20th Century Fox

The release of the Charlie Chan Collection Volume I (Charlie Chan in London, Charlie Chan in Paris, Charlie Chan in Egypt, Charlie Chan in Shanghai, Eran Trace) revives the legacy of one of the most interesting and controversial characters in genre fiction and genre film. Created in the mid-20′s and featured in six novels by mystery novelist Earl Derr Biggers, Charlie Chan, an officer of the Honolulu Police Department, was said to have been inspired by a Hawaiian policeman named Chang Apana (this collection includes the back story of Apana on the “Real Charlie Chan” featurette).

The films in this collection are great examples of genre movie making in Hollywood’s Golden Age. Each is under 90 minutes and features plots and clever twists to rival any in the ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘Thin Man,’ or ‘Agatha Christie’ series. Charlie Chan in Shanghai has a particularly clever murder sequence that sets the plot in motion. Featured in CC in Paris is a spectacular ‘Apache Dance’, and in CC in Egypt, an early talking appearance by black actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, popularly known as Stepin Fetchit.

Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) strikes a tough guy pose (Fox Home Entertainment)

In this collection, Chan is played by the Swedish actor Warner Oland. Oland brought an unflappable elegance and great timing to the part. Indeed, unlike Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Tarzan, or any other mythic/pulp heroes, Charlie Chan seems to be a one actor role. Other performers have played Chan, but more often than not, they end up doing a heavy-handed imitation of Oland’s effortless characterization. Despite Oland’s graceful portrayal, there was (and still is) a fair amount of controversy about Chan being portrayed by a Caucasian actor, as well as about the broken English and fortune-cookie one-liners which characterize Oland’s dialog. These aspects of the Chan series created enough of a PC storm to have the Fox Movie Channel remove the films from circulation in recent years.

Warner Oland as Charlie Chan in a scene from Charlie Chan in Paris (Fox Home Entertainment)

Which brings up the question of these films: Are they racist? Charlie Chan is written as a brilliant and resourceful detective with almost supernatural powers of deduction. Oland’s portrayal, as mentioned earlier, nicely combines a light touch with the character’s mental superiority. To me, Charlie Chan’s competence and surprising toughness (he is adept with firearms) make it tricky to brand these films, and certainly Orland’s portrayal, as racist. Bear in mind I realize that many readers may disagree with me.

This series include nice featurettes about the history of the character, notably “The Legacy of Charlie Chan” and “In Search of Charlie Chan.” An interesting oddity included in the set is Eran Trace (They Were Thirteen), the Spanish language version of the lost Charlie Chan Carries On, with Spanish actor Manual Arbo mimicking Oland’s mannerisms. The overall quality of the films is excellent considering their age. It is hoped that Fox’s second volume will be equally provocative and help restore the legacy of this great film character.

David Thomson has established himself as perhaps the most interesting film critic working at present. His idiosyncratic, non-linear style perhaps owes more to Joyce than say Pauline Kael and he has built up a kind of cult following among serious film aficionados. Most recently Mr. Thomson published The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood (Knopf) in which he constructs the history of Hollywood through history, economics, and even hearsay. Also, his one of a kind Biographical Dictionary of Film (Knopf) has just been published in a revised edition. S. Mark Rhodes recently spoke to Mr. Thomson about both works.

MR: What was the origin of The Whole Equation? Did you set out to write a book about the history of Hollywood or did this work evolve into a bigger undertaking than you had intended?

DT: I began with the notion of a book that tracked the struggle between art and money in American film. As I worked, I saw that it needed to cover the whole span of film history, and I think I saw that it would be a book about American history as well as film history.

MR: The structure of the book is non-linear, starting out with the creation of the film CHINATOWN. Did this structure come naturally or was it something that evolved through your writing the book?

DT: I wanted an opening that was modern and contemporary if only to make
the reader feel that this book is about a current state of affairs – not just a dry historical survey. Beyond that, I’d say that the order of the book changed a bit and settled as I was writing. I think with any book – fiction or non-fiction – it acquires a life of its own in which the writer himself learns the proper shape as he goes along.

MR: One of the most interesting sections of the book deals with the unusual career of Michael Cimino. You review the history of (much of which I was surprised I had forgotten) and hint that Cimino has lost little clout at this point despite having made the most notorious financial “flop” of the modern era. How is it someone can remain in the hinterlands and retain this kind of influence in Hollywood?

DT: Well, I don’t think I do say that. Cimino is very much an outsider HEAVEN’S GATE now – in large part at his own insistence. All I’m saying is that the man is talented and that if he chooses to make a comeback I wouldn’t put it past him. I showed HEAVEN’S GATE this week at the Pacific Film Archive – in its full-length version. The reaction was clear: it’s not perfect, but it’s a very beautiful, fascinating picture.

MR: Do you think Hollywood would be different today if HEAVEN’S GATE would have been a success?

DT: Not really. Hollywood responds to large social forces. One film seldom causes a change on its own. But the picture was in its time a warning against arrogant directors and I think that led to a wave of younger, more pliant directors. So there is an influence.

MR: You write a great deal about Nicole Kidman and the tension between her (occasionally) unrecognizable screen persona in a film such as THE HOURS and her movie star persona at any number of award ceremonies. It seems that this points to one of the minor themes of the book in that stars of the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood (Grant, Wayne, Stewart) were recognizable but the stars of today make a point of changing their appearance (De Niro, Kidman, even Pitt and Mike Meyers). When do you think this change took place? Why? Do you ever see a return to a more straightforward era of movie stardom?

DT: I think stardom is different now. We have stars in so many other fields, like sport and music. And we know that some stars don’t necessarily last as long as stars used to. But we the people still look for stars, still want to love them, and respond to them.

MR: Did you learn anything about Hollywood through writing this work? Did anything you learned surprise you?

DT: I think the chief surprise was simply realizing how once upon a time so many people went to the movies. It really was a much bigger pastime in the 20s, the 30s and the 40s. Today, we see our films in so many different ways. But the theatrical audience continues to fall.

MR: If you would, I would like to turn to the Biographical Dictionary of Film, a newly revised version has just been published. What was the origin of the work?

DT: It was a book commissioned in 1971 as a far shorter Film
Encyclopedia – there would be articles on people, but on countries, studios and technical terms, too. As I wrote, I found a voice in which it concentrated on people and the articles became longer. Happily, the original publishers liked this style and trusted it.

MR: What kind of response have you gotten from the public with regards to this work? What is your sense of the audience for it?

DT: Well, the book has been in print now 30 years and through four editions, and has grown in its popularity. I know its chief audience is film buffs, film students and people in the business. But I think recently it has begun to be seen as book for the lay person, a book to read (as well as a work of reference) and a piece of literature.

MR: Is there an entry or entries that people mention more than others? Do people disagree about your entries much?

DT: Angie Dickinson. Cary Grant. There’s been a lot of argument over John Ford. But the book was always meant to make people argue back. People like the Welles entry, and Jean Renoir.

MR: In putting this new volume together I assume you reviewed at least some of the performances and films again. Did any film or performer surprise you? Did any film or performance age poorly in your mind?

DT: Yes, I try to re-view old films all the time and my views do go through changes – and I’m sure that will continue. There are figures from my youth I now rate less highly – Samuel Fuller, Nicholas Ray. But there are people from earlier ages – Leisen, Lubitsch, Sturges – who seem to me to get better and better. I think as a whole I feel more certain that films of the 30s and 40s are the finest this country has made.

MR: You seem a little skeptical about some of the high profile “movie stars” of this current generation like Clooney, Pitt and Affleck. Can you explain how this group are considered movie stars but are not consistently reliable at the box office?

