Monday, 30 April 2001

Before we get to the festival, a programming note… literally.  DavidPoland.com/VoicesOf Hollywood.com will be switching servers this week.  As a result, we may be down for hours or – God forbid – as long as a couple of days.  Sorry if it happens.  We will be back.  Same Hot Column, Same Hot URL.  Thanks for understanding.  

ROGER EBERT’S
OVERLOOKED FILM FESTIVAL
Part II

It was such a long weekend ... in a good way.

Roger Ebert and the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana’s third annual festival incorporated the best of the first two years and added to the mix, as The Overlooked evolves into a festival that screams for a wider berth.  The traditional 12 films remains steady, even though 2001: A Space Odyssey and Kubrick partner Jan Harlan’s documentary on the master, Stanley Kubrick, A Life in Pictures, were added after the gates were closed, bringing this year’s total to 14.  (Who can blame them for adding these two elements?)

As with so many situations in which some of us are privileged to view an event from an insider’s perspective, the quirks and qualities of EbertFest are tinted with personal perspective.  From my view, the glory of this festival is the intimacy that Ebert & Co. create with the filmmakers who come to Champaign to participate in the event.   Like Telluride, this is a weekend movie party.  And in a twist on what might seem the norm, I actually think that Billy Crudup and Bill Paxton, who were incredibly gracious - publicly and privately - in their brief appearances in Champaign, missed more for spending so little time at the party than the party missed by their absence.  They would have had a great time - and in the time they were there, I’m sure they did.

The only real problem for me at EbertFest 2001 was that I had seen 10 of the 14 films that were shown, so the thrill of finding stuff I was really unfamiliar was limited.  Nonetheless, if I walk away from this year’s event having made friends with some of the new people there, as I have with others who have been there over the years, I will be satisfied indeed. 

Friday started with Panic, Henry Brommell’s dark drama about the family business, which happens to be murder, and one of the family member’s need to make a real change in his life.  This is what you would call a very good movie.  Is it a masterwork?  No.  Would a righteous world have it destined for a Top 100 Of All Time list?  No.  But it is the kind of movie that people talk about when they wonder where all the good movies are.  Panic is a solid, smart, funny, scary, emotional, human movie.  There are great performances all around, but especially from William H. Macy and Donald Sutherland. 

Anyone who has read The Hot Button for the last year knows how I feel about the next film, Patrice Leconte’s Girl on the Bridge.   It is sheer glory from a director who seems to know the secrets of my heart all too well.  The guy just hits every one (The Hairdresser’s Husband, Ridicule, Monsieur Hire, The Widow of  St. Pierre) out of the park.  Of course, these are the only five Leconte films to make it to America.  He has a long history of light comedy in France, preceding all of these.  I have seen Girl on the Bridge countless times, but I couldn’t help but to watch it yet again ... and to be engulfed by its magic all over again.

EbertFest has a tradition of showing great old silent films with live accompaniment.  The last two years, a group called Concrete did the job.  This year, it was The Alloy Orchestra and their version of Nosferatu.  As it turns out, the brand new print was struck by a small town movie theater owner, proprietor of a single screen.  He got the negative - he contracted for a new translation of the dialogue - he paid for new title cards to be made.  And finally, he hooked up with Alloy Orchestra to create an altogether unique experience.  In light of the recent indie success of Shadow of the Vampire,  it was great to see the original film again, particularly in such good condition. 

Friday night closed out with a new print of Robert Altman’s 1977 film, 3 Women… kind of.   As it turned out, Fox had struck a brand new print, intended for use in preparation of a home video/DVD release of the little seen film.  Well, they sent it to the festival, but only half the film made it.  So, after two days of trying to track the missing reels, Fox sent their best old print of the film.  But remember, it’s over 20 years old.  And it looked every day of its age.  So, the film started and we knew the print was bad.  But until we got to the new reels, we had no idea.  If you ever want to understand the job of a film restorer, there could be no better example of how the richness of an image transforms the content.

That said, 3 Women is still an iffy proposition.  Altman movies often seem of their time, but in a way that feels reflective and appropriate.  3 Women feels a bit like Altman had one too many mushroom trips one weekend and convinced the studio executive who was tripping with him that he could do no wrong.  Don’t misunderstand.  I am an Altman fan and as Holly Sorenson of The Shooting Gallery said onstage after the film, no great filmmaker should be judged on any one film.  Despite great performances by Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek, analyzing the deeper meanings of 3 Women seems a lot like spending hour after hour analyzing Val Kilmer’s Batman versus George Clooney’s Batman ... intellectual masturbation with no chance of achieving orgasm. 

Saturday started with The King of Masks, a near classic from director Wu Tianming, who flew in from China to appear with the film.  What made this film fit the overlooked category is Roger’s new tradition of showing challenging films to children.  The challenge here is subtitling and a true-life fable from another culture.  The film tells the story of a master performer who is past the age at which an heir is likely, who finds a family for himself against all odds.   Quite beautiful  Rent it.

One of the hits of the festival was the easy-going nature and charm of George Walton.  Who’s that, you ask?  He is one of the three boxers at the center of the Oscar nominated documentary On The Ropes.  Based around trainer Harry Keitt, On The Ropes focuses on George, who promoters consider a serious contender, Tyrene Manson, a female boxer trying to pull herself out of a family history of failure, government reliance and drug abuse, and Noel Santiago, a highly talented kid who just can’t seem to get focused.  Tyrene is often seen as the star of the film, as her story takes her from the gym to jail, put away for a drug offense of which she clearly is not guilty.  But we found a happy ending for Tyrene at Champaign-Urbana.  Turns out that she and George were recently married, brought together by a faith in God and the shared experience of being in this documentary.  On The Ropes is a film that will inspire you and enrage you.   (Again, rent it now!)  But meeting George took it a step further.   He reminds you of the spirit of passion and survival that underprivileged Americans need to make their dreams come true.  You can’t help but to love this guy.

PAGE TWO:   Jesus Jr., Billy Bob Sr. & Woody Minor

Bermuda 2001
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Overlooked Film Fest 2000
Preview
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V