In Contention

Tag: Che

  • AFI FEST: ‘Hunger,’ ‘Che’

    Benicio Del Toro in CheFour days and three screenings into the 2008 AFI Fest, I’m one-for-two and looking to add to the “win” column as much as possible in the next week.  It hit me this afternoon, though, that no two films could be better suited to an introductory update from the festival, two exercises in subverting the conventions of the biopic.  One succeeds, one fails, but both maintain a certain spirit that you don’t find in the work of many filmmakers today.  And interestingly, both are set for distribution by the always courageous IFC Films.

    Let’s dive in…

    “HUNGER” (***1/2)
    Who the hell is Steve McQueen anyway?  Talk about bursting onto the scene out of nowhere — with what could have been an unfortunate namesake — and carving a spot for yourself that no one will soon dispute.  “Hunger” is one of the year’s best films, a curiously intimate dissection of the blanket, no wash and hunger protests of IRA prisoners held at HM Maze Prison in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

    Spearheaded by a committed (to say the least) performance from Michael Fassbender, the film may be the most visually dynamic effort to hit cinemas in 2008.  McQueen deservedly won the Caméra d’Or (for best first feature) at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, but a case might have been made for a technical citation for lenser Sean Bobbitt.  He captures the most mundane and intimate moments with an epic craftsman’s touch, guided no doubt by McQueen’s own preoccupation with lingering in this most uncomfortable — and unfortunate — of settings.

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  • I have to say it

    Some folks have really had the wool pulled over their eyes as it pertains to “Che” this year.  That’s a shitty thing to say, I know, but it’s weird when you sense the spell of a maverick filmmaker cast so precisely over viewers just asking to be spellbound.  Suddenly subversion for its own sake and the amplified “sophistication” of a filmmaker — who seems to be flipping his audience off with each endeavor lately — equals bravura filmmaking and top-notch artistry.

    I beg to differ — emphatically.  Which isn’t to say there aren’t elements of “Che” that grabbed me and really bowled me over (like the pitch-perfect ensemble performance, for instance).  But the hero-worship, on screen and off, is simply too much.  I can’t get into it now; I’ll be here all day.  I’ll dig in later.

    Interestingly, some of these same champions were knocking “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” 12 months ago for similar choices.  Funny how that happens.

  • 11/2 Oscarweb Round-up

    James Franco• After a third go, Jeffrey Wells is still in the tank for “Che,” claiming that you have to do some homework on the subject before coming into the film. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Steven Zeitchik writes up the Oscar season from the most played-out perspective in the book: biopics. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Chrissey Iley chats it up with Leonardo CiCaprio. [The Guardian]

    • Meanwhile, Elizabeth Day goes toe-to-toe with Clint Eastwood. [The Guardian]

    • Michael Ordoña is a busy bee this weekend, first tackling a one-on-one with Viggo Mortensen… [Los Angeles Times]

    • …then chatting with Edward Zwick about his new film “Defiance.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Sam Adams, meanwhile, talks to “Milk” star James Franco. [Los Angeles Times]

    • The stars share their thoughts on the 2008 election. [Premiere]

  • Awaiting ‘Che’ at the Chinese

    I lucked out with a couple of prime, mid-theater seats here at Grauman’s Chinese for tonight’s heavily anticipated screening of “Che.” Suffice it to say I won’t be posting for another five hours at best. I’ll try to hammer out something on the screening and after party either later tonight or in the A.M. For now, nothing but excitement. A once-in-a-lifetime event.

  • 11/1 Oscarweb Round-up

    Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky• Mark Olsen goes deep with Soderbergh on “Che.” [The Envelope]

    • Tom O’Neil chats it up with “Happy-Go-Lucky” star Sally Hawkins. [Gold Derby]

    • Jeffrey Wells susses through conflicting running time numbers for “Australia,” which, by the way, 25 days out from release, where the hell is this movie? [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Anne Thompson spends some quality time with Danny Boyle. [Variety]

    • Yeah, wait until you see Newton as Condi — if you can stand it. [The Guardian]

    • Anthony Breznican reports on the twisting and turning Oscar season of 2008. [USA Today]

    • Boy…Karina Longworth really doesn’t like Angelina Jolie’s work in “Changeling.”  [Spout Blog]

  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Milk’ unveiled, London winds down, Halloween horror

    It’s been a quieter seven days after the upheaval we’ve seen in the race lately, but here’s how things went down:

    • “Milk” and “Frost/Nixon” finally unspooled for the LA crowd…

    • … and boy, some people don’t take kindly to criticism of either flick.

