NewFest and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Bam) have announced the fourth annual lineup for their “Queering the Canon” retrospective film series, this year subtitled “Besties.”
This year’s lineup of films screening at Bam in downtown Brooklyn (April 11 – 15) includes a 4K restoration of Rose Troche’s lesbian classic “Go Fish,” the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Brian Sloan’s queer romantic comedy “I Think I Do,” 35mm screenings of Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” and F. Gary Gray’s “Set It Off.” The “Go Fish” screening will be accompanied by a Q&a with Rose Troche in person along with star Guinevere Turner.
The repertory series was created by NewFest, co-curated by NewFest’s Nick McCarthy (director of programming) and Kim Garcia (technical director and programmer), and is presented in partnership with Bam.
The event will also include a panel discussion, “Best of the Besties,...
This year’s lineup of films screening at Bam in downtown Brooklyn (April 11 – 15) includes a 4K restoration of Rose Troche’s lesbian classic “Go Fish,” the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Brian Sloan’s queer romantic comedy “I Think I Do,” 35mm screenings of Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” and F. Gary Gray’s “Set It Off.” The “Go Fish” screening will be accompanied by a Q&a with Rose Troche in person along with star Guinevere Turner.
The repertory series was created by NewFest, co-curated by NewFest’s Nick McCarthy (director of programming) and Kim Garcia (technical director and programmer), and is presented in partnership with Bam.
The event will also include a panel discussion, “Best of the Besties,...
- 3/13/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Tisa Farrow, the actress known for her roles in 1970s films like James Toback’s Fingers and William Richert’s Winter Kills, passed away at the age of 72. Her sister, Mia Farrow, announced the unexpected demise on Instagram on Wednesday, revealing that Tisa had seemingly passed away in her sleep. “If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,” Mia wrote. “She was the best of us — I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever.” See the Instagram post below. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mia Farrow (@realmiafarrow) John Farrow, her brother, informed The Hollywood Reporter that his sister passed away in Rutland, Vermont. Having made her onscreen debut in Homer (1970), where she portrayed the girlfriend of a high school student deeply affected by the Vietnam War, Tisa Farrow went on to star...
- 1/12/2024
- TV Insider
Tisa Farrow, a former actor born, like sister Mia Farrow, to show business parents Maureen O’Sullivan and John Farrow, died unexpectedly Wednesday morning. She was 72.
Her death was announced on social media by Mia Farrow, who said that Tisa apparently died in her sleep.
“If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,” Mia wrote on Instagram and X. “She was the best of us — I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever. She was nurse for 27 years, a wonderful sister to Steffi, Prudence and me, a devoted mother to Jason, who died in Iraq, Bridget and little grandson Kylor – the lights of her life.”
While never achieving the fame of sister Mia – or, for that matter, sister Prudence, who was immortalized by John Lennon in the classic 1968 Beatles White Album song “Dear Prudence” – Tisa Farrow nonetheless...
Her death was announced on social media by Mia Farrow, who said that Tisa apparently died in her sleep.
“If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,” Mia wrote on Instagram and X. “She was the best of us — I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever. She was nurse for 27 years, a wonderful sister to Steffi, Prudence and me, a devoted mother to Jason, who died in Iraq, Bridget and little grandson Kylor – the lights of her life.”
While never achieving the fame of sister Mia – or, for that matter, sister Prudence, who was immortalized by John Lennon in the classic 1968 Beatles White Album song “Dear Prudence” – Tisa Farrow nonetheless...
- 1/12/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Tisa Farrow, the actress who appeared in such 1970s films as James Toback’s Fingers and William Richert’s Winter Kills, has died, her sister Mia Farrow announced. She was 72.
She died unexpectedly on Wednesday, “apparently in her sleep,” Mia Farrow reported on Instagram.
“If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,” she wrote. “She was the best of us — I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever.”
