THEATRE REVIEW: Richard Bean’s ‘House of Games’

Posted on October 7, 2010 by admin

house of games x650

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – The great thing about confidence trickery is that you don’t see it coming, and when you’re not the target that’s what makes Richard Bean’s stage version of David Mamet’s “House of Games” — having its world premiere at London’s Almeida Theatre — such a pleasure.

Bean adapts Mamet’s screenplay to a 100-minute master class in the con as celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Margaret Ford (Nancy Carroll) delves into a seedy gambling emporium in Chicago to help out gambling-addicted patient Billy Hahn (Al Weaver), who is in hock for a considerable sum.

There, she encounters club owner Mike (Michael Landes, pictured with Nancy Carroll), who immediately is attracted to the idea of showing a smart and famous professional woman how games work in his house. He says he’ll forgive Billy’s debt if she’ll come to witness a shakedown he’s planning with his oddball crew. They include obscenity-spouting but genial George (Trevor Cooper), worrier Joey (Dermot Crowley) and amusing Hell’s Angel dimwit Bobby (John Marquez).

Unable to profit from Mamet’s filmmaking skill in making points with quick shots and camera angles, director Lindsay Posner uses Peter McKintosh’s clever two-story set design. The shrink’s office is on the top level, where Billy relates his troubles, with the House of Games at stage level, where most of the action takes place.

Even those who have seen the film will enjoy the tricks and sly twists. Carroll’s psychiatrist is all buttoned-down professionalism at first, and she captures the woman’s confusion as she finds herself intrigued by Mike’s confident games-playing and is attracted to the man. A poised and graceful actress, she uses subtle body movement and expression to show the loosening of her grip on the ability to analyze any situation.

Landes presents credibly different faces to the shrink and his crew, and also the victims of his con, and Cooper and Marquez deal out Mamet’s dialogue to smart and amusing effect.

The design also achieves maximum impact from the contrast between the psychiatrist’s cold office, where her encounters with boyish but complicated Billy set the scene for what develops, and the deceptive warmth of the poker club, where gullible victims stand to be fleeced without sympathy.

Bean employs Mamet’s gamesmanship with entertaining skill, and Posner’s staging keeps the action swift. The mood is helped greatly by Django Bates’ bluesy original music played on the electric guitar by Christian Bluhme.

Venue: Almeida Theatre, runs through Nov. 6; Cast: Nancy Carroll, Michael Landes, Trevor Cooper, John Marquez, Dermot Crowley, Peter De Jersey, Amanda Drew, Al Weaver; Playwright: Richard Bean; Based on the screenplay by: David Mamet; Story by: David Mamet, Jonathan Katz; Director: Lindsay Posner; Designer: Peter McKintosh; Music: Django Bates; Lighting designer: Paul Pyant.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Comments Off on THEATRE REVIEW: Richard Bean’s ‘House of Games’

THEATRE REVIEW: Richard Bean’s ‘The Big Fellah’

Posted on October 5, 2010 by admin

big fellah

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, the old saying goes, and Richard Bean attempts to come to grips with the paradox in his alternately funny and savage drama “The Big Fellah,” about Irish Republican Army supporters in New York.

Spanning the three decades at the end of the 20th century, the play centers on a top IRA fundraiser named Costello (Finbar Lynch) whom everyone calls the Big Fellah. In the first scene, he addresses the converted at a meeting in the Bronx and declares his view that though war might be hell, tyranny is even more disgusting.

It’s the justification for his involvement in running guns and explosives to Ireland as well as helping fugitives from Britain escape to Canada. For that, he uses the apartment of gullible New York fireman Mike (David Ricardo-Pierce), whose devotion to the cause is solid if not as voluble and dangerous as Costello’s tame cop Tom Billy Coyle (Youssef Kerkour).

Among those who come to stay are Ruari O’Driscoll (Rory Keenan), an IRA gunman wanted for killing a soldier, and Elisabeth (Claire Rafferty), who has fallen afoul of the IRA leadership’s sexism and is suspected of being a mole.

Into the fray comes a genuinely psychotic hard man from Ireland named Frank McArdle (Fred Ridgway), who sees violence as the answer to every problem. There also is comely stranger Karelma (Stephanie Street), who is not what she appears to be.