    • Meanwhile, “Doubt” kicked off the AFI Fest…

    • … while the London Film Festival drew to a close, showcasing “Che” and “The Wrestler” along the way. Check out our assorted reviews and “best in show” wrap-up.

    • ‘Tis the season to be scared shitless… the 20 all-time best horror films, as assembled by our team.

    • Christopher Nolan offers pretty much the final word on “The Dark Knight,” while some wonder if he can complete a Batman hat-trick.

    • The British Independent Film Awards revealed their nominees… “Hunger” and “In Bruges” are sitting pretty.

    • Best Sound Editing gets its week in the sun at Tech Support.

    • Looking at some new blood in this year’s tepid Best Original Song race.

  • ‘Doubt’ lands at AFI

    Meryl Streep in DoubtMiramax honcho Daniel Battsek and actresses Meryl Streep and Amy Adams joined director John Patrick Shanley tonight in introducing the world premiere of “Doubt” as the AFI Fest’s opening gala presentation.  The film, adapted from Shanley’s stage play, has quickly become the lead Oscar pony for a studio that dominated the awards circuit last season.

    The film was projected digitally, as prints haven’t yet been made, and it was deemed “wet behind the ears” at the top by Battsek; Shanley hadn’t even seen the cut in full himself yet.  We’re talking right off the AVID, but it was complete and seemed to capture the respect of the crowd in attendance.

    Watching the film, I was suddenly reminded of one of the year’s developing themes for American cinema: accountability.  It’s front and center in “Frost/Nixon,” a journalist-as-hero yarn about Richard Nixon’s overdue apology to the American people.  It’s certainly lurking beneath the surface of “W,” a character study first but an attempt at explanation on other levels.  “WALL-E” warns of a lack of accounting for our actions, while “The Dark Knight” presents a hero who understands the accountability he owes to himself.  “Gran Torino” will be working on similar levels.

    Anyway, I’ve gone into all of that before, but it stuck out to me again tonight.  Meryl Streep steps in for Cherry Jones as a nun hunting a troubling confession for much of the film’s two hour running time.  The zeitgeist can’t help but insinuate itself into the symbolism and it just reminds, yet again, that 2008 is an amazingly internal year for filmmaking in this country.  Nothing stands out as groundbreaking.  Nothing approaches classic status.  But everything lurks on a sustained, subdued level of reflexivity.  It’s kind of fascinating.

    But the AFI Fest has taken flight.  There are a lot of films showing over the next week that I’m going to try my best to cover.  It seems I’m pulled 10 different ways these days, and I have to tip my hat to Guy for the gusto to really dive into London for us this year.

    I’m eager to finally check out entries like Steve McQueen’s “Hunger” and Ji-woon Kim’s “The Good, the Bad and the Weird.”  I’m really looking forward to the Heath Ledger tribute screening of “Ned Kelly” on Tuesday, as well as the Danny Boyle event at the end of the week.  And, of course, the full monty: “Che” at the Chinese tomorrow night.

    It should be a whirlwind, all roads leading to Edward Zwick’s “Defiance” in the closing night gala.  Tis the season…

  • LONDON: A note on ‘Che’

    Since its contentious debut at Cannes in May, Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” has attained a  reputation in certain quarters as some kind of intimidating four-hour monolith, even a grand folly. The 252-minute running time is invariably the first detail given about the film, a figure that seems to awe and repel people in equal measure.

    So it was interesting, at the London Film Festival, to watch “Che” in the format Soderbergh originally intended, and as it will eventually be distributed in wide release: as two separate films screened, in this instance, two days apart.

    I think it’s the right way to go, not from a commercial perspective (though probably that too), but an artistic one. For “Che” is no simple, single sprawl that has been bisected, miniseries-style. We’re talking about two individual, self-standing movies here, each one distinct in rhythm, tone and texture. Watching “Guerrilla” (Part Two) this afternoon, after “The Argentine” (Part One) had been knocking around in my head for 48 hours, gave me the appropriate distance to reflect on the changes that occurred in the man in the gap between the two narratives; I got the sense I was watching a life in progress.

