In Contention

Tag: Souleymane Sy Savane

  • Hal Holbrook’s awards season play, take two

    Hal Holbrook in That Evening SunOver the weekend, “That Evening Sun” star Hal Holbrook took the Excellence in Acting award at the Starz Denver Film Festival over the weekend.  When the press release landed in my inbox, it reminded me that, while I’ve been a pretty strong proponent of Patterson Hood’s original song from the film, I haven’t written about Holbrook’s performance all that much.

    It’s a beautiful piece of work.  Holbrook adds every ounce of texture, nuance, authenticity and depth that Clint Eastwood was woefully lacking in the similarly themed “Gran Torino” last year, but it’s unfair to start with a comparison, I guess.  Holbrook nails ornery to a T, and he seems to be able to work the natural rhythms of southern conversation better than anyone other than maybe Robert Duvall.

    Susan King recently talked to the actor, who said working on Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” gave him confidence.  And not to be SO 2007, but he offers some high praise for the actor/director in the piece.

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  • LONDON: ‘Dean Spanley,’ ‘1234,’ ‘Goodbye Solo’

    Long day today, with some complicated scheduling: after a press screening of Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” turned out to be full, I was presented with the choice of catching up with either “Miracle at St. Anna” or Kazakhstani Oscar submission “Tulpan.” I opted for the latter — well, it’s got more of a chance of getting an Oscar nomination than Spike Lee’s film, right?

    Anyway, as I have six films to discuss from today, for the sake of economy (and my own sleep requirements) I’ll look at three of them now, and deal with the rest early tomorrow. We’ll start with the English-language contingent.

    I missed tonight’s main attraction, Richard Eyre’s tepidly received “The Other Man.” However, Eyre’s film was preceded by another UK-set Toronto title, “Dean Spanley” (**), a sophomore effort from Kiwi helmer Toa Fraser, whose debut “No. 2” was, oddly, rather more ambitious than this amiable but over-extended skit.

    The ornate animated credit sequence and jaunty score announce upfront that the film demands high whimsy-tolerance levels from the audience. In the interest of full disclosure, mine are pretty low. Still, that doesn’t distract from the fact that the narrative is barely feature-film material. Set in London at the turn of the 20th century, the film focuses on the brittle relationship between mild-mannered gentleman Fisk (Jeremy Northam) and his batty, emotionally distant father (Peter O’Toole). Idly attending a lecture on reincarnation one afternoon, they encounter the enigmatic Dean Spanley (Sam Neill), whose own account of his imagined past life as a dog strikes an unexpected emotional chord with both father and son.

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