Well, Discerning Film Lovers, you've come to the right place to get the early word on three films that you should definitely look forward to it seems... Linklater's TAPE, a first-time filmmaker's SCOTLAND, PA and an OZ flick called THE DISH that we'll be seeing later this year for sure! Here ya go...
Hi Harry:
Today I saw three great films: TAPE, SCOTLAND, PA, and THE DISH.
First, Richard Linklater's TAPE is a great film. It was shot (and projected for us at Sundance) digitally. Linklater was there for the Q and A this time and told us that he's going to blow it up to 35. He also talked about it as if it were a "work in progress" although it seemed pretty well set to me. It's based on a play (the playwright was there for the Q and A). Somehow, Ethan Hawke got hold of it and sent it to Linklater who thought it may be good a project for a certain ongoing digital series. The whole thing takes place in one hotel room (and, does, at times feel like a play.) The characters, though, are marvelous and well interpreted by Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard and Uma Thurman. The plot involves Hawke's character's trying to get Robert's character to apologize to Thurman's character for a date rape he may or may not have committed ten years earlier. Linklater does some interesting swish pans to cover various conversations because, he said, "it felt right." TAPE (filmed and edited without any tape) is a good film, although I liked Linklater's WAKING LIFE much better.
SCOTLAND, PA is an excellent film. It's a first-time effort from director/screenwriter Billy Morrissette who is married to the film's star, Maura Tierney. Tierney plays a wonderfully frightening Pat McBeth. The film is an update of Shakespeare's MACBETH, placed in a small town in the 1970s (with a great 70s soundtrack.) James LeGros as McBeth and Christopher Walken as McDuff (who even dances with maracas in one scene!) are fabulous. The script is extremely funny. The 1200 of us in the Eccles theater just roared through most of the film. When prodded, Morrissette admited to watching FARGO about 50 times. SCOTLAND, PA has that same kind of dark humor. I loved it. I really hope this film gets picked up.
I also enjoyed THE DISH, which Warner's has picked up (I believe for a March release date.) It's a feel-good film (strange, in Sundance!) about a small Australian town with a huge satillite dish that was chosen by NASA in 1969 to help cover the moon landing. Think of it as WAKING NEIL ARMSTRONG or BILLY ELLI-NASA... it's got that same kind of small-town character humor. This was a wonderful film.
I can't wait to go to the awards showings tomorrow.
MEMENTO MAN, signing off!