Tisa Farrow made her onscreen debut in Homer (1970), portraying the girlfriend of a high school student (Don Scardino) deeply affected by the Vietnam War, and she also starred in the low-budget horror films Zombie (1979), directed by Lucio Fulci, and Anthropophagus (1980).
In her most prominent role, Farrow played a woman who has a kinky romance with a disturbed loner (Harvey Keitel) in writer-director Toback’s Fingers (1978). She then showed...
She died unexpectedly on Wednesday, “apparently in her sleep,” Mia Farrow reported on Instagram.
“If there is a Heaven, undoubtedly my beautiful sister Tisa is being welcomed there,” she wrote. “She was the best of us — I have never met a more generous and loving person. She loved life & never complained. Ever.”
Tisa Farrow made her onscreen debut in Homer (1970), portraying the girlfriend of a high school student (Don Scardino) deeply affected by the Vietnam War, and she also starred in the low-budget horror films Zombie (1979), directed by Lucio Fulci, and Anthropophagus (1980).
In her most prominent role, Farrow played a woman who has a kinky romance with a disturbed loner (Harvey Keitel) in writer-director Toback’s Fingers (1978). She then showed...
- 1/12/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With only one weak opening, the weekend box office totals have understandably dropped below any since late June. Have no fear, though: overall performance remains positive.
The same weekend last year managed only a paltry $65 million. The over $115 million that came in this weekend continues the momentum and brings the industry closer to a $4 billion summer — what was seen as an optimistic goal before May is now within view.
If so, the “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)/”Oppenheimer” (Universal) tandem remains the biggest contributing factor. The top two titles (“Oppenheimer” climbed back to #2) notched over 45 percent of the total gross, with both dropping only slightly more than a third in their fourth weekends. Another $33.7 million haul puts Greta Gerwig’s comedy smash up to $526 million domestic, nearing $1.2 billion worldwide. Christopher Nolan’s biopic added another $18.8 million, getting it to $264 million domestic, over $650 million worldwide so far.
“Barbie” will likely be challenged next...
The same weekend last year managed only a paltry $65 million. The over $115 million that came in this weekend continues the momentum and brings the industry closer to a $4 billion summer — what was seen as an optimistic goal before May is now within view.
If so, the “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)/”Oppenheimer” (Universal) tandem remains the biggest contributing factor. The top two titles (“Oppenheimer” climbed back to #2) notched over 45 percent of the total gross, with both dropping only slightly more than a third in their fourth weekends. Another $33.7 million haul puts Greta Gerwig’s comedy smash up to $526 million domestic, nearing $1.2 billion worldwide. Christopher Nolan’s biopic added another $18.8 million, getting it to $264 million domestic, over $650 million worldwide so far.
“Barbie” will likely be challenged next...
- 8/13/2023
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
The ’70s were the perfect time to be paranoid: rumors of government-sanctioned assassinations here and abroad, second-gunman theories around dead presidents, whispers of elite secret societies pulling strings, that whole Watergate thing. It wafted in the air like yesterday’s tear gas. The movies picked up the vibe and amplified it. Buy a ticket and you could see Warren Beatty discover an assassin-recruitment corporation (The Parallax View), Robert Redford as a CIA analyst on the run from agency goons (Three Days of the Condor), Gene Hackman get tripped up over...
- 8/12/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Mafia-related murders. An improbable constellation of 20th-century icons. Belated accessibility to the public after decades of obscurity. Are we talking about the JFK assassination or Winter Kills, William Richert’s 1979 film inspired by it?
Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.
The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure...
Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.
The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure...
- 8/8/2023
- by Brad Hanford
- Slant Magazine
The JFK assassination is parodied in 1979 black comedy “Winter Kills,” which has landed a remastered re-release presented by auteur Quentin Tarantino. IndieWire exclusively shares the trailer for the Rialo Pictures reissue here.
