Dr.T, but this is one of the problems of the movie. There’s anyone female character who is funny, bright or simply interesting. The coral portrait (a trademark of Altman cinema) of the women that live in Dallas (the director dedicated them the film) is not gratifying and is not apologetic as you can expect. Sometimes it becomes also banal and stupid. That’s not sufficient to insert some satiric scenes to do a movie in George Cukor style neither is sufficient to tell a very small tragedy to create a drama. If you like Robert Altman, please stay away from this movie.
Denti, by Gabriele Salvatores, in competition (review by Francesco Alò)
Antonio is a philosophy teacher in a college. From his childhood he’s obsessed by his huge front tooth. One day his girlfriend Mara, for whom Antonio has lefted his wife and his sons, upset because she’accused to betray him, throw an ashtray against him and breaks his tooth. This is the beginning of a absurd trip between crazy dentists and hallucinations. Salvatores said that Denti is his most personal movie ever. We prefered when he was less “original”. This movie has no sense at all. That’s just a mix of scenes that are not connected each other. The protagonist (Sergio Rubini) speaks with dead people that was part of his childhood to resolve his physicals and psycologicals problems. He meets his mother, the violent and gelous father, his funny uncle. There are too many close up and elaborated camera movements. The speeches are almost always incomprehensible and they are passing without capture the attention of the audience. And when, in a very stupid ending, Antonio discovers that he can fix all his problems by the coming through of two marvellous teeth that are covered by the filthy ones, you have a question to ask to the director: “is that all?” Yes, that’s all. Rubini is not so bad, but Anita Caprioli (his girlfriend) must have some influent friends to act. A very disappointing movie by the director of Mediterraneo.
Seom, by Ki-Duk Kim, in Competition (review by Robert Bernocchi)
Hee-Jin sells food and sex to fishermans who live in the floating houses of an island. Hyun Shik is an ex policeman running away because he killed his girlfriend and her lover. After he tried to commit suicide, Hyun Shik is saved by Hee-Jin. So they fall in love and decide to live together. Seom is an hymn to cruelty. If you know italian movies as Cannibal Holocaust or Mondo Cane, you can understand what kind of movie i’ve seen. There were a lot of horrible scenes with animals being tortured. Some examples. A fish is captured and mutilated and then is throwed back, still alive, in the water. Afterwards the same fish (it’s very lucky, isnt’it?) is captured again and this time cutted in pieces. But that's not the most disgusting moment. Do you always thinked that hooks are made to fish? You’re wrong. The male protagonist try to commit suicide by swallowing a hook and pulling the fishing-line. His girlfriend too uses the hook to injure herself. But she don’t put it in his mouth (i don’t tell you where because it’s too crazy for me, just use your imagination). That’s not cinema. No direction, no cinematography, no screenplay. The two actors are inexpressive, but i’m afraid one of them can win the prize for best interpretation. At the end of the Festival we’ll give, in our site, one special prize for the worst movie we’ve seen in all sections. Seom has many chances to win.
Seom Press conference
In Seom we see many episodes of cruelty toward animals and a lot of horryfing episodes, mostly the ones that describe the different ways to use hooks. Were they absolutely necessary?
Kim Ki-Duk: The images i decided to show represent some characterics of the human kind. Without them, my movie wouldn’t be the same, so i couldn’t eliminate them.
What can you say about the water and his meaning in the movie?
K.K.D.: This is my fourth movie and in everyone i attached a great importance to this element. The water symbolizes the desire to have a normal life, a goal that my protagonists can’t achieve.
We’d like to know somethig more about the cinematography of Seom. What’s the meaning of the different colors of the floating houses?
K.K.D.: The different colors of the houses are connected with the different actions happened there. For example, a house where was happened a love scene has one colour, one house where a violence arrived has another color.
What were the difficulties to shoot this movie?
K.K.D.: We made Seom with just 400.000 $, so we had no problems with the budget. But it was dangerous to shoot the scenes in the boat and i was very concerned about the safety of the actors. Besides, the troupe had great difficulties to make the violent scenes.
Many critics, even if they are accustomed to extreme movies, was disgusted by the cruelty and the sadism of Seom. How do you think will be the reaction of the public?
K.K.D.: I don’t know. I wanted to represent the pain of life, that you can’t resolve by meeting other people.
Prime Gig, by Gregory Mosher, in Cinema del presente (review by Robert Bernocchi)
Vince Vaughan is a cheating seller. When he lost his job, he receives an offer he can’t refuse: to work with an ex bookmaker (Ed Harris) who was jailed for insider trading. Between these two men there is a woman (Julia Ormond). The price of selling could be an alternative title for this movie. If you have worked in the field of sells by phone (i did), you can easily understand what this movie is about. Otherwise, you can learn something more about this people. You can learn, for example, that these society are very similar to religious organisations, with a cheef that sees and knows everything and with his followers that listen silently to his orders. So, who better than the man who created the Truman Show? Ed Harris is great, even if his presence on screen is limitated. The director Gregory Mosher, for the first time behind the camera, has worked mostly on theater, especially with David Mamet. Prime Gig reminded me Glengarry Glen Ross, but without the strenght of James Foley movie. And that’s diffucult to say that the ending is surprising, mostly if you know some classic dark movies of the ’40. But there are two lines that are great. Ed Harris: “She sleeps with you to get on my nerves”. Vince Vaughan: “Then she succeeded”. More. Julia Ormond: “What are the married couples telling each other every morning?”. Vince Vaughan: “Don’t buy anything”.
For tomorrow: reviews of What Lies Beneath, Fils de deux mères ou comédie de l’innocence (by Raul Ruiz), Merci pour le chocolat (Claude Chabrol), The Man who Cried. And also the interviews to the cast of What Lies Beneath (i asked Harrison Ford why he refused to be in Traffic).
See you
Robert Bernocchi - La Finestra sul Cortile
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Ozymandias
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