RIO FILM REVIEW: Selton Mello’s ‘December’

Posted on October 11, 2008 by admin

december x650By Ray Bennett

RIO DE JANEIRO – Melancholy bordering on morose, Selton Mello’s Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival Competition film “December” follows a reformed wastrel who goes to visit his nightmarishly self-indulgent family for Christmas.

It’s original title, “Feliz Natal” (Merry Christmas), drips with the irony that the Brazilian director clearly intended but fails to pull off as the family reveals its wretched true colors and the drama becomes more depressing than anything else.

A sympathetic leading man (Leonardo Medeiros) just about holds the piece together as his parents and siblings spiral into drunken and drugged self-pity with lacerating altercations and accusations flying in all directions.

Some of the supporting players are allowed to overact noisily and the unsettling final sequence is a bit vague but the film makes a strong point about how families often eat their own. The film will attract festival attention and may please art house devotees seeking confirmation that middle-class life can be hellish.

Medeiros plays Caio, a 40-ish man who runs a junkyard in a small town, lives with a good woman, and tries to stay on the straight and narrow. One Christmas, he decides to visit his family and old friends in the city only to find that they haven’t changed at all.

His divorced parents hack at each other mercilessly; his brother and sister-on-law are on the verge of divorce; and his friends’ routine still runs to drink, drugs and hooker.  At a Christmas Eve party and a Christmas Day lunch, everyone except Caio over-indulges while the grandchildren watch, listen and learn.

Caio is riddled with guilt over causing the death of a young woman in a car crash, for which he served time in jail. Mello and Medeiros do a good job in conveying the man’s pain and struggle to avoid returning to the perilous ways that got him in trouble.

Venue: Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival In Competition; Cast: Leonardo Medeiros, Darlene Gloria, Paulo Guarnieri, Graziella Moretto, Lucio Mauro; Director, screenwriter, producer, editor: Selton Mello; Screenwriter: Marcello Vindicatto; Producer: Vania Catani; Director of photography: Lula Carvalho; Music: Plinio Profeta; Editor: Marilia Moraes; Production: Bananeira Filmes, Mondo Cane Filmes; Sales agent: Bananeira Filmes; No rating; running time, 104 mins.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

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RIO FESTIVAL: ‘Should Nothing Else Work Out’ wins top prize

Posted on October 10, 2008 by admin

Caroline Abras Should Nothing Else Work OutBy Ray Bennett

LONDON – The top feature film prize at the 10th Rio International Film Festival, which wrapped Thursday night, went to Jose Eduardo Belmonte’s droll thriller “Should Nothing Else Work Out” (Se Nada Mais der Certo) and its star Caroline Abras (pictured) was named best actress for her role as a rooky criminal.

Brazilian actor turned director Matheus Nachtergaele won the directing prize for “The Dead Girl’s Feast” (A Festa da Menina Morta), an examination of the believe in miracles. Daniel de Oliveira won as best actor playing a man who is regarded as a saint in a rural community.

The documentary prize went to “Royal Road of Cachaca”, Pedro Urano’s look at the traditional Brazilian trail that is now used to distribute the country’s favorite libation, the sugar-based liqueur cachaca. Helena Solberg was named best director in the documentary section for “The Enchanted Word” (Palavaa (en) Cantada), about the lyrics to Brazil’s popular songs.

The festival audience prize was given to “That’s It” (Apenas O Fim) by Matheus Souza, which also picked up a special mention in the official competition. The documentary audience award went to “Loki – Arnaldo Baptista”, Paulo Henrique Fontenelle’s take on the Brazilian rock star. “The Headless Woman” (Mujer sin Cabeza), which was in competition at the Festival de Cannes, won the Fipresci prize for best Latin Film.

The 15-day festival’s closing gala Wednesday night featured Brazilian director Vicente Amorim’s English-language drama “Good” with star Viggo Mortensen on hand in support of what he called “an ethical thriller” set in Nazi Germany.

Despite torrential rain, the festival attracted huge and enthusiastic audiences for some 350 features screened at more than 30 screens across Rio.

