The Croisette Diaries

By Steven Zeitchik

We've been so busy running around and hitting screenings these last few days that we haven't had time to do what we like to do -- post reactions to those screenings. A few biggies showed over the last forty-eight hours (and we do mean biggie, in the case of Steven Soderbergh's four-and-a-half hour epic "Che," a kind of continuous double feature, or a movie in two parts).

It's been a time when Eastwood has been Eastwood, Soderbergh has been Soderbergh, and possibly the most hideously awful 90 minutes ever to be committed to celluloid played on the Croisette. Intrigued? Of course you are.

* Che -- Where to start on this four-and-half hour Catholic wedding of a screening? We could say the beginning, but that's not what Soderbergh or screenwriter Peter Buchman does. Instead, the audience is there in the early days of Che fighting the Cuban revolution all the way to the rebels storming of Santa Clara. That's the first two hours. The second (shown in Cannes after a short intermission, though it may play separately in release) starts in Bolivia and takes an almost eerily similar trajectory, only this time, of course, the revolution fails and Che is killed. There's a lot more struggle and tension in Che 2, which gives the film more narrative thrust, and also more political context so you're not locked into the claustrophobia of the Bolivian jungle.  Still, the film is difficult, episodic and willfully disgregarding of what the director calls "movie moments." We knew we were in trouble when they handed out sandwiches and water for the intermission like we were going on a hike (or into battle).

Soderbergh was unapologetic in Thursday's presser. "I find it hilarious that people say that movies are too conventional and then when (something comes out) that isn't conventional, they seem annoyed. We're just trying to give you a sense of what its like to hang out around this person That's it." Judging by the critics reaction, this is going to be a tough sell even to the cinephiles who would be part of the film's core audience. Still, you have to admire the gumption of a quasi-verite experiment that flouts so many conventions of narrative -- even as parts of it make you wonder if the director has just found a way to put the makers of Ambien out of business.

*Changeling -- Angelina Jolie is strong and the period touches are nice, but the film stirred an unpleasant visceral reaction. The story centers a woman whose son goes missing, only to have the police return a boy to her that's clearly another child - but for political reasons insist that it's hers. The remaining ninety minutes focuses on her quixotic struggle against a corrupt police force. Besides resting on a thin premise (yes yes, we know it's based on a true story), "Changeling" draws a lot of its emotional power from easy distinctions between good and evil. It's a binary world for Mr. Clint: there's the outsider/underdog fighting for justice and a cruel status quo trying to keep him/her down, only to be vanquished in the end by all that is Good and Right. That same straw man from "Million Dollar Baby" (the opportunistic relatives who stood by while Hillary Swank lost various appendages) is here, only he's been reincarnated as a merciless police captain on the take. Sure, plaudits are starting to come in --and given Eastwood's track record you can pretty much bet it'll be nominated for best pic -- but we'll offer a contrarian note from one viewer whose day was not, um, made.

*Maradona by Kusturica -- The movie -- and by that we mean YouTube collection of footage -- is the most absurdly self-indulent hodgepodge of a picture we've ever seen (and we've been to Tribeca). The film is ostensibly about the rise, fall and rehab of the Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona. But it's only ostensible. Serbian director Emir Kusturica puts himself right in the middle of the action (and title), while meandering into endless soccer highlights, kneejerk political rants from the soccer star and
pointless  references to, and footage from, Kusturica's own previous films. In addition to a glowing Maradona, the Lumiere debut featured the spectacle of a bunch of football fans in soccer jerseys and bowties. The chants they shouted were more coherent than anything in the film.

A few more high-profile debuts are still to come in the next few days -- Atom Egoyan's "Adoration," billed as a (welcome) return to his "Exotica" and "Sweet Hereafter" days, and Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, NY" billed as -- well, better not to wander into that thicket. Let's just hope it doesn't make us want to run back to Che's jungle.