In the interest of full disclosure, I need to get a few things out of the way; Oren Moverman’s The Messenger has been a very important film for me this past year. I am unable to assemble my thoughts about the film itself; I have no critical distance when it comes to this movie. Let me just say I think it is one of the finest movies of the year and an instant classic. I saw the movie at Sundance and fell in love with it. With a little help and some true generosity, we were able to showcase The Messenger as the Opening Night Film at the Sarasota Film Festival back in March. Coming to us right after a triumphant trip to the Berlin Film Festival, we worked with the team from the film to bring in several soldiers and veterans for the screening and party; everyone had a great time. During the festival’s opening weekend, I got to know Oren and the cast a little bit and I was as shocked by their kindness as I was by their talent. I am indebted to all of them for taking a chance on our idea and bringing the film to Sarasota so early in the process.
I have been waiting for this weekend for months now; the film is opening in NYC and DC and rolling out wide next week. All I can hope for in the coming weeks and months is that the film is as warmly received by the national audience as it was by our festival’s. Not only will your support offer tremendous help to a very talented group of artists, but it will also signal an investment in the type of serious, American cinema that desperately needs a boost. My fingers are crossed for the good people at Oscilloscope and for my Messenger friends; here’s to engaging hearts and minds.
Don’t trust them? Trust me; just go see it. Go. Go go go.
* A special mention for film critic movie-loathing-contrarian-for-the-sake-of-it Armond White, whose review, a complete misreading of the film that underlines his own condescension and deep insecurity, opens with the following sentence: “Despite the many things wrong with Brian De Palma’s Redacted, the acting was superbly on-point.” Why read on from there? Say hello, wave goodbye. Seriously?!
Sad news; The great actor Jean-Paul Roussillon has passed away in Auxerre, France after being hospitalized Thursday. He was 79. Roussillon had been suffering from lung cancer for years and finally succumbed to the disease, his family has announced. Roussillon won the César this past year for his portrayal of Abel in Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale and also played funny, moving parts in the director’s Kings and Queen and Léo: Playing In The Company Of Men. If you want to catch up with Roussillon’s award-winning final role you can do so when A Christmas Tale makes its television debut next Thursday, August 6, at 11:45 PM on Sundance Channel. It will be time well spent with a great, humane face and that gruff, big hearted voice; it is a lovely performance by a terrific actor. He will be missed.
Wherein I contradict my previous post with incredible nonchalance…
In the summer of 1982, I was an 11 year old kid in love with the movies. I also had a very unique opportunity to completely marinate myself in the films of the day; my parents were competitive bridge players and, it being 1982, they used to allow me to take my little brother and go sit in the movie theater for the entire day and watch the same film over and over again while they played cards. The theater people kept an eye on us and for the price of a single kid’s admission to a film, we could stay and watch one movie three, sometimes four times in a row. Different era, clearly. My favorite theater at that age was the old Flint Cinema, a one screen monolith with 70mm capability that served up summer blockbusters all season long. In 1982, the movie that dominated my summer, the film that I absolutely could not get enough of, was Tron.
One otherwise forgotten afternoon that July, a friend and I got dropped off at the Flint Cinema to see Tron in 70mm*. When we entered the theater, it was empty; a weekday screening, first show of the day. We took two seats right in the middle of the theater, popcorn in hand, waiting for our minds to be blown. And then, without warning, a man sat next to my friend; there were at least 300 empty seats in the theater, but this man chose to sit next to us. He didn’t say a word, just looked straight ahead at the screen. We laughed and got up and moved, but the man moved with us and sat next to my friend again. Shaken, we both got up and went to find theater staff to complain, but when we came back in, the man was gone. He did not return. We found our seats and, more than a little freaked out, watched Tron for three consectuive screenings.
Despite the creepy factor, one that continues to shape my feelings about where I sit in films and how much space I put between myself and strangers (answer: as much as possible), Tron remains a touchstone for me, the summer movie that made me aware of the world around me. I still love the film and remember throwing quarters into the subsequent video games (Tron and, more difficult and more fun, Discs of Tron) like they were going out of style (actually, they were). Seminal for me.
So, just moments after I published my last post decrying Comic-Con and how out of touch I had grown as an adult with the modern world of fantasy, big-budget cinema, I was directed to a little piece of viral video that gave me goosebumps and threw my entire premise into question; Tron Legacy has a trailer and it is amazing (be sure to watch in HD).
Ok, so that got me excited. I understand this is a visual effects test, a proof of concept. Case proven, I think (but then again, I was oh so very excited for Speed Racer, so I remain a little bit cautious). Clicking around to find more information, I read that French duo Daft Punk will be scoring the new film. Perfect! I cannot wait to take my son to the theater to see this. Once again, just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in! Damn you, creative geniuses! Anyway, if you’re not a fan of (or familiar with) the original Tron, get caught up on the mystery. Can’t wait for this one… I feel like a little kid all over again! Now, when will they be showcasing scenes from The Dark Crystal 2: The Power Of The Dark Crystal...??
*Tron was actually shot in 65mm 2.2:1 aspect ratio and blown up to 70mm. You can read the story of this process here.
I was recently reading Philip Gourevitch’s New Yorker article of May 4 (regsitration req’d), describing his recent return to Rwanda, more than a decade after the publication his incredible We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. It was a powerful reminder of the trauma of the Rwandan genocide and it provides an excellent context for the film and the changes that have taken place since Munyurangabo was completed. A podcast with Gourevitch is up now at the New Yorker website. Give a listen; Rwanda continues to be an important story, one that is always changing as the people grow, develop and move forward as a nation.
Jon Gerrans and Marcus Hu, true champions of international cinema with their company Strand Releasing, have acquired Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Womanfor theatrical release in the USA. The film opens August 19 at my favorite haunt, Film Forum. This is great news, in my opinion, not only because the film is excellent, but also because it signals something important; despite the loss of New Yorker Films (still devastating), films like The Headless Woman and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s brilliant Three Monkeys (which was picked up by Zeitgeist) can still find a home in the USA.
We’ve lost so many excellent distributors, I can’t articulate how important these acquisitions press releases have become to me; they are literal buoys, something to cling to as I swim through my days. When I read them, I get a smile on my face. I realized this past month that I will always carry many of these lost companies around as holes in my heart; Wellspring, New Yorker, Cowboy, Lot 47, etc. It all makes small victories like this one seem even more important. I can’t wait for August, can’t wait to see this film again.
In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for a certain other excellent Argentinean film from Strand at a certain unnamed film festival announcing its line-up on Wednesday…(no, not THAT one…). Congrats and thanks to Jon and Marcus for making this film available to audiences.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Kent Jones and Lucrecia Martel (NYFF Press Screening of The Headless Woman, October 5, 2008.)
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