    Both films are fine, muscular feats of storytelling, utterly compelling through their accumulation of military and domestic detail. There’s also a preoccupation with landscape here that recalls the earthy stateliness of 1970’s European art cinema — the Taviani brothers kept coming to mind for some reason, though they never made anything remotely similar. Despite the running time, barely a scene in either film feels wasted — if anyone’s life bears such intense scrutiny, after all, it’s Guevara’s.

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  • The year’s evolving Oscar race reveals the weakest season in recent memory

    Frank Langella in Frost/NixonWith rumors that “The Road” may be bumped to 2009, (not Harvey Weinstein’s choice of release year) and “The Soloist” already moving on, along with the rumblings that “Frost/ Nixon” does indeed lack that edge I wrote about not so long ago, one can feel the Oscar race shifting day to day. Even “Changeling,” once thought to have a decent shot at Best Picture and Best Director nominations, is now looking like a maybe in the race, as 2008 and continues to confound audiences and critics.

    2008 has been a rather weak year at the movies with only “Stop Loss,” WALL-E,” “Iron Man” and best of all, “The Dark Knight” making much of an impact before the Toronto International Film Festival. When that 10-day event did not really produce a frontrunner as it has in years past, all eyes turned to New York and London.  Eastwood’s film received decidedly mixed reviews out of New York while “Che” continued to struggle with the length of the picture.  In London, Ron Howard’s political work, “Frost/ Nixon” has not been knocking the critics out as hoped.

    I’ve been worried about the film for some time.  But the screenplay is based on an award-winning play, Frank Langella is giving the performance that won him accolades on Broadway, but hey, in my view, Howard just isn’t the right director for this sort of film. Give it to Sidney Lumet who, in his 80s, has more edge to his work than Howard. It’s not that he is a terrible director.  On the contrary, he has made some very good films, the criminally under valued “The Missing” among them, but a picture like this needs the very things he lacks as a director.

    So where are we in terms of the Oscar race now, if these films are indeed falling off the radar (the jury is still admittedly out on “Frost”)?  What if the remaining releases are not very good at all and the Oscar race is saddled with an array of mediocre films, which has not happened for many, many years? In fact, the last time I can think of a slew of weak films making up Oscar’s major line-up was 1968, when curiously, “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Planet of the Apes” were left off the list, shunned for their sci-fi brilliance.

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  • 10/10 Oscarweb Round-up

    Rob Brown in The Express• Peter Knegt talks to “Ashes of Time Redux” director Wong Kair-Wai. [indieWIRE]

    • Steven Zeitchick — who started a lot of the Rudin/Weinstein mess by printing gossip — writes up the “Rudin walks away” story with no mention of Patrick Goldstein’s breaking the news. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Goldstein, meanwhile, gets some quality time with Jim Brown about “The Express.” [The Big Picture]

    • Karina Longworth ponders the generational divide on “Che.” [Spout Blog]

  • 10/3 Oscarweb Round-up

    WALL-E• A clip from “Changeling.” [Oscar Watch]

    • And another. [The Envelope]

    • Or, if you prefer, the first five minutes of “Blindness.” [Yahoo! Movies]

    • David Poland breaks the news that “Che” will get its U.S. debut at AFI Fest here in Los Angeles — at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. [The Hot Blog]

    • Tom O’Neil makes it clear that “Elegy” screeners only went to the AMPAS acting branch. [Gold Derby]

    • Rounding up the 50 greatest animated films of all time.  Further into the tank for “WALL-E.” [Rotten Tomatoes]

    • Famous cameos.  I heart the first one on the list. [The Independent]

    • David Thompson chats it up with “Burn After Reading” star Tilda Swinton. [The Guardian]

    • Has Dirty Harry become anti-cop? [The Big Picture]

    • Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen continue to make the rounds on “Appaloosa.” [USA Today]

    • Emily Parker goes head-to-head with a thoughtful Fernando Meirelles. [Wall Street Journal]

    • Glenn Kenny doesn’t care about what you don’t care about. [Some Came Running]

    • The Big Apple’s finest thespians. [New York Magazine]

  • Page to Screen has officially closed

    Sorry for the column to go out with a whimper like that, but the more things piled on, the less time I had to read William Monahan’s “Body of Lies” and offer up the final column.  I’m seeing the film on Monday, so by now it’s a bit moot, so I just wanted to note that this season of Page to Screen came to a close with Brian’s review of Peter Buchman’s “Che” two weeks back.