The players interact and age credibly as years go by, and the nature of the IRA’s activities start to involve Lybia and acts of violence like packing explosives into a shipment of teddy bears. The FBI is on the case, and Bean infuses the tight little band with suggestions of betrayal that up the suspense ante between the laughs.

Keenan gets most of them thanks to Ruari’s droll wit that enables him to skate by some of the worst elements of the group’s actions. Lynch is sinuous and sinister as the silver-tongued leader who is much tougher than he appears, and Ridgway makes his hard man very scary with lumpen directness and sure-handed application of an electric drill.

Director Max Stafford-Clark allows the pace to slacken a bit too much as the decades pass, and the play would benefit from sharper transitions. But Bean’s talent for tackling complex subjects with candor and insightful humor remains clear throughout.

Venue: Lyric Hammersmith, runs through Oct. 16; Cast: Finbar Lynch, Rory Keenan, David Richardo-Pierce, Stephanie Street, Youssef Kerkour, Claire Rafferty, Fred Ridgeway; Playwright: Richard Bean ; Director: Max Stafford-Clark; Production designer: Tim Shortall; Lighting designer: Jason Taylor; Sound designer: Nick Manning.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on THEATRE REVIEW: Richard Bean’s ‘The Big Fellah’

THEATRE REVIEW: Noel Coward’s ‘Design for Living’

Posted on October 5, 2010 by admin

design for living 1 x650

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Noel Coward’s provocative play “Design for Living” caused more than a few corks to pop when it debuted in 1933 on Broadway with a recipe for happiness defined by a hedonistic menage-a-trois.

The new Old Vic production takes a while to build up fizz, but it becomes a bubbly concoction with a pleasing aftertaste thanks to Coward’s gift for infectious dialogue delivered by a cast adept at blithe sophistication.

Lez Brotherston’s lavish sets make the transition from bohemian Paris to London’s Mayfair to a penthouse in Manhattan an enjoyable journey as we follow the adventures of a colorfully decadent threesome.

design for living 2 x325Lisa Dillon is Gilda, an interior decorator living in Paris with artist Otto (Tom Burke, right in the photos) but susceptible to the overtures of playwright Leo (Andrew Scott) when left alone. The first of three acts over nearly three hours sees art dealer Ernest (Angus Wright) drop by to see Gilda and Otto, only to discover Leo there instead.

When Otto bursts in, the merry-go-round begins: While Ernest shakes his puritanical head in disgust, the woman’s two lovers make it clear that besides Gilda, they too have a history together.

In London, the situation is reversed as Gilda shares her home with Leo, and it’s Otto who steals into her bed when the artist is away. Add housekeeper Miss Hodge (Maggie McCarthy) to those who disapprove sniffily of the shenanigans, while Ernest entreats Gilda to leave both of her partners.

The third and final act finds Gilda married to Ernest in a splashy but sterile penthouse with tiresome socialite friends when who should crop up? Otto and Leo, keen to whisk her away.

Director Anthony Page encourages Burke and Scott to deliver carefree performances as Otto and Leo, and they leap to it with abandon. Scott is in especially gleeful form, his voice rising at moments of heightened anxiety and giving way to the giggles whenever bourgeois propriety surfaces.

The two men are riotously funny in a scene when they drown their sorrows in brandy over Gilda’s departure, and Wright gives a master class in outraged frustration when Gilda makes her final decision. Dillon raises the stakes of Coward’s frivolity by grounding Gilda in a sensibility of intelligence and understanding of the insubstantial but gratifying lifestyle she embraces.

Venue: The Old Vic, runs through Nov. 27; Cast: Lisa Dillon, Andrew Scott, Tom Burke, Angus Wright; Playwright: Noel Coward; Director: Anthony Page; Set/costume designer: Lez Brotherston ; Lighting designer: David Hesey; Sound designer: Paul Groothuis.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on THEATRE REVIEW: Noel Coward’s ‘Design for Living’

THEATRE REVIEW: Rachel Wagstaff’s ‘Birdsong’

Posted on September 29, 2010 by admin

birdsong 2 x650By Ray Bennett

LONDON – A vibrant love story and the searing experience of World War I in the trenches are combined successfully in British novelist Sebastian Faulks’ bestseller “Birdsong.” It has thwarted filmmakers so far but young playwright Rachel Wagstaff makes a decent effort in a new stage production directed by Trevor Nunn.