DT: Well, this goes back to our new sense of stardom. We are more fickle. They are not always as talented. A lot of stars come and go now. Ben Affleck, for one, may be finished. I think it’s all a reflection of the end of long-term contracts and the way in which stars are all alone now, without studio backing.

MR: You have added some performers in this latest edition. Do any entries ever drop out?

DT: I try not to drop entries – it seems mean-spirited somehow. On the whole, I’ve always been well aware of, and guilty about, people unfairly omitted. So I try now just to have the book grow. But it’s nearly 1000 pages and there are limits to what a binding can hold. I hope there will be a fifth edition and it has to be longer – but I don’t want it to be more than one volume. Ideally there would be another 200 entries – new people, of course, but also filling in some holes from the past. People write to me with lists of suggestions and I keep those lists and try to act on them.

(Paramount Home Entertainment) 1956. 78 mins. Color. Widescreen format, enhanced for 16X9 screens. Includes docs on Budd Boetticher, Gail Russell, and the evolution of the film.

Last year’s Essential Westerns series at Film Forum helped raise the profile of one of the most criminally underrated, and possibly the most interesting of the B picture directors. Budd Boetticher one-upped his comparably macho (and better known) peers like Sam Fuller, John Huston and Nic Ray by traveling to Mexico to embark on a colorful, but short-lived career as a bullfighter. From there, he found his way to Hollywood as a consultant to the bullfight pic BLOOD AND SAND. After a short stint in the service, Boetticher managed to get steady work as a director of micro budgeted second features. These features, mainly westerns, featured Randolph Scott and an array of baroque characters played by the likes of Richard Boone, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef and Claude Akins.

SEVEN MEN FROM NOW is widely considered Boetticher’s masterpiece and has just gotten a long overdue special edition release on DVD. John Wayne’s Batjac company produced the film (it is said that Wayne was interested in the project but was tied up with the production of THE SEARCHERS). The film, rarely screened, and difficult to find in any form other than grainy bootlegs, has been in limbo since the death of the Duke in 1979. It was the first of a series of near historic collaborations between director Boetticher and the middle-aged Randolph Scott. This series is often referred to as the Ranown cycle (a combination of producer Harry Joe Brown and Randolph Scott’s names), although this film is not technically part of this series. SEVEN MEN FROM NOW was the first of this unofficial series of westerns in which Scott cemented his iconic status as a screen great.

Scott had worked steadily throughout his consistent, but undistinguished career as an actor (he was a hunkier Ralph Bellamy figure to Cary Grant, and stiff competition for Irene Dunne’s affection, in MY FAVORITE WIFE). Now, in middle age, Scott looked all of a sudden to be the most convincing cowboy the screen had ever produced. His reserve and calm are almost Oriental in nature, which gives his work in these films a modern quality. Scott was never better than in SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, in which his restraint played beautifully against the florid Lee Marvin. Marvin (the villain in SEVEN MEN FROM NOW) has a near-dandyish quality that was his trademark until his taciturn work in such genre classics as THE DIRTY DOZEN and POINT BLANK helped define his image as that of the inscrutable hardass.
(Indeed, Marvin’s over the top death scene is the only comic relief the film allows itself).

The film’s extras are especially rich, with an excellent commentary from Film Historian James Kitses, a documentary on Gail Russell and an exceptionally great documentary on Boetticher which documents the director’s life, work, themes and legacy. The documentary has appreciative interviews with the likes of Clint Eastwood and Quentin Tarantino as well as interview footage with Boetticher (including unbelievable footage of his participation in equestrian events).

Most of the Boetticher westerns are unavailable at present, and it is hoped that this disc will help pave the way for future releases of his rich work. At the very least, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW will have the availability and profile that it deserves as a result of this fine collector’s edition that Paramount has assembled.

Directed by Budd Boetticher.
Story and Screenplay by Burt Kennedy.
Produced by Andrew McLaglen and Robert E. Morrison.

With: Randoloph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin.

My Dinner with Peter Bogdanovich

Peter Bogdanovich has lived one of the most interesting careers in American film since World War II. Starting out as an acting student of Stella Adler and eventually becoming an understudy with John Houseman’s American Shakespeare Festival (as a teen!). From there, Bogdanovich developed into a boy-genius film director with Targets, The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc and Paper Moon. His status as a film historian also distinguishes his work, having produced thoughtful and influential writings on such directorial greats as Howard Hawks, John Ford, and, most notably Orson Welles. Most recently, Mr. Bogdanovich has published Who the Hell’s in It? (Knopf) which functions as a companion piece of sorts to his 1997 book which profiled filmmakers called Who the Devil Made it? Who the Hell’s in It is a series of portraits and reminiscences of performers Bogdanovich have known or who have affected him in some significant way.

Bogdanovich’s career has had its ups and downs since his fast start, but he continues to write, act, and direct with great consistency. Somewhat ironically, his career has come full circle in a way as he is probably best known at present for his deft acting turn as Dr. Melfi’s therapist on The Sopranos.

Filmmaker and Author Peter Bogdanovich addresses the audience at East Hampton reading

To promote this book, Bogdanovich gave a reading at one of the most well-known bookstores on Long Island: Book Hampton in East Hampton, NY. He appeared from the manager’s offices looking fit and well-ironed. A crowd of about 30 were sprawled on the comfortable couches of the store. In the course of almost two hours, Bogdanovich entertained the crowd with a rousing series of readings from his new book, as well as a completely improvised set of pitch perfect imitations of the numerous Hollywood greats he met and in most cases, knew as friends. He told stories about Jimmy Stewart, mimicking Stewart’s trademark stammer with perfection. He told several stories about Cary Grant, cracking up the crowd with his faultless reproduction of Grant’s sing song cadences. The funniest stories concerned some of the more unusual run-ins with the likes of Marlene Dietrich with whom he had a hilarious encounter on a flight with Ryan O’Neal. Mr. Bogdanovich was nice enough to sit down with my wife and I over dinner at Babette’s (“I can’t eat soy, I ate so much I became allergic,” he admitted) in East Hampton and we spoke about his career and his new book. Mr. Bogdanovich hummed along with the music in the restaurant and informed us of the history of music that Babette’s was playing in between questions and the courses (“This is an old Bing Crosby tune from Road to Rio.”)

MR: I wanted to ask you about Boris Karloff. He is one of the only actors in the book who worked in “B” Pictures. Do you think he wanted to do more prestigious pictures? Do you think he would have been a big star today?

PB: He never seemed to think that way. He was a modest man, very self-effacing, a kind man. I don’t think he ever thought in those terms. Yet he was a big star. I asked him once how he felt about the monster, about being typed. He said he was very thankful to (Bogdanovich adopts Karloff’s accent and lisp) “the monster.” He was very grateful that he had found a niche. He wasn’t snobbish. He simply seemed thankful that he had been given a career. But, he really was a good actor.

MR: He was really wonderful in The Black Cat.

PB: Yes, The Black Cat. I saw it recently. Strange film. Lugosi (the other lead in the film) is not a very good actor. But, he did have a strong personality.

MR: Was there anyone left out of the book that you wished you had been able to include?

PB: I think I got everybody in. But there is at least another book, maybe two. The thought of it is exhausting. I don’t plan to write anything for awhile except scripts.

MR: A lot of the actors in your book made their mark with European directors like Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Von Sternberg and the like. Why do you think this was? Do European directors work as well in today’s film industry?

PB: Well, you have Wolfgang Peterson, Jan De Bont, Lasse Hallstrom and the like who have had a strong impact in Hollywood and have made a transition to American films. One difference might be that the German film industry was very important during the silent era and influenced a lot of directors like Hitchcock. Lubitsch also had a remarkable impact on American films. Then there was Fritz Lang who had an indirect impact on film because he influenced Hitchcock and Hitchcock influenced so many filmmakers. Lang had less of an impact once he came to America. These directors helped pave the way for some of the current foreign directors who are having an impact now.