    I’m thinking about revamping the column next year, perhaps taking it back to it’s source material commentary roots (a concept that has been lifted elsewhere in the interim, as we went the script review route for the last two years).  But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

    We hope you’ve enjoyed the reviews and gathered some helpful insights along the way.  If you want to read back over our series of seven screenplay reviews this season, have a look here.

  • 9/30 Oscarweb Round-up

    Mickey Rourke• Mark Olsen reports on the first U.S. screening of German foreign film Oscar entry “The Baader-Meinhof Complex.” [The Big Picture]

    • Jeffrey Wells passes along a note from an exhibitor acquaintance who thinks “Milk” is a home run, but “Frost/Nixon” is a bit stale. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Then he picks the five likely Best Picture nominees, based on the criteria of stories involving journey and redemption. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • In a truly tasteless display, Elizabeth Snead makes wise cracks alongside 28 photos of Mickey Rourke’s more bizarre fashion decisions through the years. [The Envelope]

    • David Poland responds to the manipulation of Nikki Finke. [The Hot Blog]

    • Nathaniel Rogers doesn’t think any of the “Reader” hub-bub is a big deal at all. [The Film Experience]

    • Anne Thompson runs down the stacked Best Actor category with the potential Downey vs. Foxx “Soloist” showdown in mind. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Tom O’Neil corrals seven pundits for his own predictions chart to light a fire under the collective rear of the Buzzmeter techs. [Gold Derby]

    • James Rocchi chats it up with “Religulous” maestro Bill Maher. [Cinematical]

    • Karina Longworth reviews “Che” and reports from the NYFF Soderbergh press conference. [Spout Blog]

    • Adam Moss corners Woody Allen in the Big Apple. [New York Magazine]

  • OFF THE CARPET: When the movies play second fiddle

    Kate Winslet and Stephen Daldry on the set of The ReaderShort column this time around because there are just a few specific things on my mind.

    It’s been a relatively slow couple of weeks in the wake of the Toronto International Film Festival.  At least on the surface.’

    Behind the scenes, studios are circling their wagons, securing Oscar ad buys, prepping their fall product and gently waiting.  “Hope you had fun at the fests,” they seem to be saying to the independent success stories of the year.  “The main event is about to begin.”

    And yet, the “main event” consistently disappoints.  Downfall can as easily be attributed to hype as it can to poor quality, an idea our own John Foote pondered last week.  Indeed, there are a few productions I expect to be rewarded for their discretion this year, lying in wait while the usual suspects empty their chambers in the loud march to Oscar.

    But it seems like casualties are already presenting themselves.  It pains me to see the Scott Rudin/Harvey Weinstein debate dragged through the mud every single day, right down to the manipulation of Nikki finke in order to make Weinstein look like an outright douche bag.  Whatever the particulars, is there any question that the real loser at the end of all of this isn’t Weinstein, isn’t Rudin, but “The Reader” itself?

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  • 9/19 Oscarweb Round-up

    Benicio Del Toro• Peter Sciretta wraps up the Toronto Fest, live from Fantastic Fest.  It’s that time of the year… [/Film]

    • Oscar winner Diablo Cody responds to the haters: “I like my fake name.  It’s engraved on an Oscar.  Yours isn’t.” [MySpace]

    • Mark Olsen apparently reported over a week ago that Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” will not be released by Summit Entertainment until 2009 and no one knew about it. [Los Angeles Times]

    • The news kind of sucks for Sasha Stone’s latest Oscar column thesis… [Awards Daily]

    • …while it seems a questionable move to Jeffrey Wells. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Jeffrey Anderson runs down the best of Keira Knightley’s costume epics. [Cinematical]

    • Kevin Kelly talks to “Waltz with Bashir” star/director Ari Folman. [Spout Blog]

