A photographer (Campino) comes to Palermo, Italy, and tries to reconcile his career with his happiness. Including a host of luminaries (like Milla Jojovich, Patti Smith and Lou Reed) playing themselves, The Palermo Shooting promises to be a look at life and fame from a director whose previous looks at geography and personal history have included Wings of Desire, Buena Vista Social Club and Paris, Texas.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT
Because it's Wim Wenders -- really, what more reason do you need? Wenders is a brilliant filmmaker, and his previous movies have all managed to mesh very real senses of place with thoughtful, human explorations of the human condition; this film looks a little higher on the glitz-and-glam index than some of his earlier work, but that's not a cause for concern; Wenders has tackled everything from hard-bitten realism (Paris, Texas) to to rueful fantasy (Wings of Desire) to weird science fiction-ish mysteries (The End of Violence); if his take on the modern world of fame and fortune's as good as those, we'll be very lucky.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT It's a small, intimate, art-house film about feelings and regret ... oh, no; sorry: It's the return of one of the best-loved action-adventure franchises of all time, with Harrison Ford back as archaeologist Indiana Jones, dragooned into the hunt for a famed artifact of power by Cate Blanchett's raven-haired Russian agent Irina Spalko. Along for the ride are Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone and Karen Allen, and every trailer and advance piece suggests the fights, chases, insanely complex ancient deathtraps, globe-trotting international intrigue and narrow escapes we've come to love are all in the mix.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT To paraphrase Sir Walter Scott, breathes there the person with soul so dead that their heart doesn't beat just a little faster at the sound of John Williams' classic theme? Yes, Ford is older -- and, really, aren't we all? Some early mutterings have suggested that "the kids" aren't enjoying Crystal Skull; when you consider that "the kids' made Transformers and 300 box-office smashes, that seems more like a hearty endorsement than dire warning. Minority Report demonstrated that Spielberg's still got terrific action chops, and while a certain sense of nostalgia's certainly involved for many, there are fairly solid odds that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull might actually be good, too.
DIRECTED BY: Abel Ferrara STARS: Ethan Hawke, Bijou Phillips
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Combining fictional characters with archival footage, Chelsea on the Rocks is a look at the famous (or is that infamous?) Chelsea Hotel, where the bohemian clientèle has been immortalized in song and story. The Chelsea's history is both sparkling and squalid; it's where Bob Dylan wrote "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," it's where Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it's also where Sid Vicious' girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed in 1978. The Chelsea's been a temporary home for everyone from Mark Twain to Joni Mitchell, and considering how many things that have happened there have subsequently become legend, Ferrara's mix of fact and fiction seems like an excellent approach.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT
Because, love him or hate him, Abel Ferrara (King of New York, The Funeral) has never been boring; and for those cynics who suggest that Ferrara's glory days are behind him, well, you could say the same thing about the Chelsea -- and what could be more intriguing than one faded New York icon's look at another faded New York icon? Add in plenty of potential told tales and bohemian Manhattan gossip, and you've got the strong possibility of a chatty, catty flick about some of the most interesting (and troubled) writers, artists and hangers-on of American pop culture.
DIRECTED BY: Steven Soderbergh STARS: Benicio Del Toro, Franke Potente
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A four-and-a-half hour long epic combining Soderbergh's Guerilla and The Revolutionary, Che looks at the life of Che Guevara (played by Benicio Del Toro). The first half examines Che's role in the Cuban revolution; the second, his later-life failed attempt to inspire similar events in Bolivia. With a supporting cast including Franke Potente, Lou Diamond Phillips, Benjamin Bratt and Julia Ormond, and shot with high-resolution digital cameras, Soderbergh's two Che films promise an intriguing take on the traditional bio-pic, as the life and times of a wildly controversial figure are brought to the big screen by one of our most talented directors.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT
Well, it's Soderbergh and Del Toro tackling a complicated topic; the last time that happened, with Traffic, the end result was fairly impressive. Add in the epic length, the possibilities offered by the use of high-definition video -- it's nearly impossible to imagine these films getting made with the cost dynamics of film -- add the on-screen presence of Del Toro, and you've got a series of elements that are guaranteed to get film fanatics ready, willing and excited to sit down for 278 minutes of storytelling about a revolutionary in the hope of enjoying some revolutionary storytelling.
DIRECTED BY: Fernando Meirelles STARS: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
When a mysterious affliction -- "The White Sickness" -- leaves over 90% of the population blind, people try and cope with the fractures left in society. Meanwhile, one woman (Julianne Morre), untouched by the illness, has to hide her ability to see so she can better help her husband (Mark Ruffalo) as everything falls apart around them. Will Moore's sight be their salvation, or their ruin? And is there any possible cure for "The White Sickness?"