MR: I saw you recently in a documentary about the film Dial M for Murder. Do you think that film is one of the most underrated Hitchcock films?

PB: It is not one of the important ones, but it is very entertaining. Film Forum played the original 3-D version a couple of years ago. When you see it, you see why Hitchcock did it the way he did. The way he frames the thing, it is a revelation. It is the best 3-D movie I have ever seen. Not that I love 3-D movies. There is a great effect of Grace Kelly’s hand coming out towards the screen. It is too bad it wasn’t widely seen in that format.

MR: Most of the individuals in this book were stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Would their stardom have translated to today’s Hollywood?

PB: It is hard to know because that kind of world doesn’t exist anymore. John Wayne, for instance, spent ten years doing B Westerns and then he is in Stagecoach and he is suddenly a big star. But he is not the kind of actor that Hollywood would exploit today. Today they like versatile actors, actors with range, actors who have been trained. Again, it is a whole different world. So, in a lot of instances this stardom would not necessarily translate to the film business today. (pause) Wayne was typical of that generation in that personalities dominated acting and a personality could make an individual a star and not so much technique or versatility. He (Wayne) certainly typified that era. and does not typify this one.

MR: Cary Grant had a big impact on your life. He seemed to be a sort of mentor figure for you.

PB: I don’t know if he was a mentor, but he was full of good advice. Some of which I heeded, some of which I didn’t.

LR: Should you have heeded the advice you didn’t?

PB: Oh yes. I should have shut up about my private life.

LR: That is what a lot of people remember about you.

PB: Oh I know, but that’s not unusual in the movie business.

FR: Did he advise you about style?

PB: Not usually, but he did ask me about one of my jackets from Brooks Brothers. (Laughs and imitates Grant) He asked me if it was ‘off the rack?’

MR: In your book you mention a story about Grant considering the James Mason role in Heaven Can Wait. Was he close to doing this role?

PB: I don’t think so. I just think he was toying with Warren (Beatty). He didn’t want to be remembered as an old man. He had this in common with Dietrich and Garbo. He said, ‘You don’t want people to expect Cary Grant and then have me rolled in by wheelchair.’ Still, he did remain attractive until the end.

MR: A couple of the profiles were from the silent era, such as Lillian Gish and Charlie Chaplin. Did you sense anything different in their experience or approach that made them different from some of the others in the book?

PB: Lillian was a good actress. She could talk. She was good in talking roles. I can’t say I knew her; I had one experience with her. However, the sentiment that she expressed in the chapter ‘We didn’t work for money, we didn’t work for money, we worked for that’ and pointed to the screen. That was a really wonderful, innocent sentiment that helps you understand what it was like at the beginning of it all. We are a long way from that.

It is probably fair to say that James Agee, one of the more influential critics and writers of his day, has fallen out of fashion for quite awhile now. He occupies the same realm as writers like John Dos Pasos and Thomas Wolfe, writers who were well-read, well-reviewed and important cultural figures during their time; their names may still be recognizable, but their prose goes largely unread.

Agee, however, is ripe for a comeback, indeed no less than three major works have been released regarding this one time giant. The Library of America has released two volumes of his collected writings: James Agee: Film Writing and Selected Journalism and James Agee: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family and Shorter Fiction. The Library of America edition regarding Agee’s film writings is especially eye opening. Agee was the great American critic (there weren’t that many contenders) in the 40′s with his witty, insightful columns for Time magazine. LOA has included the 1962 compilation of his works, Agee on Film in this volume. His work as a film critic really helped pave the way for popular filmmakers such as Charlie Chaplin, Val Lewton and John Huston to get recognition as major American artists. This is the contribution of Agee the film critic, his elevating of what had been a pop art form into something more significant. His approach helped influence such major film critics as Pauline Kael (who is probably the most influential critic at present), Andrew Sarris and David Denby, as well as many of the New Wave critics/directors. Included in this collection are less well-known works on Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, Ingrid Bergman and the Marx Bros.

Even more interesting for the student of film is the inclusion of his great turn as a screenwriter with Night of the Hunter. Agee is typically better known for his collaboration with John Huston on the Oscar nominated screenplay for The African Queen. Interestingly enough, Agee’s work on this film has helped him retain a certain amount of cult status as Night of the Hunter has grown in stature and influence as a work of cinema and has a following equal to many other quotable cult films such as Taxi Driver the Silence of the Lambs.

Agee has also been the subject of yet another work, Chaplin and Agee, The Untold Story of the Tramp, The Writer and The Lost Screenplay by John Wranovics (Palgrave MacMillan) This work is an interesting footnote in the history of artistic collaboration in Hollywood as it outlines the story of the 1949 script written for Chaplin to feature his ‘Little Tramp’ character. The screenplay, officially untitled, had to do with Chaplin’s Little Tramp character’s life in a post-nuclear world. In actuality, the screenplay was little more than an outline or treatment, but it did reflect the timely atomic age fears, and promised to be a strong cinematic response to the early Eisenhower era. Oddly enough, the screenplay had little to do with the strong bond that developed between Agee and Chaplin. Agee’s championing of Chaplin had much to do with the critical appreciation of Chaplin’s work (especially some of his less popular works). The screenplay, included in the last part of the book, is unimpressive and will likely not be of interest to any but the hardcore film aficionado. Nonetheless, this work helps give Agee some overdue recognition as a major figure in post-war Hollywood. Unfortunately, the overall effect does not deliver the promise of the dramatic title.

Yet another dream project that again went unrealized has resurfaced as a posthumous novel by Donald Cammell (director of Performance) and Marlon Brando (!). Fan Tan (Knopf), is a leading contender for most gonzo book of the year, and in many ways, it is a fascinating (but maybe not fitting) footnote to end the artistic career of arguably the greatest American actor since WWII. The origin of Fan Tan began in 1979 with the idea pitched to screenwriter and director Donald Cammell of a South China Sea pirate film called “Fan Tan.” Strangely enough, the hero of the work is a physically imposing, charismatic hero, Antole Doultry who bears a striking resemblance to another physically imposing, charismatic actor in his fifties… The result of this collaboration was to be a novel that would garner the interest of potential investors, however, at the last moment, the project was abandoned, apparently because of the usual limited attention span of the great Brando.

Years pass, Brando and Cammell pass away, and, in an unusual set of circumstances, Cammell’s widow passes the semblance of the story to esteemed author and critic, David Thomson for editing and perhaps a final polish. The result is an enjoyably trashy read where the transparent Brando character (Doultry) manages to impress us with his ruminations on philosophy (Wittgenstein is a favorite) his skill at the piano and his heroic build and spectacular penis (an impressive act of urination figures in the story). In case you haven’t guessed the plot is pure pulp fiction and the book has clearly been marketed as such (check out the retro cover). As much as anything, it might be interesting to think of who might be the audience for such a book: Pirate groupies?, Brando fans?, junk novel fans?, cult movie aficionados? Thomson attempts to put the origin of the story and the relationship between Brando and the now largely forgotten Cammell into perspective in a thoughtful and informative afterword.