Like the book, it follows a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, played by Ben Barnes, best known as Prince Caspian in the “Narnia” films, as he lands in pre-war rural France to learn about the world.

He’s supposed to get an education in manufacturing from factory owner Rene Azaire (Nicholas Farrell) and he does learn from the brutish man a good deal about how not to treat people. But his real learning comes in the arms of Azaire’s beautiful and unhappy wife Isabelle (Genevieve O’Reilly, pictured above with Barnes).

Their love affair is described vividly and erotically in the novel but Wagstaff and Nunn rush the pair quickly offstage at moments of heightened excitement. The scenes between the two with neighbors and factory workers, being full of suppressed desire, serve to make the point although much of this section of the story has to be related by Wraysford speaking to the audience as he writes his diary.

Once war begins, designer John Napier’s set of trenches, makeshift rooms and underground tunnels creates a startlingly claustrophobic backdrop to the drama. Wraysford, his senior officer (also Farrell), and the men he commands, including cheerful Jack Firebrace (Lee Ross), go through various kinds of hell in the worst battles of the Somme.

birdsong 1 x650

It’s a handsome production throughout but the scenes of terror resonate especially thanks to good acting and Nunn’s staging but also the evocative contributions of lighting designer David Howe and sound designer Fergus O’Hare.

Barnes makes the transition persuasively from callow youth to joyous lover to bitter combat officer, and the lovely and subtle O’Reilly, in the early scenes and later flashbacks, makes it clear why Wraysford falls in love so completely. Farrell, as the boorish husband and a dutiful army Captain, and Iain Mitchell, who also has two roles as a tiresome neighbor and a genial soldier, make their characters distinct and impressive. Ross resonates most strongly as a stalwart Tommy who can entertain his mates with a song and dance, brave the darkest bomb-threatened tunnels, and talk about his sick son at home with simple clarity absent of sentiment.

He’s the one who takes the play closest to the moving power of the classic “Journey’s End” by R. C. Sherriff, who, unlike Faulks, wrote about the trenches from having survived them.

Venue: Comedy Theatre, runs through Jan. 15; Cast: Ben Barnes, Lee Ross, Genevieve O’Reilly, Nicholas Farrell, Florence Hall, Iain Mitchell; Playwright: Rachel Wagstaff, based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks; Director: Trevor Nunn; Set designer: John Napier; Costume designer: Emma Williams; Lighting designer: David Howe; Sound designer: Fergus O’Hare; Projection: Jon Driscoll & Gemma Carrington; Music: Steven Edis.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter. Photo by Johan Persson.

Posted in Reviews, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on THEATRE REVIEW: Rachel Wagstaff’s ‘Birdsong’

THEATRE REVIEW: Elena Roger in Sondheim’s ‘Passion’

Posted on September 24, 2010 by admin

Elena Roger and David Thaxton in Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Passion’

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – That love never fails is a simple concept made rich and complex in Stephen Sondheim’s ardent 1994 Tony Award-winning musical “Passion” in a memorable new production at the Donmar Warehouse.

From the sizzling opening bedroom scene – in which Scarlett Strallen, as blonde temptress Clara, and David Thaxton, as lovesick soldier Giorgio, get more entangled than their sheets – to the tale’s tragic end, it’s a dark and caustic masterpiece.

The simplicity is in the tale of a young man separated from his adored mistress and then becomes the single-minded object of devotion of a plain and sickly woman who will not accept “no” for an answer. The complexity is in Sondheim’s intense score with lyrics that leave aside his usual sophisticated wit to focus on the sharp end of love’s relentless purpose.

The production is made unforgettable by the casting of Argentine star Elena Roger as the dour and haunted Fosca, whose abrupt and overwhelming love for Giorgio is unconditional and brooks no resistance. Roger won acclaim in the West End in a revival of “Evita” and at the Donmar in “Piaf,” and now she has a trio of musical successes.

She is slight and tiny but her voice has a massive range that she draws on without apparent effort so that it bites fiercely when Fosca first declares her undying passion and floats delicately when love finds its way.