“Winter Kills” is a thinly veiled and hyper-paranoiac take on the JFK assassination starring Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan, scion of a fabulously wealthy and powerful family headed by patriarch John Huston, as a character based on Joe Kennedy. Nick (Bridges) soon finds himself going down multiple rabbit holes while trying to unravel the conspiracy behind the murder of a U.S. president, his older brother.
Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Malone, Toshiro Mifune, and Elli Wallach also star, as well as an uncredited Elizabeth Taylor who plays a character inspired by JFK’s rumored-to-be mobbed-up mistress Judith Exner. “Winter Kills” is the feature debut of model and Australian actress Belinda Bauer.
A new re-issued release of “Winter Kills” by...
“Winter Kills” is a thinly veiled and hyper-paranoiac take on the JFK assassination starring Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan, scion of a fabulously wealthy and powerful family headed by patriarch John Huston, as a character based on Joe Kennedy. Nick (Bridges) soon finds himself going down multiple rabbit holes while trying to unravel the conspiracy behind the murder of a U.S. president, his older brother.
Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Malone, Toshiro Mifune, and Elli Wallach also star, as well as an uncredited Elizabeth Taylor who plays a character inspired by JFK’s rumored-to-be mobbed-up mistress Judith Exner. “Winter Kills” is the feature debut of model and Australian actress Belinda Bauer.
A new re-issued release of “Winter Kills” by...
- 7/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Hollywood was in the midst of its Brat Pack fervor when the director/screenwriter team of Tim Hunter and Neil Jimenez jolted moviegoers with "River's Edge." It was the grimy, dead-souled antithesis to John Hughes' peppy tales of suburban woe. The Northern California high schoolers in Hunter's film are dead-enders who, aware of their paltry worth to society, have little value for human life. When their friend John (Daniel Roebuck) claims he's murdered his girlfriend Jamie (Danyi Deats) and takes them to see her nude corpse, which he's discarded like a dog toy next to a riverbank, they do not recoil in horror. They are at most dumbstruck, and at worst eager to aid John in covering up the crime.
We should be shocked by their lack of revulsion, but Hunter lets us hang out with these kids for a good 15 minutes before taking us to Jamie. They're future burnouts...
We should be shocked by their lack of revulsion, but Hunter lets us hang out with these kids for a good 15 minutes before taking us to Jamie. They're future burnouts...
- 3/22/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHead."A man for all seasons" is how Bruce Dern once described Bob Rafelson, who passed away this week at age 89. Josh Karp's 2019 Esquire profile captures the New Hollywood iconoclast at his intense best. This week, we're also remembering William Richert, writer/director of Winter Kills and A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, and the legendary actor Paul Sorvino, an unforgettable presence across five decades of film roles.Steven Spielberg's next film, The Fabelmans, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. A semi-autobiography based on Spielberg's own childhood growing up in postwar Arizona, the film will star Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, plus Gabriel Labelle as Spielberg's stand-in. Nicolas Winding Refn has made a new six-part TV series. Copenhagen Cowboy will be the first production the...
- 7/27/2022
- MUBI
Click here to read the full article.
William Richert, the maverick writer-director behind the Jeff Bridges-starring conspiracy thriller Winter Kills and A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, which gave River Phoenix his first leading role, has died. He was 79.
Richert died Tuesday at his home in Portland, Oregon, his wife, Gretchen, told The Hollywood Reporter. She would not disclosed the cause of death but said he chose to use Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.
Richert’s résumé also included co-writing The Happy Hooker (1975), starring Lynn Redgrave as celebrity madam Xaviera Hollander, and a pair of Ivan Passer-directed films: Law and Disorder (1974), starring Carroll O’Connor and Ernest Borgnine, and Crime and Passion (1976), starring Omar Sharif and Karen Black.
A black comedy take on the mystery surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination, Winter Kills (1979) featured Bridges fronting an all-star cast that also included John Huston, Elizabeth Taylor,...