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT
Meirelles (perhaps best known for City of God) is a director to watch; his first big-studio film, The Constant Gardener, was tragically overlooked. Blindness may have an impressive big name cast (Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Alice Braga), but the fact that the screenplay adaptation of José Saramago's Nobel Prize-winning novel is by Don McKellar is just as exciting. McKellar's demonstrated a warm-yet-weird sensibility with similarly apocalyptic material in his earlier film Last Night, and the literary and cinematic roots of this project promise a film worth getting excited about.
I've been fortunate enough to have been able to go to Cannes for the past four years now, and I'm getting ready for my fifth. And, as I often say when explaining film festivals to people who've never been to one, it's not just an adventure; it's a job. Cannes is a "get-away" the same way running from a burning building is "a tour of the grounds"; there are plenty of movies, plenty of work, and the overall emotional tone of the event is a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration. The heady moments of pure movie magic come fast and furious with the muck-and-money reality of international financing and distribution happening all about you.
Going to Cannes means seeing at least 40, maybe 50 or more movies in 10 days, never mind actually thinking and writing about them; you'd think that that kind of pace would soon turn into a blur, and it does, but it's a glorious one. Here's some of my favorite movie going moments (highly subjective, of course -- I've not included last year's ridiculously strong quartet of Persepolis, No Country for Old Men,The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, as they're still so fresh in my mind) from the past four years of the Cannes Film Festival; think of these as the rushed recollections of a film critic who knows exactly how lucky he's been.
At the Long Beach Grand Prix, the roar of high-powered race car engines fills the air, a deep bass thrum cutting through the smell of exhaust in the early summer heat. Tens of thousands of race fans have gathered to take in the metal-and-rubber reality of racing, but in the Long Beach Convention Center, a small group of journalists have gathered to talk about a big-screen fantasy vision of the spectacle roaring around us, Cinematical was there to speak with the people behind Speed Racer: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox, as well as producer Joel Silver.
Emile Hirsch, relaxed and fairly amused, is asked about embodying a classic character. "It's pretty cool." He laughs; "I was a very big fan of the show growing up ... I would just watch it every morning with cereal ... sometimes soda in the cereal. ..." I then asked Hirsch if, after reading the script, he was worried about being Mark Hamill to Matthew Fox's Harrison Ford, that Speed would be out-cooled by Racer X. "Well, now I am ..." The rest of the sentence is unprintable, but Hirsch then mocked Fox's masked mystery man and spoke sincerely about Speed's virtues: "Yeah, (Racer X) is so cool ... No, no, no; Speed's got the nobility; Speed does the right thing; Speed is ... Speed's cool."
When David Mamet's Redbelt was announced, the initial simple summary seemed bizarrely incongruous: A noted playwright and dramatist making a film about martial arts? But while Redbelt involves the worlds of Jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts, it's really just another way for playwright, screenwriter and director Mamet to look at the world. As martial arts instructor Mike Terry (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is taken from his noble (but underfunded) studio and plunged into the greed and glitz of Hollywood and commercial fighting.
As Mike tries to hang on to the things that matter to him in a world that dismisses honor as unprofitable, Mamet's script and direction create a film that somehow puts a philosophical twist on traditional fight films while also embodying everything we love about them. Cinematical spoke with Mamet and Ejiofor in Los Angeles.
I don't know a lot about Speed Racer aside from what I've gleaned from the theme song over the years -- apparently, the young man's a demon on wheels -- so, in many ways, I'm the best possible audience for Larry and Andy Wachowski's new big-screen interpretation of the character. Originally a Japanese animation program exported and re-dubbed for the American market in the '60s, Speed Racer has now been revived and revitalized for now. And the Wachowskis have created a blast of pure pop family fun; Speed Racer's a bright, bold visual spectacle designed for kids.
And why shouldn't it be? Or, rather, how could it not? This is a property where one of the supporting characters is, after all, a monkey; any fully-grown individual hoping for an adult action film or racing realism is looking in the wrong place. Speed Racer plays like a car-crazed visual wonder -- it looks and feels like what pop artist Roy Lichtenstein would dream if you locked him in a room full of gas fumes, gave him only candy to eat and showed him nothing but Tron, Indianapolis 500 footage, episodes of the '60s Batman TV show and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. All at the same time. With the volume very, very high.
What were the top films at this year's Tribeca Film Festival? What have been the breakout performances of this year's fest? What does Tribeca need to do to be even better next year? And finally, is the question of if Iron Man's box office will take a hit from Grand Theft Auto IV lazy journalism, or just plain stupid? Joining the Rocchi Review this week along with your regular host James Rocchi is Cinematical's Editor-in-Chief Erik Davis to talk about all these topics and much more. Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:
As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.
(As Son of Rambow opens today, here's Cinematical's review from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival ...)
After a week of high-power documentaries and wrenching dramas at Sundance, there's a strong chance I may have been extra-susceptible to the charm and sheer exuberance of Son of Rambow, the newest film from director Garth Jennings and the production team known as Hammer and Tongs. But I don't think so; the giddy, goofy and heartfelt creativity of Son of Rambow would stand out regardless of where, or when, one had the good fortune to see it. In 1980's Britain, young Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is a good-hearted, slightly burdened young boy, grieving his lost father, constrained and supported by the humble Christian community his mother finds solace in. The group shuns television and films; they live with simplicity, piety and grace. None of which, it seems, can compete with Sylvester Stallone....