    • Lou Lumenick wonders if Heath Ledger’s legacy can equal that of James Dean beyond the inevitable Oscar nomination and Halloween get-ups (I know that’s my costume this year…the only reason I haven’t cut my hair since May). [Lumenick on Film]

    • Karl Rozemeyer talks to “Appaloosa” star Viggo Mortensen… [Premiere]

    • …as well as “Che” star Benicio Del Toro. [Premiere]

    • Alan Moore will be “spitting venom all over” Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen.” [Hero Complex]

  • Best Actor race looking tight as always — expect surprises

    Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary RoadThe Best Actor category tends to be one of the more crowded categories come Oscar time, and 2008 looks to be no exception. To be sure, there are a handful of frontrunners as usual, but hovering behind them are another group, more than eight who could easily sneak in and nab a nomination. Last year Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for his powerful work in “The Valley of Elah,” a richly deserved nod, but completely unexpected by the majority of prognosticators.  I remember smiling when I heard his name read, but it was a huge surprise.

    I would expect something similar this year, as we have some of the great  actors and potentially stunning performances in contention.

    The obvious frontrunner at this point is Mickey Rourke, basking in the attention being given to “The Wrestler.”  His performance is nothing short of miraculous, an astounding piece of acting, and it is great to see him back in the fold.  But when it comes to winning the award, I have to say: not a chance. Rourke is intensely disliked in Hollywood.  He’s seen as someone who basically spit on the industry to walk away and become a boxer. As a friend close to Rourke said, “A lot of people were happy when he left and don’t want this guy back.”

    Frank Langella looks to be terrific in the trailers for “Frost/ Nixon.”  He has always been a great actor, better known for his stage work than film, though in the last few years he has become a formidable presence on the big screen. I remember seeing him as “Dracula” both on stage and on film in the late 1970s and hoped he would go far. He did, just not in the movies, until recently.

    Kris has Michael Sheen down as a lead actor possibility as well, and I agree. It’s one of those “Amadeus” situations where one performance cannot exist without the other. There is a strong chance that if the film and the actors are terrific, both of them will be nominated, though Langella certainly has the showier role of the two.

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  • PAGE TO SCREEN: “Che” by Peter Buchman

    Page to Screen at In Contention“To the people of Santa Clara, this is Commandant Che Guevara. The enemy would have us live in fear. But it is they who should be afraid. Because the power of the people is irresistible. Blockade the streets. Open your homes to rebel soldiers. And if you have a gun, pick it up. If there was ever a time to fight for your liberty, that time is now.”

    Consider myself a former believer in the church of Steven Soderbergh. When the director won his much deserved Oscar for “Traffic” I thought for sure we were seeing the emergence of one of the most important American directors in quite some time. And then what happened? The movies he was making — the “Ocean’s” trilogy, “Bubble,” “The Good German” and more — all sounded so interesting and promising on paper, and in the opinion of this writer, all ended up entirely soulless and lacking.

    So I have been cautiously anticipating the Che Guevera one-two punch of “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla.” You’ll have to forgive me (but I’m sure you’ll understand) if I certainly wasn’t in anticipating Peter Buchman’s scripts. He debuted with “Jurassic Park III” (how the hell do you get to start your career with a “Jurassic Park” movie?!) and followed it up with the excruciating “Eragon.” Not exactly the man I’d select for this task, to be certain.

    But thankfully, “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla” — collectively, “Che” — are far superior works than Buchman’s previous two scripts. What we have here are handsomely crafted pieces that are easily malleable for a director like Soderbergh to reconstruct the way he wants, which according to the reviews I’ve read, seems to be exactly what he’s done. Scenes from “Guerrilla” appear in the first half of the film (what I presume will be “The Argentine” section), predominately Guevera’s famous speech at the United Nations in New York City.

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  • ‘Che’ and ‘Hurt Locker’ find distributors in Toronto

    It looks like IFC Films, not Magnolia Pictures (as originally expected), has picked up the much-discussed “Che” at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Here’s Anne Thompson on why.  Meanwhile, Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq film “The Hurt Locker,” which is stunning critics all over the place, was scooped up by Summit Entertainment.

    How interesting is it that no major stuio grabbed these films and they are staying in the independent mindset of smaller factions?  I love it!