Palm Springs International Film Festival: Film Previews
By Mary F Silverman
Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
This documentary follows the 2004 Missouri Democratic primary to
replace retiring 28-year veteran Dick Gephardt. It is told from inside
the campaign of Jeff Smith, a 29-year old part-time political science
instructor running against state Rep. Russ Carnahan, whose name in
Missouri equates to the Kennedy name in Massachusetts. Trailing by 40
points in the polls, Smith mobilizes a grassroots insurgency. While no
one needs to tell us that candidates with access to power and money
have advantages regardless of their abilities, this film asks if it is
still possible for American voters excited by a person's ideas and
ability to sway the political process.
WHY I WON'T MISS IT
As much as I find the political process despicable, I find it
fascinating. I especially love listening to Cokie Roberts' reports on
NPR (even though I know she's making them from home in her bathrobe).
The idea of "the everyman" becoming a politician — even president — has
been covered, as noted by this film’s title reference to Capra's famous
Jimmy Stewart vehicle. But this is a real story about real (albeit
political) people. I also want to see this film because 2008 election
campaigns are already underway, and maybe I'll learn something before I
have to decide between known and unknown quantities.
ADDENDUM
I've already seen An Inconvenient Truth, also on the film festival
schedule, so I’ll skip it. But I highly recommend it for anyone who has
yet to see Gore's documentary on global warming.
-- Janice Kleinschmidt
Inland Empire
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
In classic David Lynch style, that's hard to say. Even actress Laura
Dern confessed at the Venice Film Festival that she didn't know what
the movie was about or what role she was playing. She hoped, in fact,
that seeing the film's premiere at the festival would help her "learn
more." On a broad level, the film is said to be about an actress
(played by Dern) who lands a big-break role in a new film — an exciting
prospect, until she discovers the film could be cursed by murder plots
and romantic betrayals and the lines between what is real and what is
scripted begin to blur. Lynch has said it is a mystery about "a woman
in trouble." Period. This is the first Lynch film to be completely shot
in digital video. (The quirky director has sworn off using film.) Lynch
fans need only the brand-recognition of a Lynch film to know they will
be standing in line for a ticket.
WHY I WON'T MISS IT
While I never watched Twin Peaks and never understood Mulholland Drive (who did?), certain scenes from Lost Highway
(specifically the one with Robert Blake answering the phone) were some
of the creepiest I've ever enjoyed on the silver screen. They have kept
me wanting for more from Lynch and have kept me holding other directors
to a higher suspense-scene standard. The man behind Eraserhead and Blue Velvet, among other offbeat cult classics, is a master of weirdness and a legend of the unexpected. Rolling Stone's
review of the film stated this is "arguably his most ambitious
mind-bender yet." I would love to see Lynch pull off some more eerily
unforgettable scenes. And even if he doesn't, the film is guaranteed to
be dark, bizarre, and anything but trite — all good things in my
critic's notebook.
-- Lisa Marie Rovito
Shut Up & Sing
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
This documentary chronicles the Texan country music group Dixie Chicks,
whose singer Natalie Maines told a London audience, on the eve of the
U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, that, "Just so you know, we're ashamed
the president of the United States is from Texas." The fallout was
immediate and damaging, with American listeners demanding radio and
album sales boycotts. The band members were branded "unpatriotic" and
even received death threats. Shut Up & Sing follows the Dixie
Chicks from 2003 through to the 2006 tour, touching on their personal
lives and the events that followed what they call "The Incident."
WHY I WON'T MISS IT
Now that American support for the Iraq war is in freefall and President
Bush's approval ratings are in the toilet, Natalie Maines' comment
seems almost prescient. It will be fascinating to see the consequences
from her remark within this new context. If she said the same thing
today, would the backlash be as heavy? And I have to admire the true
grit of these immensely talented women, who stood their ground on free
speech and refused to be cowed by so-called "patriots." Isn't that a
most American trait?
ADDENDUM
Shut Up & Sing won People's Choice second runner-up award after its
premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September; it's running in
Palm Springs as part of the Awards Buzz — Documentary section. The
film’s co-director Barbara Kopple has already won two documentary
Oscars: for Harlan County U.S.A. and American Dream. The other
co-director is Cecilia Peck, Gregory's daughter, so Shut Up & Sing
comes with a pretty impressive pedigree.
-- Joan Page McKenna
Who Gets to Call it Art?
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Iconoclast
Henry Geldzahler, the first curator of contemporary art at New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art, shows us the icons of postwar art through
rare, archival footage and in-depth interviews with the greatest
talents of the day — David Hockney, Mark di Suvero, Frank Stella, James
Rosenquist, Ellsworth Kelly, Larry Poons, John Chamberlain, and many
others.
WHY I WON'T MISS IT
I'm an art junkie. This is a must-see for collectors and enthusiasts of
Modern and contemporary art. The biggest names in the New York art
scene, especially in the 1960s, appear, with candor, at their best and
worst.
ADDENDUM
The rebel in me loves how New York's Abstract Expressionists stuck it
to traditional Impressionists and Post-Impressionists and drew the eyes
of the art world from Europe to the United States. I've seen a portion
of this movie and practically salivated for more. I most look forward
to seeing archival footage of the masters at work and hearing their
trenchant interviews.
-- Steve Biller
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