The last week featured a screening of the film “U23D” with U.S. cinematographer Peter Anderson giving master-classes on the cinematic format for industry and student audiences.

The veteran 3D expert, who shoots theme-park shows as well as feature films, said in an interview that most 3D scripts he sees still use the format as a gimmick and he wishes that directors and producers “would see it as just another element” in a film.

This story appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

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RIO FILM REVIEW: Theodore Thomas’s ‘Walt & El Grupo’

Posted on October 10, 2008 by admin

elgrupoBy Ray Bennett

RIO DE JANEIRO — Theodore Thomas’s engaging documentary “Walt & El Grupo” tells of a 1941 goodwill tour of South America undertaken by Walt Disney and a group including some of his top animation filmmakers. It screened in the Expectations sidebar of the 2008 Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.

An imaginative blend of black-and-white footage of the trip and present-day images, with lots of newly recorded period music, the film adds to the controversial mogul’s pictorial biography and the frequently contentious history of relations between the U.S. and Latin America.

It’s also a warm homage to the witty and clever artists that created some of the best in Disney animation including the documentary director’s father, Frank Thomas. Fans of animation will want to see it since it led directly to such pictures as “Saludos Amigos,” “The Three Caballeros” and several shorts, but so will anyone interested in the region’s politics of the period.

In 1941, with Europe at war and the Allies and the Axis each vying for influence in South America, the U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs launched a “Good Neighbor” program, designed to encourage friendly relations with nations to the south. As part of that, Disney was invited to embark on a goodwill tour taking in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

His studio was embroiled in a bitter strike at the time so it was not a bad time to be away. Disney ventured south with a crew of his top people that was soon dubbed “El Grupo,” and enthusiastic crowds and national dignitaries greeted them everywhere they went.

Thomas uses film clips taken on the tour and interviews with relatives of the group to tell the tale with impressive visual effects by Bill Bryn Russell that merge images from then and now. The music is especially good with composer James Stemple showing a keen ear for the specific musical traditions of each country along with a dandy arrangement of the irresistible “Brazil” by Brazilian songwriter Ary Barroso.

Here’s more about the film where under music you’ll find more about Barroso

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RIO FILM FESTIVAL: Bright spots in spite of the rain

Posted on October 7, 2008 by admin

rio de janeiro by RB x650By Ray Bennett

RIO DE JANEIRO – They say that Rio de Janeiro sparkles in the sunshine but the sun has been in scarce supply this week with cloudy skies and often torrential rain and the city’s Rio’s Copacabana Beach remains impressive in my photo even in a downpour, as my photo from my hotel room shows.

The fine and generous hospitality of the folks at the Rio International Film Festival, not to mention the great food (see below), has more than made up for it and to spend time with filmmakers and industry people from places including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Cuba certainly broadens horizons.

Thanks to L.A.-based composer James Stemple, who scored Ted Thomas’s fine documentary “Walt & El Grupo”, I met legendary Brazilian guitarist and songwriter Guinga. He strolled into the hotel with his two sons but James was delayed so, with help from the excellent English of his youngsters, we had a good chat.

I also had an absorbing conversation about world politics and the U.S. election with Viggo Mortensen, whose moving tale “Good”, set in Nazi Germany, will be the closing gala film at the festival.

It turns out that Mortensen also was there when I was among the 1 million folks in London who marched against the invasion of Iraq before it happened. His new film speaks to a society that doesn’t do enough to be aware of what’s going on and fails to rein in its leaders. Before leaving London last week, I also saw him in Ed Harris’ terrific western, “Appaloosa”. Along with “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises,” the actor is really on a roll.

riogrub

A highlight today was a lengthy conversation with cinematographer Peter Anderson, who was giving talks on 3D to professionals and students with one of the many films he’s shot, “U2 3D,” screening at the festival.

Anderson spoke about his passion for film history and we shared memories of pioneer filmmakers such as Hal Roach and Stan Laurel and golden age stars such as James Stewart, Gregory Peck and Burt Lancaster: “We who remember them carry their legacy.”

