June 18, 2004

Ah, Maui…

Film festivals have personalities. And Maui has the personality of its leader, Barry Rivers, who happily shares the spotlight with his wife and family and support team. It is a personality of easy joy and relaxed moments and lots and lots of sun.

I've only been here for about 36 hours, so I don't feel like I really know the festival yet. I have had the Celestial Cinema experience, which seems to be at the heart of this event. Every night for the five nights of the fest, there is a double feature out in the natural bowl, the massive screen hanging in the black of night, thousands of people gathered together in the silence of cinema reverence, ushers making sure that views aren't blocked without ever being asked. If your eyes move away from the screen, you get an eyeful of stars in the Maui sky.

The selection of films leans heavily towards the "Best of Fests" category of festival, with just a few of the 40 feature films arriving on the island without distribution well in hand. But while other small festivals have events outside of screenings, often generating their primary income from celebrity-driven events, at Maui, the feel of the fest is driven almost as much by the events as by the films. There are two nights of tributes, the Taste of Wailea, a chocolate tasting party, filmmaker events, concerts and even sand sculpting. This is Barry's dream party, held with the support of the community and even some of us outsiders, year after year.

As with other festivals in resort towns, everyone who comes to Maui is pretty damned happy. The great Angela Bassett and her band of roving sidekicks (including her sister) seem to be near giddy, lunching by the ocean, laughing with the press. Open Water's dynamic floating duo, Daniel Travis and Blanchard Ryan are tan and rested and ready to enjoy the release of their film, six months after they became a Sundance phenom. Bill Maher might be relaxed here in Maui… onanism can do that for you. (Bill decided that the press was an inconvenience that he wouldn't indulge. It worked out, since none of us really wanted to talk to him anyway.) And where could there be a better place for Woody Harrelson, whose personal investment in "Maui Wowie" has allowed the city to build new schools and bus terminals.

The Open Water acting team, here without the Jackson/Walsh-esque team of Chris Kentis and Laura Lau are, like so many great couples, a study in opposites. They do look like the top of a Town & Country wet dream wedding cake, however. Blanchard could easily be cast in the Lacey Underall role in Caddyshack, born to the putting green, but bored enough to be ready for mischief at a moment's notice. She talks about being "just a regular girl" and perhaps that is her allure. You get the feeling that you know exactly what you are getting when you talk to Blanchard Ryan (who must have more nicknames from friends than any person alive… I think I'd go for "Bla," which hardly describes her seems so much less formal), but for a right-to-it girl, you also get the feel that you'd never tire of looking across the room at her.

Daniel could just as easily be cast as Caddyshack's Danny Noonan, aching to get out of this boring old place and the buzzing notion of doing "the right thing." And one expects him to get many of the same opportunities as his career rolls along as Michael O'Keefe. Tall, athletic, and varsity lacrosse perfect, without being obnoxiously beautiful, he is a pretty boy who also happens to be serious about his craft. In Hollywood, Daniel is the kind of guy who will have to fight for respect because of his look, but has a real chance of getting it… as long as he doesn't date on the cover of US Magazine. But on a side note, I have a feeling that Daniel isn't mean enough for the Hollywood girls who date on the cover of US Magazine.

This movie couple, however, is not a couple in real life (and unlike Lacey and Danny, who were also not a couple, they had never seen each other naked until they showed up for work one day on Open Water). Blanchard shares her swimming pool romps with Broken Lizard's Steve Lemme. Daniel seeks true love. But the pair have known each other since before they got dunked into the Open Water. They were both on the New York-based soap All My Children. Daniel ached for the stage and new challenges, anywhere, anytime. Blanchard wanted to put up her aching feet and watch The X Files, her dream job probably shooting her smash hit sitcom in a studio within walking distance of her house.

But Open Water would be new territory for both actors. It is Daniel's first movie. And Blanchard recalls the very strict rules that Chris Kentis offered up at the very first audition. If they didn't want to do nudity, don't come back for the callback. If they didn't feel okay about swimming with real sharks, don't come back. If they weren't ready to give themselves over completely…

It is rare when you hear actors talking about "our film" without sounding like pretentious fools. But you get the sense from Blanchard and Chris that they really participated as part of this tiny filmmaking family and that while Chris is the maestro on this one, they do share the film in a real way.

Their biggest fear now are the sharks of overhype. The film, which will surely be remembered as one of the purest "Sundance films" in Sundance history… a director, a cameraperson and two actors made most of the film just floating in the water… is greater than the sum of its parts. Lions Gate's fun, romping standees and promotions suggest a sequel to Jaws. But it is more Russian than it is Hollywood… which is not to say it will put most audiences to sleep. But it is a movie that the audience participates in with their minds and memories and ideas more than it is a film that jumps out and bites you, to use a ridiculously obvious pun. It is one of those rare moments where a young filmmaker gets a great idea, keeps it simple, keeps it tight, and hits it just where he wanted to hit it.

Meanwhile, Blanchard and Daniel have been on a magic carpet ride for six months now, starting with their joy at getting into Sundance. They didn't even have the chance to be anonymous at Park City for a few days, as the film screened (where Daniel saw it, his first film, for the first time, with a huge, rowdy, Sundance crowd) early in the fest and was the first movie to sell, as Tom Ortenberg skipped the first date and forced Kentis to go all the way with him before anyone else could come steal it away.

And now they are in Maui. I don't think they've gone scuba diving yet. (I guess if I was a real celebrity reporter, I would have asked that first.)

That's it for now. I'm off to the Filmmaker's Brunch. Did you know that Angela Bassett still goes on auditions? Angela Bassett!!! They should be throwing roses at her feet and begging her to work. Oh well… more on that on Monday.

READER OF THE DAY: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz writes: "This has been bugging me and I thought I'd vent to you.

Many reviewers of "The Terminal" have pointed out the resemblance to the real-life case of Merhan Karimi Nasseri. But they haven't pointed out that his story was used once before, in the 1993 film "Tombis du ciel."

And they also haven't pointed out the further resemblance to "Ferry to Hong Kong," starring Orson Welles and Curt Jurgens. Jurgens plays an Austrian exile with no passport, who must ride the ferry back-and-forth between Macao nor Hong Kong, unable to leave at either end."

E ME: Will you dodge a ball or get stuck in a terminal this weekend?