The setting is Italy in the 1860s with the gorgeous Clara – sung and acted with beautiful clarity by Strallen – happy to leave husband and child at home to romp with Giorgio in Milan. When he is posted to a remote outpost, they exchange love letters that each reads in superlative staging by director Jamie Lloyd.

Clara emerges on the dining table at the army outpost, dressed in bedclothes to describe her ardour and loneliness. When Fosca’s determined pursuit of the soldier leads to his touching her hand, he finds it soft and inviting but it reminds him only of Clara.

Not for long. As Clara makes it clear that she will never leave her husband and child, the plain and now very ill Fosca begins to carve a place in Giorgio’s heart. From appearing harsh and witch-like, Roger now gives the woman softness and femininity and Fosca’s willingness to bear anything if she might only hear Girogio say “I love you” captivate the man.

Thaxton makes Giorgio strong and vulnerable, and a solid male cast joins the leads in giving full measure to the songs and James Lapine’s succinct book. They are helped greatly by musical director Alan Williams’ sprightly nine-piece orchestra. Christopher Oram’s clever arched set provides a flexible backdrop while lighting designer Neil Austin gives Strallen’s blondeness even greater radiance and underscores Roger’s late blossoming with apt subtlety.

Venue: Donmar Warehouse, London (through Nov. 27); Cast: Elena Roger, David Thaxton, Scarlett Strallen; Music & lyrics: Stephen Sondheim; Book: James Lapine; Director: Jamie Lloyd; Set & costume designer: Christopher Oram; Lighting designer: Neil Austin; Sound designers: Terry Jardine, Nick Lidster for Autograph; Musical director: Alan Williams; Choreographer: Scott Ambler

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Music, Reviews, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on THEATRE REVIEW: Elena Roger in Sondheim’s ‘Passion’

TIFF FILM REVIEW: John Gray’s ‘White Irish Drinkers’

Posted on September 22, 2010 by admin

Mark Thurston and Leslie Murphy among a fine cast in John Gray’s ’70s drama ‘White Irish Drinkers’

By Ray Bennett

TORONTO – A movie with the unprepossessing title “White Irish Drinkers’ about two brothers living in the Brooklyn docklands in 1975 could easily be filled with clichés but in the hands of filmmaker John Gray it’s a sparkling piece of entertainment that deserves a wide audience.

The set-up is formulaic with Stephen Lang as a tough Irish longshoreman who likes to slap his wife and eldest son around but dotes on his younger son, even as he mocks him for being soft. It sounds like a hoary old ’40s B-movie, but Gray’s screenplay is atmospheric, inventive and full of surprises, and his direction draws vivid portrayals from his players.

Nurtured properly, the film could find a responsive audience across generations with its savvy mix of youthful restlessness, crime, romance, broken traditions, and a little bit of rock ’n ’roll. Gray, who has had an eclectic directing career on television and a couple of features, and created the series “Ghost Whisperer,” shows full maturity as a filmmaker and he deserves a major hit with this picture.

Lang, with a pleasing lack of false bravado, plays Patrick, who always takes a drink or four on the way home and then takes it out on wife Margaret – Karen Allen, warm and matronly – and son Danny (Geoff Wigdor), who is cut from the same cloth as his father.

Mark Thurston makes a star-making appearance as younger son Brian, who gets along with everyone but keeps his talent and passion for drawing and painting hidden away. Danny is a petty criminal who tries to involve his brother in his crimes but Brian is no criminal and is much happier putting in time at the local theater run by Whitey (Peter Riegert, in a shrewdly sympathetic role).

Gray introduces intriguing plotlines seamlessly as Brian falls for pretty travel agent Shauna (Leslie Murphy); Whitey, in hock to a loan shark, schemes to bring the Rolling Stones to his theater; and Danny plans to knock over the proceeds.

Scenes between the painter and his girl, and with his mates, and between the brothers and their mother have heft and depth. Wigdor gets Danny’s rough edges right and Murphy is fresh and open as Laura.