A chronicling of the process of making the Warner Bros. classic REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE is the basis for , Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause (Touchstone) co-written by Lawrence Farscella and Al Weisel. The lives of James Dean, Natalie Wood, Nick Ray as well as aspects of this film have been chronicled many times over, so, it remains surprising that ‘Live Fast’ manages to uncover some of the really interesting, but largely unknown aspects of the production and lore of this legendary melodrama. Most notably, the authors explore interesting aspects of script development (the idea of a film about troubled middle class teens was at the time a new and almost radical notion to base a film on). Much of the book concerns Dean, including details about the significance of his wardrobe and the predictable difficulties he had relating to some of the more established actors on set. Despite the allure of Dean’s mythology (and the authors are not immune to it by any means), the book manages to also take note of the other players involved as well. Of special interest are details of the affair Ray had with Wood. Obviously, this is an indispensable work for the Dean fan, but it is also a great read for those interested in the machinations of a film’s origin.

The Stony Brook Film Festival at Stony Brook University on the North Shore of Long Island has carved itself a unique place as a kind of film festival for the people on Long Island. For a mere $45.00 you can get a festival pass admitting the holder to all screenings (over 20 features this year). For $15.00 more you can get a ticket to the Closing Night Awards event. In addition to this, the films typically start after 7pm during the week and late in the afternoon on the weekends which gives working people (like myself) a chance to experience a first class film festival very inexpensively and without taking off large blocks of time from work.

In addition, the festival is run beautifully by Alan Inkles and Julie Greene and their professional and courteous staff of (mostly) students. Indeed, the festival’s ‘green room’ had the most pleasing service, good-humored staff and food and drink that one could expect (most by the University’s catering staff).

Inkles was especially good at running the Question and Answer portions of the festival which saw the producers/actors/directors field questions from the audience after the film was screened. He managed to keep these sessions at a good, length, prolonging the discussions when needed and wrapping them up before they became repetitious or overlong. More than once the filmmakers hung around so that Inkles, journalists, filmmakers and fans could continue socializing and debating at Stony Brook’s University Club, a kind of combination Junior Rat Pack lounge and smoky Euro-cafe (the nights I was there the plasma television was showing BLOW UP). The other mainstay of late night festival diehards was the Curry Club in nearby Setauket, which served anti-Atkins fare several nights of the festival well past the witching hour. Again, all of this was done by Inkles with good humor and no apparent wear and tear during the 10 days of the festival.

This year’s festival had an impressive array of movies. Scoring OPEN WATER, and GARDEN STATE and the dark horse DANNY DECKCHAIR before or just after their opening in Manhattan. Among the festival highlights for 2004 were the following.

FEATURES:

GARDEN STATE

The ‘we didn’t know he had it in him’ award goes to Zach Braff (one of TV’s Scrubs) for this ambitious mediation on the great state of New Jersey. This film qualified as the hottest ticket by far and was easily the most buzzed about film in the festival due to an inordinate amount of publicity it was getting in the NY and national press. Unfortunately, Braff’s reach exceeds his grasp here as the film’s tone lurches from comedy to pathos without any real grace or aplomb. The acting is also wildly uneven with Braff giving an uncharasmatic performance and Natalie Portman testing the annoyance level of the audience with each line reading. Braff does have a nice eye for composition, however, and puts together some striking images. He also gets some good lived in performance by a diverse group of supporting actors such as Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm and Jane Smart.

OPEN WATER

Not the best film of the festival, but by far the most interesting and talked-about, OPEN WATER functions as possibly the most nightmarish home movie ever made. Shot on the cheap, telling the story of a kind of stressed out, ordinarily attractive couple on vacation in some non-specific Caribbean locale, OPEN WATER is reportedly based on the true story of a couple who were accidentally left behind on a chaperoned diving trip. The film has much going against it: Poor acting, amateurish camera work and film quality (by accident, the early part of the film has the tacky sheen and hokey set up of a porn film), and an overlong running time (even at 79 minutes). Despite these undeniable drawbacks, there is an unbeatable premise: It is a shark film with real sharks. The filmmakers manage to use this one advantage expertly through the whole film, which is the only thing that holds it together. The film also benefits from one of the most eerie endings in recent mainstream film as well as an even more eerily witty coda.

DANNY DECKCHAIR

The story of an Australian who takes to the sky in a deckchair fastened with helium balloons to escape his unappreciated girlfriend, unsatisfying job and generally unhappy existence only to find himself transported to a community several hundred miles away to begin a better life. This charming tale pulled off the rare feat of being not only the most crowd pleasing film of the festival, but also the best. An Australian twist on any number of classic Hollywood fables such as IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN and especially THE WIZARD OF OZ; DANNY DECKCHAIR benefits from an offbeat but charismatic leading performance by that secret weapon of an actor, Rhys Ifans. Indeed, Ifans makes a spectacular transformation from scruffy Chris Elliot look-alike to a handsome, assured movie star, which literally elicited gasps from the audience. Miranda Otto (from THE LORD OF THE RINGS series) is equally charming in the role of traffic cop who recognizes the handsome prince charming within Ifans’ scruffy exterior. A perfect film to close the festival on.

LOVE TRAP (Feestje)

A film from the Netherlands, which was too ribald and irreverent to completely win the Stony Brook crowd over (although the stars of the film Antonie Kamerling and Beau van Erven Dorens charmed the crowd at the Q and A afterward). LOVE TRAP explored ideas about commitment and sexual maturity that mainstream American films such as SINGLES and BARCELONA have explored recently. Thijs’ (Kamerling) best friend Ben (Dorens) has broken the friend’s commitment to not commit and is getting married. Thijs manages to become ensnared in the mechanism of this wedding (and his own dreams and ambitions). It is giving nothing away to say that Thijs ends up revising his own rules about love and commitment.

This solid, lightweight entertainment’s real find is the on and off-screen chemistry between the two male leads. If they work together on a regular basis they might develop into a kind of Euro Hope and Crosby.

HER MAJESTY

Winner of the Audience Choice Award, HER MAJESTY tells the charming tale of a young girl (Elizabeth Wakefield) who is about to realize her dream of meeting Queen Elizabeth, who is coming to her small town in 1953 New Zealand. Naturally, as the arrival of the Queen approaches, the young girl has a conflict come between her and her friend, a Maori woman with whom she develops a unique relationship. This film clearly moved the audience and, if properly marketed, may be the kind of exotic family film that captures a wider audience than it intended (a la WHALE RIDER).

SWIMMING UPSTREAM

The opening night film and a real oddity. A film about swimming and a swimmer. But, not a swimmer who was an Olympic champion and not a story about winning or losing a big competition. SWIMMING UPSTREAM is the true story of a world class Australian swimmer, Tony Fingleton (played by Australian soap star Jesse Spencer) who managed to turn a genuinely horrible childhood into athletic fame and an Ivy League education. The film benefited immensely by the prescience of the great Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis as Singleton’s abusive father and sympathetic mother. Director Russell Mulcahy manages to film a visually uninteresting sport and make it dynamic, and he also manages to get excellent performances out of the young performers, especially Jesse Spencer who more than holds his own with the heavyweights Rush and Davis.

SAINTS AND SOLDIERS

An account of the Battle of the Bulge, SAINTS AND SOLDIERS references any number of Hollywood classics such as THE BIG RED ONE, and, of course, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. The film (made for less than 1 million according to the filmmakers present at the event) manages to give a matter of fact quality to war that shows the influence of PRIVATE RYAN. Most impressively, director Ryan Little manages to get excellent performances out of a fresh-faced cast. Particularly noteworthy is Peter Holden who, in an interesting bit of trivia, plays a character based upon his grandfather who fought in the actual Battle of the Bulge.