After a spot of bother at school, Will winds up not-quite-friends with troublemaker Carter (Will Poulter), a scamp with slight troubles. In the storage shed at Will's family's business, Will is exposed to a pirated VHS copy of First Blood. Will's never seen a movie, or heard a story not taken directly from The Bible. It is, to him, a revelation of the highest order and leads to Will and Carter collaborating on a camcorder epic, Son of Rambow. The fact that Will seems to be working out some issues with his absent father is fairly obvious, as is the tension between Will's sacred teachings and his more secular desire to run through the English countryside pretending to commit acts of derring-do.
One of the challenges of being a great artist is that not all of your art is going to be great. The Beatles wrote several songs that lesser acts would have turned into careers, but that nonetheless lack the power of "Yesterday" or the joy of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"; George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier is an excellent work of journalism, but not nearly as good as Homage to Catalonia. Redbelt, the latest film from writer-director David Mamet, is not as impressive or thought-provoking as some of his other dramatic works, like Glengarry Glen Ross or House of Games or Oleanna; at the same time, it's an exciting, engaging mix of drama and action supported by an immensely appealing lead performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things, Children of Men).
Redbelt's subject and setting may make it seem incongruous -- Why is one of America's greatest playwrights making a film about mixed martial arts and Jiu-jitsu? -- but it's actually in keeping with Mamet's other recent entertainments like Spartan, his work as a co-creator of The Unit and his pseudonymous work on the screenplay for Ronin. Redbelt fits in with these projects: They have a kind of heroic stoicism under them; they're stories of honorable men in a dishonorable world. They've all got a kind of muscular poetry, too, a hard-bitten nobility that's still a little sad about the edges.
One of the many nice moments in Iron Man comes as techno-titan Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) is consulting with his artificial intelligence majordomo, Jarvis, about the fabrication of the newest version of the high-tech power armor Stark intends to use to stop evil and protect the innocent. Looking at a holographic simulation of the proposed design of the glittering, golden armor -- which enables its wearer to fly, lift cars, shoot energy beams, withstand bullets and includes many other clever bits of engineering -- Stark makes a brief request regarding the color scheme: "Why don't you throw a little hot rod red in there?" Stark seems to be saying Sure, it's fancy and expensive and technologically majestic and wonderful, but a little style can still go a long way. ...
And as it is with the Iron Man armor, so it is with the Iron Man movie. Marvel Comics' first foray into self-financed film making has movie stars and impressive effects and a script where every plot point you would expect meshes with its neighbors as precisely as the plates and pieces of Stark's armor do, but it's the touches of style that make it truly sizzle. Director Jon Favreau does not seem like a choice you would expect as the director of a comic-book movie; Robert Downey Jr. does not seem like a choice you would expect as the star of a comic-book film. Between the two of them, they give us something different from the comic-book movies we've come to expect; a little swagger, a little strut, a touch of self-mocking humor that never undercuts the pleasures of the thing being mocked. It's as if someone snuck a hefty slug of bourbon into your cherry cola; all of the sugar and flavor and fizz you expect from a well-made comic-book movie are there, but there's something a little more grown-up going on behind them.
Deception, starring Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor, is being sold as an "erotic thriller." Any experienced cinemagoer knows that this phrase, which promises two things, usually indicates a film that will fail to deliver either. American studio films either tiptoe around sex or stomp on it with clown shoes, and the modern thriller often relies on activities that are not, and cannot ever be, thrilling -- electronic funds transfers, typing, mouse-clicking. Deception, directed by Marcel Lanegger from a script by Mark Bomback, begins as Ewan McGregor's lonely auditor Jonathan McQuarry labors late into the night in a huge conference room, vast windows looking out over the lights of the city. Shut in, walled-away, cut-off, Jonathan is worse than miserable; he's invisible. But then Hugh Jackman's brash, blunt Wyatt Bose waltzes in, makes some small talk, sparks up a joint. It's not what Jonathan's used to. Then again, he hates what he's used to.
Why It Might Do Well: Because people just plain like Carell -- and the film's plot pitch where a secret agency's having their top people exposed forces them to shove unknown agents out into the field is, in fact, a solid story-driven reason for an incompetent like Max to placed in harm's way. ...
Why It Might Not Do Well: We may be a little tired of Baby Boomer-era nostalgia TV getting splashed up on the big screen; anyone else remember how well I Spy turned out?
Fun Fact: Get Smart was created by Buck Henry and Mel Brooks -- yes, the men behind The Graduate and Young Frankenstein.
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Cinematical's 2008 Cannes Preview
EXCLUSIVE: 'City of Ember' Poster Premiere!
Tons of New 'Quantum of Solace' Images!