Gray keeps the surprises and twists coming as Brian grows through the story with Thurston combining tenderness with sharp determination and a willingness to seize opportunities when they arise.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival; Sales: Submarine; Production company: Ovington Avenue Productions, Bernard/Scura Productions; Cast: Stephen Lang, Peter Riegert, Karen Allen, Nick Thurston, Geoffrey Wigdor, Leslie Murphy; Director, screenwriter, producer: John Gray; Producers: Melissa Joe Peltier, Paul Bernard, James Scura; Director of photography: Seamus Tierney; Production designer: Tomasso Ortino; Music: Mark Snow; Costume designer: Nicole Capasso; Editor: Neil Mandelberg; No rating, running time 109 minutes.

This review appears in The Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Film, Reviews, TIFF Toronto International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

TIFF FILM REVIEW: Keanu Reeves in ‘Henry’s Crime’

Posted on September 21, 2010 by admin

Vera Farmiga and Keanu Reeves mix greasepaint with bank robbery in Malcolm Venville’s ‘Henry’s Crime’

By Ray Bennett

TORONTO – Combining a back-stage theatrical romance and a drama about a bank robbery into one spoof might have seemed a good idea at the time but while Malcolm Venville’s “Henry’s Crime” is billed as a comedy it’s more funny odd than funny ha-ha.

Keanu Reeves, who also was active in getting the picture made, has the central role of a man convicted of a robbery he had no part in who decides to make up for the time by now committing the crime.

Reeves plays the part, however, as a blank canvas and while some of the deliberately contrived elements of the combined plotlines are amusing, it becomes increasingly silly rather than gaining the laughs it seeks.

Cross cutting between Reeves dashing back and forth from a performance of Chekhov onstage and bank robbers digging a tunnel to a vault down below is clearly intended to be hilarious but it just seems awkward.

It will take very clear marketing to keep audiences from being confused by the film’s intentions. Even that might not be enough despite entertaining performances by Vera Farmiga, as Reeves’ leading lady onstage, and James Caan, as his main buddy in the bank raid.

The set up is that hapless Henry (Reeves), who has a drab marriage to Debbie (Judy Greer) and a drearier job as a tollbooth collector, finds himself bullied off to a baseball game by sometime pals Eddie (Fisher Stevens) and Joe (Danny Hoch). But there is no baseball game.

Instead, Eddie and Joe rob a bank at gunpoint leaving Henry to wait in his car, which has now become the getaway vehicle. The robbery goes sour, bank guard Frank (Bill Duke) collars the stupefied Henry, and he is promptly sent to jail.

After serving his time, he sets out to rob the bank for real and, through a series of what are supposed to be funny coincidences, discovers not only how to break into it but also a cover for his activities.

The cover comes from joining a down-at-heel theatrical troupe in a production of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” starring a beauty named Julie Ivanova (Farmiga) he meets cute when she runs him over in her car.

The play’s director, Darek Milodragovic (Peter Stormare) casts Henry in the lead role opposite Julie and the play’s rehearsals proceed as Henry, joined by tough old cellmate Max (Caan) dig beneath the theater into the bank.

Eddie, Joe and Frank all get involved too and the cross-cutting gets frenetic as the film’s director Venville (“44-Inch Chest”) tries to emphasize the parallels between the fate of the characters in the play and in the film, but the pacing is always one beat off.

Farmiga adds likeable goofiness to the wry humor she displayed in “Up In the Air” and Caan appears to having a very good time as Max. He does his best to make the audience have one too, but it’s an uphill struggle.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival; Sales: Parlay Films; Production companies: Company Films, Mimram Schur Pictures; Cast: Keanu Reeves, Vera Farmiga, James Caan; Director: Malcolm Venville; Screenwriters: Sacha Gervasi, David White; Producers: Stephen Hamel, David J. Mimran, Jordan Schur, Lemore Sylvan; Executive producers: Sacha Gervasi, Lisa Wilson; Director of photography: Paul Cameron; Production designer: Chris Jones; Costume designer: Melissa Toth; Editor: Curtiss Clayton; No rating, running time 108 minutes.

