I
recently attended the 7th annual
Austin
Film Festival and Heart of Film Screenwriters’
Conference, Oct. 12-19. Attendees
included Paul Mazursky (AN UNMARRIED WOMAN),
David Chase ("The Sopranos"),
John August (CHARLIE’S ANGELS), Shane
Black (THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT), Bill
Broyles (APOLLO 13), Tim McCanlies (THE
IRON GIANT), Polly Platt, (A MAP OF THE
WORLD), Anne Rapp (DR. T AND THE WOMEN),
Scott Rosenberg (GONE IN 60 SECONDS),
and Steven Zaillian (SCHINDLER’S LIST).
My
favorite panel was titled Car Chases,
Explosions, and Fist Fights, a.k.a. "The
Fun Stuff". The panelists were
Shane Black, Barry Josephson, and Scott
Rosenberg. This panel was so fab because
the audience seemed to be 50-50 aspiring
screenwriters and action-film fans. Those
fans asked what was on their minds, barely
pausing to couch their questions in diplomatic
terms. And it was great to hear Rosenberg
and Black respond baldly that GONE IN
60 SECONDS and ARMAGEDDON and many other
movies were pure shite. There was some
tap-dancing, however, about why these
movies became shite and why these writers
continue to participate in the making
of big-dollar shite. Not that they needed
to admit what was so obvious — they are
where half the folks in the room want
to be.
I
also attended a roundtable of women in
film, where panelists (including Elizabeth
Avellan, Polly Platt, Anne Rapp) traveled
from table to table, answering questions
about their professional trajectories
and about what they feel women bring to
this industry. Another good panel covered
the fine art of adaptation, from page
to screen. Then there was this very loud
Variety party at the historic Driskill
Hotel where I got to buttonhole a few
more screenwriters, but which was mostly
populated by loads of journalists.
We’re
developing a tendency to talk about movies
as though they spring full-grown from
the foreheads of directors, so this festival,
with it’s focus on the screenwriter, definitely
keeps it real. But enlightening as it
was to hear from the screenwriters, for
me it’s all about the movies. Here’s a
quick and dirty guide to some upcoming
releases I got to see at the festival.
CICADAS
Mutiny
Productions
Director
and Writer: Kat Candler. Producers:
Scott Bate, Kat Candler, Shawn Higgins
Kat
Candler’s CICADAS could have been just
another routine tale of high-school alienation
and middle-class family dysfunction. But
luckily for us, Candler is bold enough
to present a realization of the shifting
terrain of adolescence. Where many movies
about teens go awry is in their depiction
of teen angst at its extreme. This tale
of Anna Roberts (Lindsay Broockman), lonely
and robbed of her childhood, finds what
is personal about a commonplace situation
(and also recognizes that it is commonplace
and doesn’t try to make it tragic) so
that you truly empathize with the characters.
Standout performances by Paul Conrad as
Anna’s older brother, Jacob, and Brandon
Howe, as James, the new neighbor with
whom she begins a tentative dance toward
friendship. Highly recommended.
STATE
AND MAIN
Fine
Line Features
Director:
David Mamet
Written
by: David Mamet
Producers:
Dorothy Aufiero, Alec Baldwin, Jonathan
Cornick, Sarah Green, Rachael Horovitz,
Mark Ordesky
The
last two David Mamet movies included roles
for his wife, Rebecca Pidgeon, and this
one is no different. Here, she plays Ann
Black, a clear-eyed, decisive bookseller
who is neither bowled over by nor cynical
about the "movie people" who
have invaded her picturesque Vermont hometown.
The filmmakers include Wm. H. Macy as
the film’s director; Alec Baldwin as a
star who has a troublesome and felonious
hobby; Sarah Jessica Parker, as the none-too-bright
female lead; David Paymer, as an alternately
funny and reptile-scary producer; and
Philip Seymour Hoffman as the scriptwriter
who falls for Ann. This is yet another
skewering of the movie business, and no
one enjoys seeing it spitted so much as
. . . movie industry people! The crowd
at this movie laughed out loud and oh
so knowingly at every gibe. Whether it’ll
play in Peoria is another matter, but
I would guess that it will. A point that
Mamet takes care to make, in fact, is
that in the information society, anyone
can and is likely to keep abreast of entertainment
industry news. The plot is a trifle about
obstacles, both internal and external,
to the successful filming of this movie,
but that’s not the point. The raison d’etre
of Mamet movies is the dialogue, and STATE
AND MAIN does not disappoint. Recommended.
WHAT'S
COOKIN'?
Trimark
Pictures
Director:
Gurinder Chadha
Written
by: Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha
Producers:
David Forrest, Abe Glazer, Beau Rogers,
Jeffrey Taylor
Gurinder
Chadha also wrote BHAJI ON THE BEACH,
but don’t let that get your hopes up.
WHAT’S COOKIN’? is simple, simple-minded
and formulaic. This trite story introduces
four families — one black, one Jewish,
one Latino, and one Vietnamese — preparing
for their family Thanksgiving dinners.
Fairly quickly, we’re allowed to see the
cracks that are barely beneath the surface
of each family’s veneer. Chadha’s thesis
here, running counter to Tolstoy, is that
all unhappy families are the same,
that is, all families have issues to confront.
And you can just tell that family with
a capital F will overcome by the end of
this United Nations of a film. The sad
fate of actresses such as Alfre Woodard
(It is a crime that this woman isn’t cast
in more movies.), Mercedes Ruehl, Joan
Chen, and Lainie Kazan is that they can
be choosy or they can work. For a much
better treatment of the horrors of family
holidays, rent HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS,
cuz this one’s a turkey.
The
Yards
Miramax
Director:
James Gray
Written
by: James Gray, Matt Reeves
Producers:
Christopher Goode, Jonathan Gordon,
Kerry Orent, Matt Reeves, Paul Webster,
Nick Wechsler, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
James
Gray wrote the harrowing LITTLE ODESSA
a few years back, so I went into THE YARDS
with unrealistically high expectations.
Mark Wahlberg is Leo Handler, a small-timer
who’s just out on parole. His new step-uncle
(James Caan) heads a company that has
contracts for subway and train cars. Instead
of honest gainful employment, though,
Leo gets involved with the work of his
old pal, Willie (an excellent Joaquin
Phoenix), Uncle Frank’s "fixer."
Needless to say, events spiral out of
control, and Leo finds himself a murder
suspect. I’ve read that, basically, most
criminals are just plain dumb, and to
his credit, Wahlberg plays Leo as none
too bright. This story doesn’t provide
the fireworks of LITTLE ODESSA, though
Gray returns to his theme of ethnic American
families-in- crime and also continues
his willingness to kill off major characters.
Though it’s nice to see so many older
actors employed here — Faye Dunaway, Caan,
Tony Musante, a pleasingly cheesy Steve
Lawrence, and woman of the month Ellen
Burstyn (whose films THE EXORCIST and
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM are also on screens
now) — it’s not enough reason to see a
movie. Faintest recommendation.
—
Roxanne Bogucka, An Action Girl!