THE SHORTS (of which yours truly was a juror)

The great Eva Saks had two very well received Shorts in this year’s festival. COLORFORMS and DATE both very different in tone but both clearly her handiwork. COLORFORMS is the story of a messy little girl who finds herself with the help of her grandfather and an ethnic holiday called ‘Pagwa.’ DATE is a kind of meditation on 9/11 and the emotional effect it has had on the perspective and behavior of Manhattanites. Both films had the impact and economy of one of the better O. Henry short stories. Academy Award winning director Chris Shamina’s 27 minute DAY OF INDEPENDENCE about how baseball connected to the thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry in US internment camps in World War II won the jury award and managed to show influences of Hawks and Renoir. Rob Meltzer’s I AM STAMOS (starring the great John Stamos as himself) referenced the existential setup of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH in only 18 minutes as an unsuccessful actor gets to live out his existence as an actor as ‘John Stamos.’ STAMOS was a great witty tonic managing to stand out in the shorts program which was bereft of purely humorous offerings.

http://www.stonybrookfilmfestival.com/

The 13th annual Hamptons International Film Festival returned to being primarily entertaining after a somewhat grim lineup of military and/or politically oriented 2004 version (which took place on the eve of the Presidential election). The result is one of the most satisfying and rich festivals in the history of the HIFF. Among the many highlights of this year’s fest are the following:

The Biggies

The Matador

Matador Director Richard Shepard and costumer Catherine Thomas

The Matador concerns an aging hit man named Julian (Pierce Brosnan) who is experiencing a mid-life crisis when he runs into traveling businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) at a bar in Mexico. Brosnan’s hit man, at a low point, is intrigued by Kinnear’s everyman life, and in his neediness, Brosnan’s character forms a quick bond with Kinnear’s average Joe. Kinnear’s character is fascinated and horrified with Julian. Meeting this hit man is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to Danny, and he is flattered that Julian takes him into his confidence. There are many plot contrivances which stretch reality, but the film is grounded by Brosnan’s chemistry with Kinnear (Hope Davis also has a nice, but too short turn as Danny’s wife). Indeed, The Matador is a kind of coming out party for Brosnan the actor whose raffish performance here has the range, humor and warmth that signals an interesting new direction for the man previously known as Bond.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

A famously “unfilmable” novel, Tristram Shandy was the best and most surprising of the festival’s Spotlight films. Structured as a film about the filming of this novel, director Michael Wintertbottom has managed to craft a very innovative adaptation of this 17th century masterpiece (whose first person literary narrator constantly loses track of his own life’s narrative). Holding this enterprise together is the brilliant Steve Coogan whose smooth exterior and bewildered physical presence (he is nearly handsome) suggests an odd combination of Bill Murray and Roger Moore. The main interest in this film is the way that director Winterbottom handles the material: he films the story by not filming it (paralleling the literary approach of Shandy’s author), focusing on the back story of the film’s production (such as Coogan critiquing the young actor who plays Shandy as a boy) and occasionally showing the filming of a passage from the book (a hilarious and horrifying childbirth scene is especially memorable). TS might be a very influential film as it provides a fairly new blueprint in approaching rich literary material and so-called “unfilmable” novels.

Kardia

Willem Dafoe and Mark Rhodes attempt to move after 5 hour screeening of Until the End of the World

Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology, Kardia was one of the most unusual films of the festival (and one of the best publicized). Kardia concerns the mystical bond that a young woman develops as a result of an experimental heart operation she had as a child. Writer/Director Sue Raynard brings out the often-ignored weirdness and black magic quality of common medical procedures. Kardia also had one of the striking images of the festival within its advertising: A delicately positioned, oddly beautiful bloody human heart in the hands of a surgeon. Ms. Raynard is a filmmaker to watch.

Ballets Russes

A documentary chronicling the past and present of one of the most visionary dance troupes of the twentieth century, Ballets Russes concerns the unlikely story of a group of unschooled Russian refugees that evolved into not one, but two of the premier dance troupes in the world. BR takes great pains in retelling the dramas of the turf wars between these two companies, a topic of great cultural and social interest in Europe between World Wars. The film also takes the viewer from the peak of the companies artistic influence (where its work involved such diverse artists as Picasso, Balanchine, Matisse and Stravinsky) to the curious tours of America in the 40′s which introduced many Americans to the artistry of ballet for the first time, to the predictable decline of the companies in the 60′s when egomania, sloppiness and competition caused the ruination of the troupe. Ballets Russes acts as a great primer for the uninitiated in Ballet history, telling an interesting story. Oddly enough, though the film has many a gossipy anecdote, it never stoops to pure backstage gossip. Most of all, the film is a kind of pas for ballet as a remedy for aging. Nearly all of the retired members of Ballet Russes, many well into their 80′s, are in astonishingly good shape.

Bee Season

One of the more disappointing films of the festival, Bee Season concerns a young spelling champion and her family, is based on a popular novel of a few years ago, and comes out at a time when Spelling Bees are gaining an increasingly strong foothold in popular culture. The film centers around an upper middle class family whose patriarch, Saul (Richard Gere) is a theology professor whose intellectual, culinary and musical skills hold the family in a death grip of his own ego. Family dynamics shift when Saul turns his attention away from his golden boy son Aaron (Max Minghella) to his daughter Eliza (a very effective Flora Cross) when her mastery of spelling garners her recognition in local spelling contests. Within this drama is Saul’s wife Miriam (Juliette Binoche) who wanders around the film shooting angry looks at Gere. Bee Season has several problems, the most pressing of which is that the audience does not care about the characters (again, with the possible exception of the sweet faced Cross). Gere’s character in particular comes off very badly, as his overbearing narcissism calls too much attention to itself to let the film’s narrative unwind.

The Weather Man

One of the oddest American films of ’05, The Weather Man stars Nicolas Cage as a local Chicago weather guy whose successful career is undermined by the naturally adversarial relationship of his audience who lob soda, food, and other projectiles at him as he attempts to deal with the messy normalcy of his everyday life. His family life is predictably problematic as he attempts to be a good father to his unhappy daughter (Gemmenne De la Pena) and son (Nic Hoult). He also pines for his ex-wife (Hope Davis) and struggles with the impending mortality of his father (Michael Caine) who happens to be a venerable American novelist, whose accomplishments and greatness are like a constant rebuke to Cage’s character. Director Gore Verbinski and screenwriter Steve Conrad have a good sense of the junkiness of American minor league celebrity and a genuine understanding of the awkward gestures people often fall back on in the face of stress. Strangely enough, Cage seems miscast here (Jim Carrey’s loser charisma might have made this a perfect role for him).The Weather Man’s ambitious script is in the end not fully realized, as Director Verbinski and a game, accomplished cast can’t pull together all the ideas, plots and threads to make a completely satisfying work.

Other Films of Note

Norman Jewison discussing his distinguished career with a rapt audience

Muskrat Lovely is Director/Producer Amy Nicholson’s documentary tribute to a couple of the strangest events in the US: The World Championship Muskrat Skinning Competition and Miss Outdoors Beauty Pageant (both part of the National Outdoor Show in Dorchester County, Maryland). Somehow, Ms. Nicholson manages to connect these two very different events in a deft and funny way. Amazingly, she manages this in a brisk 57 minutes. Menage A Trois was one of the more charming offerings in the Hamptons Fest’s NY Women in Film series chronicling the ramification’s of a cell phone and its alienating affect on a couple’s relationships. The Tourist was a short film with much power, and an almost mystical instinct about the weirdness of everyday life. The Fan and the Flower was a typically brilliant work from animator Bill Plympton (with story by Dan O’Shannon and narration by Paul Giamatti). The Seventh Dog was Director Zeina Durra’s view of post 9/11 profiling told with the skill and finesse of Hitchcock. Goodnight Bill was a sweet and tough meditation on starting and re-kindling friendship as mortality is imminent. Cheeks was an intense 12 minute look at the life and upbringing of a young boy dealing with a mother and father who are severely mentally ill. Dimmer was a brilliant meditation on the life of a young blind man growing up in the decay of Buffalo, NY (the sick joke being that there is really nothing worth seeing). At the Quinte Hotel was one of the coolest films of the festival utilizing stop motion and traditional animation to dramatize a reading of the earthy poetry of Canadian poet Al Purdy. The Phantom Limb was an affecting half-hour look at the impact of the death of a nine-year old brother through the imaginative use of home movies, interviews and found footage. Who Gets to Call it Art? was an interesting and insightful film about one of the important figures in twentieth century art, Henry Geldzahler, whose work as a Metropolitan Museum of Art curator and art historian helped define and re-define artistic greatness in the mid to late 20th century. West Bank Story, a re-telling of the conflict in the Middle East filtered through West Side Story was the funniest and most perfect short of the festival.