This review appears in The Hollywood Reporter

Posted in Film, Reviews, TIFF Toronto International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on TIFF FILM REVIEW: Keanu Reeves in ‘Henry’s Crime’

TIFF FILM REVIEW: David M. Rosenthal’s ‘Janie Jones’

Posted on September 20, 2010 by admin

Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivola as unexpected family in David M. Rosenthal’s ‘Janie Jones’

By Ray Bennett

TORONTO – An earnest tale about a faded rock star who discovers he has a teenaged daughter and takes her on the road, “Janie Jones” follows a predictable path and despite decent performances it does not catch fire.

The film’s original songs are low key, the storytelling lacks any kind of vivid insights into life on the road that have not been seen before, and the outcome is signposted clearly. The production is more a promise of what the filmmaker and performers might have to offer in the future that anything likely to make a mark with audiences.

Written and directed by David M. Rosenthal (“Falling Up) the semi-autobiographic story shows drunken has-been Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola) playing ramshackle gigs in low-rent halls with a quarrelsome band. One night, a frazzled blonde, Mary-Anne (Elisabeth Shue), shows up in a red convertible and introduces him to a teenager named Janie (Abigail Breslin) she says is his daughter.

Mary-Anne promptly splits and Ethan’s early resistance to taking on the responsibility of being a father soon crumbles. Not surprisingly, Janie turns out to be a talented singer songwriter and before long the two of them are on the road together. When Ethan skids even more out of control, it’s up to Janie to find the path to salvation.

Rosenthal’s setting is credible and Nivola (“Coco Before Chanel”) has all the grizzled charm and arrogance of a rock star as he banters and battles with the boys in the band. Shue’s role is more of a cameo at beginning and end, but she makes a striking entrance all strung out and desperate, as Janie tells her: “You don’t have to dress like a hooker to introduce me.”

Rosenthal says he fathered a child when he was 18 and did not meet her until she was 11 and perhaps the closeness of the story has tempered his filmmaking instincts so the outcome is lackluster. The framework of the picture and the solid performances suggest he has a lot more to offer.

Much of the appeal of the film rests on Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) and she shows spirit and singing ability in some rowdy and occasionally tender scenes. The film presents a sturdy peg for her ongoing growth as a film actor and while it’s not likely to be a highlight in her career, it’s no shame either.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival; Sales: Creative Artists Agency; Production company: Unified Pictures; Cast: Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Shue; Director, screenwriter, executive producer: David M. Rosenthal; Producers: Keith Kjarval, Eric Bassett; Executive producers: Nick Guzzone, Matt Luber, Ken Meyer, Lee Nelson, Keith Watkins, Aaron L. Gilbert, Peter Roach; Director of photography: Anastas N. Michos; Production designer: Stephen Altman; Music: Eef Barzelay; Costume designer: Vanessa King; Editor: Alan Heim; No rating, running time 107 minutes.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Film, Reviews, TIFF Toronto International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on TIFF FILM REVIEW: David M. Rosenthal’s ‘Janie Jones’

TIFF FILM REVIEW: John Sayles’s ‘Amigo’

Posted on September 20, 2010 by admin

Great production design and cinematography add depth to John Sayles’ ‘Amigo’

By Ray Bennett

TORONTO – John Sayles’s “Amigo” is set during the U.S. incursion in the Philippines in 1900 but the parallels with Afghanistan and Iraq today are clear. It’s an impressive film, but the indie filmmaker has little to add to the debate beyond the eternal truth that the innocent always suffer most.

Good looking, atmospheric and steeped in the culture of the rural Philippines of the time, “Amigo” follows what happens when an American platoon occupies the village of San Isidro deep in the rice paddies far from Manila.

It’s a familiar tale but the setting is different and Sayles tells it with his usual cinematic vigor and attention to small detail. It will appeal to audiences interested in well-told history, and the film should be of great interest to educators as a way of imparting the everlasting tragedy of such conflicts. With much of the dialogue in Spanish, it also should travel well.

With Spain and the U.S. at war, the Philippines declared itself an independent republic in 1989. American troops moved in and the conflict in the Philippines lasted longer than the Spanish-American War.

When Lieutenant Compton (Garret Dillahunt) marches into the village of San Isidro, most of the young men have already joined the rebels. Village headman Rafael (Joel Torre) has incarcerated the remaining Spaniards including Padre Hildago (Yul Vazquez) and declares himself a friend, an amigo, to the invaders.