Meanwhile, the Festival do Rio market announced that it will take its show on the road next year with a conference in Europe and a traveling promotional tour of the United States tied to the annual Premiere Brazil event at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in July.

Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival executive director and RioMarket director Walkiria Barbosa said that more information about the ventures will be announced early in 2009, but the goal will be to spread the word about the potential for international coproductions with Brazilian filmmakers. She said she expected the European conference will take place in the United Kingdom but that has not yet been decided.

copacabana oct3 2008 x650

Barbosa said, “It’s very difficult for films in the Portuguese language unless they are very special, like ‘Central Station’ or ‘City of God’. The way forward for Brazilian producers is to seek co-producers in different countries to make films in English, and that’s who we want to meet and talk to.”

She said the Brazilian film industry aimed to speak not only to film industries in other countries but also Internet operators, telecom and audiovisual companies and television producers.

The 10th annual Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival has attracted big crowds despite torrential rain that caused blackouts in parts of the city on Saturday night.

The Coen Bros.’ “Burn After Reading,” Woody Allen’s “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” David Gordon Green’s “Pineapple Express” and Saul Dibb’s “The Duchess” were among films that have met with enthusiastic response from Rio audiences. Australian director Stephan Elliott’s “Easy Virtue” also was a hit and was picked up for Latin American release by Sony Pictures Classics.

The market held no panel discussions on Sunday due to municipal elections although the usual prohibition on the sale of alcohol on Election Day was suspended because of the festival, which continues through Thursday.

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Paul Newman dies

Posted on September 28, 2008 by admin

Buffalo Bill and the Indians x650

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – One of the frequent disappointments in meeting film stars is realizing how much their charisma and star power depend on the power of the movie screen. In my experience, only a few stars retain that aura in real life – Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, George Clooney and Omar Sharif among them – and, of course, Paul Newman, who died on Sept. 26. He was 83.

No matter how big and crowded, you always knew they were in the room.

I met Newman in New York City in 1976 when he was promoting the Robert Altman film “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson” (pictured). Not ranked among the director’s top films, it remains eminently watchable for several reasons, not least Altman’s anarchic screenplay, co-written with Alan Rudolph, with its rowdy depiction of politics and show business.

Newman gives a vigorously crafty performance supported by a fine cast including Burt Lancaster, Kevin McCarthy, Harvey Keitel and Geraldine Chaplin. Tony Masters, who shared an art direction BAFTA and an Oscar nomination for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” did a wonderfully colorful job on production design. It was captured with great invention by cinematographer Paul Lohman (Emmy winner for the 1976 TV miniseries “Eleanor and Franklin”), who also shot Altman’s gambling gem “California Split” and one of his masterpieces, “Nashville.”

The press conference for “Buffalo Bill” was dominated by an hilarious performance by Pat McCormick, the 6-foot-8 thickly mustached “Tonight Show” writer and frequent Johnny Carson guest in character as President Grover Cleveland, his role in the film.

But what I recall most clearly is that Altman and Newman agreed on what they most enjoyed about making films. They both said that after writing the screenplay and spending weeks working with cast and crew on everything needed to shoot the film, they wished they could stop right there and not make the picture.

Thank goodness they didn’t do that so there’s a trove of great Newman films to treasure. He deserved an Academy Award, of course, but as so often happens, it was for the wrong performance (“The Color of Money”). I would have given it to him for at least one from “The Verdict” over Ben Kingsley for “Gandhi” or “Cool Hand Luke” over Rod Steiger for “In the Heat of the Night”.

Here’s the New York Times appreciation

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Headed to the Rio de Janeiro film festival

Posted on September 25, 2008 by admin

 

Rio de Janeiro x650By Ray Bennett

LONDON – The Hollywood Reporter has assigned me to cover the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival in the first week of October.

The 10th Rio festival kicks off Thursday with Brazilian director Bruno Barreto’s “Last Stop 174” centred in brand new headquarters in the city’s historic port area.