The parties

French Film Legend Claude Lelouch and Mark Rhodes

As the HIFF goes on during the late weekend in October, the parties become more and more necessary to assist in getting through the festival. This year, the chic French vodka (and festival sponsor) Ciroc helped get many a journalist a second wind on the way to an 11 pm screening (including this journalist and his photog wife). This year though, the parties were especially memorable. None more so than the party held at the Wolffer Estate and Vineyard in honor of the great French Director Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman). The great Mr. Lelouch had a film in the World Cinema program at the festival (La Courage D’Aimer). Mr. Lelouch seemed more like a dignified European statesman than a popular director of sleek, well-crafted films for over 40 years. The Wolffer Vineyards are probably the most picturesque in the Hamptons, and its wine (on great display at this gathering), crafted by the great winemaker Roman Roth, almost certainly the best and most consistent in the wine rich east end of Long Island. Other parties of note included a spirited opening night party at Gurney’s Inn in Montauk (a highlight of which was the electric ice cubes in the drinks) attended by Alec Baldwin and allegedly Debra Winger. The strangest party was sponsored by the great dandy Alan Cumming whose party at the Star Room in Wainscott was as civil and warm as a tea party.

Long Island Connections

HIFF Executive Director Denise Kasell Chairman of Board of Directors: Stuart Suna, Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon

The HIFF has typically been very conscious of its Long Island setting. Never more so than this year with the unofficial mayor of the HIFF, Alec Baldwin, receiving the Golden Starfish Award for career achievement in acting and a very well-attended program of readings at Book Hampton by the late, great Sag Harbor resident, Spalding Gray. This event was the most touching of the fest as it was attended by Gray’s widow, Kathleen Russo (who reported that she is working on a film about her late husband with Steven Soderbergh), Roy Scheider, Steven Gaines and Bob Balaban all of whom read from Gray’s posthumous work Life Interrupted. Another of the festival’s highlights was the “Conversation With…” program which featured Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick (Bacon’s father died just a couple of days later). Finally, the great and entertaining Norman Jewison was the subject of a very funny discussion and book signing (This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me) where he spoke at length about the filming of the great and trashy Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway.

Long Island Footnote: Until the End of the World

Roy Scheider speaking at tribute to Spalding Gray

The nearly 5 hour “Director’s Cut” of Until the End of the World was screened just before Thanksgiving at one of America’s great film venues, the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY. Present was the great Wim Wenders whose charming ways and thick Germanic accent rendered his every word a punchline. The 1992 film has had a fascinating history whose origin stretched back to the 70′s according to Wenders. There was also at one point “a legendary 24 hour version” according to the Director (although his wry delivery made it hard to tell if he was completely serious). This version of the film is not a genuine improvement on the original theatrical release. The first hour of the film is bolstered by the extra footage, but the final third of the film goes on much too long and is handicapped by huge gaps in logic. The film did remind the audience what an effective and underrated performer Sam Neill has been (and still is), particularly in this performance which is not an attractively written part (William Hurt has the glamorous part here). In an interesting footnote to this footnote, Willem Dafoe was in the audience (for no apparent reason) watching with everyone else, taking intermission breaks and amiably posing for cell phone snapshots with young fanboys. Not surprisingly, during the screening of the film, Wenders did a very Wenders-like thing to do, taking an almost 200 mile round trip to and from Montauk.

Photos by Lynn Rhodes

Almost certainly the most ambitious Super 8/16mm (silent) film of all time, Guy Maddin’s Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary transfers one of the most antique of movie characters and almost manages to make it seem fresh, if not reborn. The director channels Bram Stoker’s oft-filmed tale via Mark Godden’s recent ballet production of Dracula by the Royal Winnepeg Ballet (with effective use of Mahler’s first and second symphonies). The result of which is a kind of counterfeit found object of art of the silent cinema.

The performances mimic (but never really mock) silent film acting. In the course of the film, dancers mouth dialogue and the film makes hay with the device of using overwrought silent film title cards (i.e. “When I am dead will you drive a stake though my heart and cut off my head?”) Especially effective are the prima ballerinas Tara Birtwhistle (Lucy) and Cindy Marie Small (Mina) as the ravaged objects of the Count’s lust. Most effective, however, is Zhang Wei-Qiang as Count Dracula. Mr. Wei-Qiang’s Eastern Heritage emphasizes the otherness of the Count whose Oriental persona threatens to erotically overwhelm his female victims (and destroy his male pursuers). Indeed, Mr. Wei-Qiang’s sleek presence renders his performance one of the most charismatically erotic in recent film and, most remarkably, he manages to return Dracula to a kind of horrific dignity by steering his performance away from the campiness of recent screen vampires.

As for the story, once the Count infects Lucy (the film has a fixation with regard to the transference of blood/fluids from male to female portraying this connection as ethnic, erotic and biological all at once) she submits to an unshakable melancholy that hints at a fatal case of tuberculosis. Not surprisingly, the image of contaminated blood carries with it the specter of HIV. More than this, however, is the idea of exotic corruption imported from the East and designed to batter Victorian sexual repression into submission. A transfusion of uncontaminated blood restores Lucy’s health temporarily. Not surprisingly, the Count returns to re-infect his victim. After her death and resurrection as the unholy undead she exhibits the kind of unbridled lust that frees her and seals her fate. One of the main themes of the film is the thwarting of female sexuality and the scene where Van Helsing and Lucy’s suitors pry open her casket and engage in a protracted struggle to lay her to rest is the symbolic climax of the film.

The last third or so of the film is devoted to Dracula’s perusal of Mina, Lucy’s best friend and Van Helsing’s perusal of the Count, which ends in a balletic confrontation that is unrepentantly violent. Mr. Wei-Quiang’s dramatic demise emphasizes his role as the champion of the piece.

Most surprising is the fact that Mr. Maddin does not retreat into camp like so many recent horror films. It is almost post-modern in its lack of irony, and genuine feeling. Despite this, the film has a sense of humor and the filmmakers show great visual wit (such as having Lucy’s bed swathed in beautiful wreaths of garlic) without compromising the vigor and even brutality of this story. Most of all, this film is a showcase of Mr. Maddin’s exceptional skill as a storyteller. No other filmmaker makes the avant garde more accessible or familiar to an audience than this very fine, underrated Canadian auteur.

by Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni
(Simon and Schuster)