William Richert, the maverick writer-director behind the Jeff Bridges-starring conspiracy thriller Winter Kills and A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, which gave River Phoenix his first leading role, has died. He was 79.
Richert died Tuesday at his home in Portland, Oregon, his wife, Gretchen, told The Hollywood Reporter. She would not disclosed the cause of death but said he chose to use Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.
Richert’s résumé also included co-writing The Happy Hooker (1975), starring Lynn Redgrave as celebrity madam Xaviera Hollander, and a pair of Ivan Passer-directed films: Law and Disorder (1974), starring Carroll O’Connor and Ernest Borgnine, and Crime and Passion (1976), starring Omar Sharif and Karen Black.
A black comedy take on the mystery surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination, Winter Kills (1979) featured Bridges fronting an all-star cast that also included John Huston, Elizabeth Taylor,...
- 7/24/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Wes Anderson was expected to attend the Cannes Film Festival this month to world premiere his new movie, “The French Dispatch.” The director last attended Cannes for the world premiere of “Moonrise Kingdom,” which opened the 2012 edition of the festival and remains Anderson’s first and only trip to the Croisette. Anderson took part in The New York Times’ Cannes survey to share a memory about the world’s most prestigious film festival, and in doing so he also dropped an update about how he’s been spending his quarantine.
“I have a 4-year-old daughter so, like so many others in our situation, I am now a part-time amateur schoolteacher,” Anderson said. “Much of what I am reading has to do with ancient Egypt, dinosaurs, insects and the Amazon rainforest. But also: Patricia Highsmith, James Baldwin, Elmore Leonard and a book about plagues.”
Anderson also dropped an 11-film quarantine watch list.
“I have a 4-year-old daughter so, like so many others in our situation, I am now a part-time amateur schoolteacher,” Anderson said. “Much of what I am reading has to do with ancient Egypt, dinosaurs, insects and the Amazon rainforest. But also: Patricia Highsmith, James Baldwin, Elmore Leonard and a book about plagues.”
Anderson also dropped an 11-film quarantine watch list.
- 5/13/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Samantha Mathis is opening up about the tragic night her boyfriend, actor River Phoenix, died in 1993 on Halloween at the age of 23.
The American Psycho actress was with Phoenix and his younger brother Joaquin Phoenix when the Running on Empty actor died of a drug overdose outside of the Viper Room in Los Angeles.
Mathis, 48, told The Guardian in a phone interview that she accompanied Phoenix to the Viper Room, a Los Angeles club then-owned by Johnny Depp.
The actress said she thought they were there to drop off his siblings “but when we arrived he said to me, ‘Oh,...
The American Psycho actress was with Phoenix and his younger brother Joaquin Phoenix when the Running on Empty actor died of a drug overdose outside of the Viper Room in Los Angeles.
Mathis, 48, told The Guardian in a phone interview that she accompanied Phoenix to the Viper Room, a Los Angeles club then-owned by Johnny Depp.
The actress said she thought they were there to drop off his siblings “but when we arrived he said to me, ‘Oh,...
- 10/25/2018
- by Alexia Fernandez
- PEOPLE.com
Tuesday marks the 24th anniversary of River Phoenix’s untimely death on Oct. 31, 1993.
The actor was just 23 when he died outside the Viper Room in West Hollywood due to a drug overdose, but made his mark on the world after starring in beloved films Stand By Me (1986), Running on Empty (1988) and My Own Private Idaho (1991). His final film, Dark Blood, was completed in 2012.
In Phoenix’s honor, we’re taking a look back at his quick rise to fame and the best work of the gone-but-never-forgotten star.
An Unusual Childhood
Phoenix was born on August 23, 1970 in Madras, Oregon. His family...
The actor was just 23 when he died outside the Viper Room in West Hollywood due to a drug overdose, but made his mark on the world after starring in beloved films Stand By Me (1986), Running on Empty (1988) and My Own Private Idaho (1991). His final film, Dark Blood, was completed in 2012.