The custom-designed, 64,500-square-foot Centro Cultural da Acao e Cidadania will house the Rio Market, the Cine Encontro, in which panel discussions and conferences take place, and a meeting point called Cine Mobile Nokia.

The glamorous side of the festival, which will screen 350 films, will continue to take place at the downtown venues Cinelandia’s Cine Palacio and Cine Odeon Petrobras, which has been refurbished.

There will be Latin American premieres for Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Youth Without Youth,” Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Burn After Reading,” Lucrecia Martel’s “La mujer sin Cabeza,” Pablo Trapero’s “La Leonera,” Mike Leigh’s “Happy Go Lucky,” and Korean director Kim Jee-woon’s “The Good, the Bad, the Weird.”

The festival’s competition, Premiere Brasil, will feature world premieres including first time director Matheus Souza’s “Apenas O Fim,” Mauricio Farias’ “Veronica,” and José Eduardo Belmonte’s “Se Nada Mais de Certo.”

Festival artistic director Ilda Santiago told me, “Latin American films don’t travel well to other Latin American countries and we have to build those bridges. One of the main strategies of the festival, and we’ve seen it growing over the years, is to make it the kind of place where producers from different countries can meet and talk about ideas and projects.”

The festival is also important because it helps to launch films into the Latin American market, Santiago said: “There is still a huge audience in Latin America that has not been reached and we want to make the world understand how under-worked it is and Hollywood to understand what a great launching pad the festival is.”

A version of this story appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

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THEATRE REVIEW: Josh Hartnett in ‘Rain Man’

Posted on September 23, 2008 by admin

rain manBy Ray Bennett

LONDON – In a reversal of the usual path of play to movie, the hit West End production of “Rain Man,” with an adaptation by Dan Gordon, has Hollywood star Josh Hartnett in the film’s Tom Cruise role and British stage veteran Adam Godley in the title role for which Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar.

They are both very good as Hartnett matches Cruise for charisma and the harried selfishness that typifies salesman Charlie, younger brother of the institutionalised autistic Raymond. Godley inhabits “Rain Man” with his own ideas of how to play the part and the two men do a convincing job to portray both the things that separate them and those that bring them together.

Unable to duplicate the elements of a road picture in the theater, writer Gordon stages key scenes in a series of dull motel rooms where the austere furnishings allow the siblings’ unlikely but colorful relationship to flourish.

Director Terry Johnson knows how to make the best use of two characters within four walls, and the interplay between Charlie and Raymond is entertainingly realized as the younger brother’s initial feeling of resentment gives way to understanding and sympathy.

Tall and snapping with energy, Hartnett succeeds in making Charlie’s transition from seeking only to exploit the situation to one of trying to make it work. Godley takes a different path from Hoffman’s movie performance, playing Raymond with a high-pitched rush of words that gradually give way to the kind of calm that results from a feeling of safety. It’s a strong and touching performance.

The time frame has been updated to a post-9/11 world so that the things Raymond can recall in amazing detail have a modern sensibility and the things he’s scared of include being on a United Airlines flight.

Less sentimental than the film, the stage “Rain Man” manages to simplify the obstacles and crosscurrents that affect the two brothers while not minimizing their dramatic impact.

It would be surprising if other enterprising actors did not want to take on the roles that Gordon has adapted so cleverly so this is a play that should travel well.

Venue: Apollo Theatre, London, runs through Dec. 20; Cast: Josh Hartnett, Adam Godley, Tilly Blackwood, Charles Daish, Colin Stinton, Mary Stockley; Playwright: Dan Gordon, based on the MGM motion picture, story by Barry Morrow; Director: Terry Johnson; Set Designer: Jonathan Fensom; Lighting Designer: Jason Taylor; Sound Designer: Fergus O’Hare; Music: Colin Towns; Presented by Nica Burns, Jane Walmsley, Michael Braham, Max Weitzenhoffer.