In an alternate universe, Sam Spiegel would have loved producing a film about his own mythic life and times. Indeed one of the most surprising footnotes about the new biography of Sam Spiegel (Simon and Schuster) by Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni (who was an assistant on Spiegel’s last production 1983’s Betrayed) is that it is really the first real biography of this titan of mid-twentieth century Hollywood. Almost certainly the greatest producer of his day, Spiegel’s pre-Hollywood life is portrayed by Ms. Fraser-Cavassoni as interesting as anything that happened to him after he got to Hollywood. Indeed, there is little known about Spiegel’s life before he came to Hollywood and even Spiegel himself embellished the truth in his own remembrances. Despite this, the most impressive work Ms. Fraser-Cavassoni does is to piece together as somewhat coherent portrait of Spiegel’s early adulthood. The author shows how Spiegel grew up in provincial Jaroslav and helped colonize Palestine in the 1920’s. Eventually he abandoned his wife and daughter and a slew of Israeli creditors to pursue a film career in Europe. Speigel started out life in the US arriving from Austria in the late 20’s passing himself off as a bogus diplomat and economist. From there he did a stint in jail (police arrested him while in mid-negotiation for a 3,000.00 a week contract with a top film studio) for diplomatic fraud. After this brush with the law (not his last), he moved backed to Germany and worked at Universal Studios’ German office (where he met the likes of Billy Wilder and William Wyler). During this time, he also landed a couple of Producer credits for German films (featuring Peter Lorre). Ultimately, Spiegel fled from Germany and bounced around Europe and Mexico and landed in the US in 1939 where he began his legendary Hollywood producing career (as S. P. Eagle at nearly 40) with the non-characteristically low key Tales of Manhattan. Ms. Fraser-Cavassoni is especially adept at showing how the characteristics such as lying, which caused Spiegel so much trouble in his youth, became assets in his climb up the Hollywood ladder.

The most memorable and effective part of the author’s narrative is the mid-section of the book, which traces the dramas that surrounded Spiegel’s years as arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood. From 1951 until 1959 Spiegel produced The African Queen, On the Waterfront, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Suddenly Last Summer, picking up three Oscars in less than a decade. Of particular interest are the narratives of how Spiegel navigated the troubled production of The African Queen from apparent disaster to box office and Academy Award acclaim.

Mrs. Fraser-Cavassoni’s narrative of the ordeals of making Lawrence is especially enlightening. She points out that Spiegel had at best skimmed Lawrence’s work The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Also, Spiegel helped educate the American public about Lawrence’s exploits by having a hand in an extensive public relations campaign commissioning biographies for public consumption, as well as having candy manufactured with Lawrence’s likeness engraved on bonbons. There was even a line of white terry cloth robes with hoods made for children as a way of raising the American public’s awareness of this mythic British hero. In addition to this, the author notes that Spiegel bought up all of the books concerning Lawrence to insure that no other producer would be able to film a version of the Lawrence narrative.

Spiegel was the last of his kind and there is some realization in Ms. Fraser-Cavassoni’s tone that is melancholy mixed with a kind of affection. This affection sometimes gets in the way of her viewing of the Spiegel legacy. Despite his Oscar wins and his high profile effectiveness in dealing with idiosyncratic personalities such as David Lean and John Huston, many of the Spiegel productions don’t have the kind of staying power of less well-known works of the fifties by such American masters as Nicolas Ray and Samuel Fuller. His influence, ironically enough, is slight (Harvey Weinstein is the possible lone exception) due to the fact that Hollywood would probably not tolerate a man like Speigel for as long as he was tolerated. Ms. Fraser-Cavassoni’s book makes it clear that this is a shame.

The 2003 edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival featured its usual eclectic group of films and themes concerning a plethora of subject manner from Demolition Derbies, the secret lives of Architects, to the public lives of the offspring of the wealthy, to the tragedy of a father gone mad. Among the best of this years offerings:

Documentaries and Features:

The Citizen Kane of demolition derby films, SPEEDO is a fascinating documentary of Ed “Speedo” Jager, a flawed genius of the Long Island demolition derby circuit with a crumbling family life. A man who participates on the fringes of motor sport, but is nonetheless a great performer who transcends the marginality of his “sport.” The rich irony of the film is that Speedo can survive (and even thrive) within the violence of the demolition derby “world.” But he crashes and burns when it comes to negotiating the more treacherous turns of being a husband and father. SPEEDO is probably the most overlooked film of the festival, a victim of its unfortunate, early scheduling.

RICH KIDS was arguably the most anticipated film of the festival and almost certainly the most coveted ticket this year. The premise of the very young, very rich Jamie (Johnson & Johnson) Johnson’s documentary on the life and times of the children of the rich and famous (most his friends or acquaintances) has an unbelievably off-putting premise – which is that children of the rich and famous have it awfully tough. Nonetheless, the amateurish style and ingratiating narration by Johnson manages to humanize a group of individuals that it would be easy enough to dislike (and certainly dismiss) Despite this, the film offers few revelations and one gets the impression that Johnson edited the film to maximize his subject’s likeability rather than examine fully a fascinating and unexplored subject.

The illegitimate son (Nathaniel Kahn) of the great architect Louis Kahn searches for understanding of his father’s Byzantine life and career amidst the wild contradictions of his personality in MY ARCHITECT. Mr. Kahn is superb at drawing out the inconsistencies in his father’s life by at turns showing his great works such as the library at Philips Exter and then examining the elder Kahn’s professional failures such as his frustrated idea to construct a synagogue in Jerusalem. Nathaniel Kahn’s film is at its most interesting when he lets his father’s chronicle play out in an unbelievable and ironic narrative that includes Kahn’s three families and the elder Kahn’s death in 1974, bankrupt, in the men’s room at Penn Station.

Peter Webber, the director of GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING, with Mark Rhodes

GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING stars ‘It Girl’ of the moment Scarlett Johansson as the peasant maid of the great Vermeer, played by Colin Firth. The film is a kind of 17th century “Surviving Picasso” with a built in debate about the role and ethics of the artist in society. With a rich atmosphere, a solid cast and an impressive re-creation of 17th century Holland, GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING should have been better, but the script is underwritten and the film is too content with letting the sets and costumes, impressive as they are, carry the narrative. Firth’s workmanlike performance is admirable (he even looks good in his wig) and effective, but it is Johansson who impresses with her literal on-screen transformation into a 17th century Vermeer painting.

EASY SIX had echoes of EYES WIDE SHUT, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, and especially LOLITA. Despite this lofty pedigree EASY SIX was hands down the trashiest movie of the festival. The film follows the descent of Professor Packard Schmidt (Julian Sands) as he falls for a young prostitute (a daughter of an old friend played by the where- has-he-been? John Savage) during a Milton conference in Las Vegas. The result is a film that aims for some kind of ironic truth about the nature of sex vs. love, reality vs. fantasy but instead ends up being a big wallow. The film almost redeems itself late when Jim Belushi shows up as an Elvis impersonator and displays the most authoritative and charismatic acting of his professional life.

Candidate for biggest surprise of the festival was SCREEN DOOR JESUS (winner of the festivals Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative), which explored ideas about sex, religion, race, and culture within the microcosm of a small Texas town. The film’s plot revolves around the sighting of the image of Jesus on a screen door of one of the town’s residents and how it affects the lives and spirit of the town and its inhabitants. Director/screenwriter Kirk Davis (a disfellowshipped preacher) creates rich, complicated characters out of such southern fried stereotypes as the town floozy, the Babbitt-like businessman, the good old boy sheriff and the philandering politician. Interestingly enough, the film’s flaws (uneven acting, wild swings in tone and mood) help establish a real-world setting and establish the authority and sting in Davis’ storytelling.

Without a doubt the worst high profile film of the festival was VIRGIN, which inexplicably won the festival’s Zichermann Family Foundation award for screenwriting. The film told the grim narrative of a young lower middle class woman named Jesse (Elizabeth Moss) who becomes pregnant and, convinced she is carrying a child of God, predictably becomes a heretic in her own backward community. Director/Screenwriter Deborah Kampmeir conjures up the usual stereotypes of male brutality and female martyrdom that are equally flat and unfair to each gender. Ms. Moss’ performance lacks the necessary charisma that would allow for audience empathy and interest.