Rafael’s brother Simon (Ronnie Lazaro), however, is leader of the local rebels and his son has run off to join them. Strict but compassionate, Compton strives to win the hearts and minds of the villagers even as the conflict escalates elsewhere.

When the rebels across the country prove intransigent, U.S. leaders dictate a change from carrot to stick and Compton’s senior office, Colonel Hardacre (Chris Cooper) orders the lieutenant to make war.

Cattle are slain, fields ruined and curfews imposed. Anyone who helps the rebels will be shot. Meanwhile, the rebels issue their own demands that mean anyone who aids the enemy also will be executed. Just like the locals in Afghanistan and many other places, the villagers are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Sayles depicts the young American soldiers as a rough and tender mix with most having learned to demonize the enemy even as the Filipinos they meet turn out to be friendly and cooperative. Tension mounts as the rebels gear up their attacks, violence increases, and the village leader is caught between conflicting obligations.

Dillahunt (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) makes a strong impression as an officer who is at heart a civilian house builder. He strives for harmony and peacekeeping while following strict orders. Vazquez makes his sanctimonious priest sardonic and merciless, and Torre has an everyman appeal as a leader trying to do the right thing.

Production design by Rodell Cruz makes the most of the sumptuous Philippines locations that make a luxuriant impression in Lee Briones-Meily’s muscular cinematography.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival; Sales: REZO; Production company: Pinoy Pictures Inc.; Cast: Chris Cooper, Garret Dillahunt, Joel Torre, Yul Vazquez; Director, screenwriter, editor: John Sayles; Producer: Maggie Renzi; Director of photography: Lee Briones-Meily; Production designer: Rodell Cruz; Costume designer: Gino Gonzales; No rating, running time 128 minutes.

This review appears in The Hollywood Reporter

Posted in Film, Reviews, TIFF Toronto International Film Festival | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on TIFF FILM REVIEW: John Sayles’s ‘Amigo’

TIFF FILM REVIEW: Max Winkler’s ‘Ceremony’

Posted on September 20, 2010 by admin

Michael Angarano and Reece Thompson in Max Winkler’s ‘Ceremony’

By Ray Bennett

TORONTO – Max Winkler’s humorless “Ceremony” falls into the category of would-be comedies in which a hapless young man scores with a gorgeous woman completely out of his league.

As Sam Davis, the young man in question, Michael Angarano is not without boyish charm but it’s a mystery quite why he imagines that Uma Thurman, as the coveted Zoe, will abandon her wedding for him.

Sam entreats Zoe, with whom he had an unlikely one-night stand in New York when she was caught crying in the rain, in a series of awkward and under-written scenes at several beach events leading up to the wedding.

The opening scenes suggest that a comedy will break out, but as the film proceeds it becomes apparent that it will not. Thurman’s presence will not be enough to keep the production from slipping away unheralded and unseen.

Sam, who claims to be a writer of children’s books, persuades neurotic pal Marshall (Reece Thompson) to go on holiday at the beach as ruse in order to crash the wedding.

There, he discovers that groom Whit (Lee Pace) is a grandiloquent British filmmaker who has won an Oscar for his documentaries in Africa. Handsome, confident and generous, Whit also is devoted to Zoe.

That doesn’t stop the film backing Sam’s chances, however, and there’s an alarming lack of irony about the boy’s self-regard, mannered way of speaking, and general conduct. His character makes no sense, and neither does the film.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival; Sales: Film Nation Entertainment; Production companies: NALA Films, Polymorphic Films; Cast: Uma Thurman, Michael Angarano, Reece Thompson, Lee Pace, Jake Johnson; Director, screenwriter: Max Winkler; Producers: Emilio Diez Barroso, Darlene Caamano Loquet; Executive producers: Jason Reitman, Daniel Dubiecki, Joshua Zeman, Corrie Rothbart, Billy Rovzar, Fernando Rovzar, Jeff Keswin, Alexjandro Garcia; Director of photography: William Rexer II; Production designer: Inbal Weinberg; Music: Eric D. Johnson; Costume designer: Heidi Bivens; Editor: Joe Landauer; No rating, running time 90 minutes.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Film, Reviews, TIFF Toronto International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on TIFF FILM REVIEW: Max Winkler’s ‘Ceremony’