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Christopher Walter always asked the right question

Posted on September 18, 2008 by admin

ray school trip x650By Ray Bennett

Christopher Walter sat next to me in class at Ashford Boys Grammar School in Kent. He was smart and went on to the sixth form while I went off to seek my fortune in the newspaper game. He called me urgently one weekend long ago because John Steinbeck had checked into the hotel where he worked part-time. We were both huge fans.

Aged 15, we went with a group on a school trip to Switzerland. In the photo, Christopher is looking very smart fourth from the left and I’m on the right with one hand inside my jacket  while the teacher has his arm on my shoulder for some reason.

As we grew up, Christopher and I tried to stay in touch but I had left for Canada and for a 10-year period the miles were too great.

I tracked him down at last in Bristol where he ran a pub. I walked in one lunchtime and asked the young woman behind the bar if she would announce that someone wanted to see the landlord but not to give my name.

Christopher came down, looked at me for the first time in 10 years and said, “What are you having?”

He died a couple of years ago, but I shall still raise a birthday toast to a great friend.

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FILM REVIEW: James Watkins’s ‘Eden Lake’

Posted on September 18, 2008 by admin

eden lake x650By Ray Bennett

LONDON – British director James Watkins’ “Eden Lake” has the trappings of a low-IQ thriller but it’s really a contemptible tract that feeds the prejudices of the U.K.’s rightwing tabloids who claim the country is overrun by teenagers wielding knives.

Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender, both bright new British performers, suffer foul indignities as a naive middle-class couple on a camping weekend near a deserted lake. Shane Meadows regulars Jack O’Connell and Thomas Turgoose are among a gang of lowlife teenagers who terrorize them with deadly intent.

Released in the U.K. by Optimum, the picture has been picked up by the Weinstein Company for distribution in the United States. But lacking any motivation for the characters’ actions and with not a shred of redemption, the picture’s shameful purpose is unlikely to make much of a mark on audiences beyond those who want to see some special effects that detail gashed and bleeding flesh.

Made slickly but full of plot holes and ludicrous behavior, the film focuses morbidly on the damage that sharp blades can do to the human body. A key scene involves a beaten man tied to a post with barbed wire who is stabbed in turn by maddened juveniles brandishing assorted knives and cutters.

If Watkins aimed for anything resembling “Deliverance” or “Straw Dogs,” his pandering characterization of the British working class as bovine, venal and heartless misses the mark by a country mile.

Cast: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O’Connell, Thomas Turgoose; Director, screenwriter: James Watkins; Director of photography: Christopher Ross; Production designer: Simon Bowles; Music: David Julyan; Costume designer: Keith Madden; Editor: Jon Harris; Production: Rollercoaster Films; Rated R; running time, 91 minutes.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

 

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Walter Salles has it right about violence and silence

Posted on September 17, 2008 by admin

linha de passe x650By Ray Bennett

Walter Salles, whose new film “Linha de Passe”, about a mother and her four sons struggling to get by in Sao Paulo, Brazil, opens in the U.K. Friday, says there are two things that bother him about most movies. One is that someone, usually more than one, has to die violently. The other is the complete disregard for silence. He is not alone.

Salles makes wonderful movies such as “Central Station” and “The Motorcycle Diaries” and his new one, directed with Daniela Thomas, is another one well worth seeing. The music, as always, is by the great Gustavo Santaolalla.

In a Q&A with my old pal, Daily Telegraph critic David Gritten following a BAFTA screening Tuesday night, Salles praised Sandra Corveloni, whose performance as the mother in the film won her the best actress prize at the Festival de Canne. Salle said that a major influence on his film was Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1962 film “Mamma Roma” starring Anna Magnani.

This is what my Hollywood Reporter colleague Deborah Young said about “Linha de Passe” at the Festival de Cannes:

“Twelve years after co-directing “Foreign Land,” filmmakers Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas have returned to update their portrait of urban Brazil, which they left in the economic throes of president Fernando Collor. “Linha de passe” is a far more successful film, both as a drama and in depicting the reality of growing up poor without no future in sight.”

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