Campbell Scott’s directorial effort, OFF THE MAP concerns the tale of an unconventional family living in the mystic desert of New Mexico. Eleven-year-old Bo Groden (Valentina de Angelis) lives with her earthy mom (Joan Allen) and dad (Sam Elliot). The family lives in unintentionally stylish self-sufficiency hunting or growing their own food, and bartering for the rest of their needs. Elliot’s patriarch is in a losing battle with depression when the IRS comes calling in the form of agent William Gibbs (Jim True-Frost). The New Mexico environment transforms the young agent and he becomes inspired to unleash his considerable creative energy.

Joan Allen at Screening of Campbell Scott's OFF THE MAP

OFF THE MAP was the best film of the festival. The most satisfying, the least conventional, and the best acted. Valentina de Angelis gives the finest performance by a young actor since Anna Panquin’s work in THE PIANO. Joan Allen, always a reliably fine performer, displays a warmth and earthiness that she has rarely exhibited onscreen. Jim True-Frost manages to invest his hapless IRS company man with great complexity and charm. It is Sam Elliot, however, who is the real surprise. Elliot has always seemed chiseled out of stone and he indeed looks as craggy and weathered as the New Mexican landscape of the film. The result of his work in this role as the visual embodiment of a man of the west battling crippling depression is all the more jarring because of our memory of Elliot’s previous roles as a taciturn cowboy/soldier whose indomitability is assured. According to Mr. Scott, this film is to be released in the spring of 2004. It is not inconceivable that if this film is marketed correctly and receives favorable distribution it could become one of the early favorites in the 2004 Academy Awards race.

THE COOLER, an offbeat movie set in Las Vegas (is there any other kind of film set in Las Vegas) about Bernie Lootz (a glum William H. Macy) an unlucky guy in a town where luck is everything. Lootz works for his casino-owner friend Shelley Kaplow (a well-cast Alec Baldwin) paying off his considerable debt to Shelley who covered his debts and saved his life years early. Lootz’ main contribution to the casino is working as a “cooler” a guy whose very presence brings bad luck. Lootz is just days away from repaying his debt when he falls for Natalie (Maria Bello) a cocktail waitress who reciprocates his affection. The result of this, as you may have guessed by now, is that Lootz’ luck changes. Naturally, this proves problematic to Baldwin’s character who can afford neither to lose Macy’s character nor have his luck change. With lesser actors, this film could have seemed ridiculous and over-written. Luckily, the film had the services of Macy, and such yeoman character actors like Paul Sorvino and Ron Livingston. Alec Baldwin’s performance is not quite Oscar worthy as some of the festival buzz indicated. It was, however, one of his strongest and most enjoyable performances in many a year.

In the late 1960’s, Professor Jean Morrison was a professor and Kafka-obsessed intellectual. His striking looks and classroom theatrics (he typically cried while reading Joyce) as well as his nightmares of military service in Korea made him seem like some kind of sixties generation version of a Joseph Conrad character. He was also an erratic husband and father of six. All of this changed when his lover’s husband brained him in the back of the head. This event changed the romantic madman into a nightmarish madman who had nothing but violence and squalor to offer his family. THE MORRISON PROJECT is Amy Williams’ attempt to exorcise the demons of her family tragedy and understand the pain and violence, which have marked her siblings to this day. Ms. Williams has the natural gifts of a storyteller and indeed the opening of the film and narration are as beautiful and polished as any high-end PBS documentary. Nonetheless, Ms. Williams’ technical gifts as a filmmaker aren’t yet evolved, and the film contains too many amateurish defects. In spite of this, it is without a doubt one of the most haunting tales of an American family in recent times. Director/Screenwriter Allison Bagnall’s PIGGIE tells the tale of Fannie (the outstanding Savannah Haske) who has matured into a young woman lacking a mother and with only slight inspiration from her father on the ancestral farm in upstate New York. With a pet pig and an aged woman as her most consistent “friends.” Fannie comments on her life by composing, appropriately enough, a series of country and western ballads. These songs have the effect of conjuring up a boyfriend fantasy in the guise of Nile (Dean Wareham of the bands Galaxie 500 and Luna). Fannie of course, sets her sights on Nile who is fairly clear about his lack of interest in her. The narrative picks up momentum at this point and the resulting pursuit is at times funny, weird and painful. PIGGIE is an uneven effort and the script by Ms. Bagnall the author generally outpaces the directorial skill and deftness of Ms. Bagnall the director.

MARVIN ANDERSON’S NIGHTMARE: STORIES OF THE INNOCENT PROJECT, an oddball festival entry was an hour-long offering from Court TV (apparently the first entry in an upcoming series on this cable channel) and told the unbelievable story of Marvin Anderson who was wrongly convicted of, among other charges, two counts of rape in 1982 and sentenced to 210 ten years in the Virginia penitentiary. Needless to say, the evidence that convicted him was impossibly thin and Anderson and Anderson’s lawyer’s attempts to free him from prison were thwarted at every turn by a Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Only with the advent of DNA technology did Anderson manage to overturn his conviction. This work borrows heavily from THE THIN BLUE LINE stylistically and even the music seems to be cribbed from Philip Glass’ memorable film score. Nonetheless, the work is riveting and the filmmakers tell the story in such a way that Anderson’s eventual exoneration, although a foregone conclusion, remains a genuine relief to the audience.

The Shorts:

Eva Saks’ crowd-pleasing double bill Colorforms (concerning a messy little girl and her uptight parents) and Confection (about a little girl who wants to be a ballerina and learns the real world meaning of grace) had a polish and sophistication that connected to some of the work of Old Hollywood masters such as Michael Powell and Blake Edwards. Both shorts are well cast with interesting faces and Ms. Saks makes the most of the striking locales of New York. More than anything else the films are hopeful valentines of a post-9/11 Manhattan that is tolerant and humane.

Combing elements of a Pinter play, an Aaron Spelling opus, and the myth of Adam and Eve, COYOTE BEACH packed in a lot in just over 20 minutes. The film, shot on nearby Long Island beaches was an examination by director Markus Griesshammer of the contemporary dynamics of the battle of the sexes. The film is a two-person drama concerning a couple whose dynamic is suddenly out of balance when the girlfriend, an actor, gets a starring role in a Sean Connery vehicle. The balance of power shifts abruptly back and forth through the short and remains unresolved at the end. Director Griesshammer makes the most of his attractive cast, the beautiful setting and is able to push the narrative in several different directions seamlessly in the short amount of time he has to build tension, develop characters and bring his narrative to a satisfying (if inconclusive) conclusion.

The film which had the best title of the festival was A NINJA PAYS HALF MY RENT, a funny 5 minute haiku of a film which exploited the twenty something anxiety about the more sinister aspects of having a roommate. A young man shares his apartment with a ninja who stealthily passes him the syrup when he is not looking, stalks silently out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and has graceful fights with a rival ninja who quietly attacks the apartment.

Other noteworthy shorts were the delightfully raunchy PROM NIGHT which makes hay with the adolescent fear and insecurity of their own lack of sexual experience and with the horror and denial of their parents’ sexuality. A great ribald piece that is all the more refreshing in its setting in New Jersey. OUT OF TIME played heavily upon the metaphysics and built-in-anxiety of living in an apartment in Manhattan and was an effective exercise in combining humor and genuine horror. Director Amy Lippman’s HOUSE HUNTING (based on a Michael Chabon short story) was a strong entry in the festival due to its quirky narrative and use of fresh, but recognizable performers such as Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel. HAUTE VOLTAGE was an experimental short that seemed like a 2004 trailer for the silent classic CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. Director Liz Hinlein’s images and alternating use of baroque and 21st century music underlined what seemed to be the point of the film, which was that there is no past and no future in fashion, only the present.