In Phoenix’s honor, we’re taking a look back at his quick rise to fame and the best work of the gone-but-never-forgotten star.
An Unusual Childhood
Phoenix was born on August 23, 1970 in Madras, Oregon. His family...
- 10/31/2017
- by Caroline Redmond
- PEOPLE.com
Patching together portraits of his beloved Portland streets, bits of Shakespeare’s Henry IV via Welles’ tumultuous Chimes at Midnight, and vignettes of a narcoleptic vagabond hustler whose motherless anxieties send him travelling through time and space in shimmeringly nostalgic deep sleep, Gus Van Sant‘s My Own Private Idaho is a wildly original amalgam of cultural references and personal investments that transcend a mere tip of the hat. Riding high in the wake of Drugstore Cowboy‘s Hollywood success, Van Sant convinced River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, two rising Tinseltown heart-throbs, to take a serious risk, committing themselves, against the loudly voiced opinions of their agents, to a pair of overtly homosexual roles in a film that opens with an off-screen blowjob. After River was awarded the prizes for Best Actor from the Venice International Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards and the National Society of Film Critics Awards...
- 10/20/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
- 2/27/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
My Own Private Idaho
Written by Gus Van Sant
Directed by Gus Van Sant
USA, 1991
Though he has made his share of more conventional dramas like Good Will Hunting and Milk, and received Oscar nominations by doing so, Gus Van Sant always seems to fall back to a more sedate style, such as that seen in his early film My Own Private Idaho. Following Mike (River Phoenix), a narcoleptic hustler from a broken home, and Scott (Keanu Reeves), the fallen son of a wealthy man, on a parentally inspired quest.
As friends, they couldn’t seem more different. Mike is quiet and hesitant toward those that employ his services while Scott is charismatic and willing. While Mike’s quest is to find his mother, visions of whom seem to haunt him, Scott’s life as a hustler is an act of rejection of his own father, the Mayor of Portland.
Written by Gus Van Sant
Directed by Gus Van Sant
USA, 1991
Though he has made his share of more conventional dramas like Good Will Hunting and Milk, and received Oscar nominations by doing so, Gus Van Sant always seems to fall back to a more sedate style, such as that seen in his early film My Own Private Idaho. Following Mike (River Phoenix), a narcoleptic hustler from a broken home, and Scott (Keanu Reeves), the fallen son of a wealthy man, on a parentally inspired quest.
As friends, they couldn’t seem more different. Mike is quiet and hesitant toward those that employ his services while Scott is charismatic and willing. While Mike’s quest is to find his mother, visions of whom seem to haunt him, Scott’s life as a hustler is an act of rejection of his own father, the Mayor of Portland.
- 2/14/2013
- by Erik Bondurant
- SoundOnSight
Legendary production designer Robert F. Boyle, who died last Aug. 2 at the age of 100, will be honored by the Art Directors Guild (Adg) Film Society and the American Cinematheque with a memorial screening of William Richert's Winter Kills (1979) on Sunday October 10, at 5:30 pm at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Winter Kills features Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Sterling Hayden, Dorothy Malone, and Toshiro Mifune. Earlier that day, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will conduct "an invitational tribute" to Boyle in the lobby of its Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Based on Richard Condon's novel, Winter Kills revolves around the encounter between the son of an assassinated U.S. president and a dying man who claims to be the killer. Sets were built at the MGM Studios, in addition to location shooting in Manhattan, various sections of Los Angeles County, and the...
- 10/9/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
By Sharon Waxman
Here comes still more interesting, exclusive reading from the secret files of the just-settled class action lawsuit between screenwriter William Richert and the Writers Guild of America west. Last time, you may remember, we brought you the secret deposition of Terri Mial, the whistleblower whose job it was to oversee residual and foreign levy payments. Mial testified that she was instructed not to pay out the checks that came in, and to shred the check lists. Now comes the July 2007 deposition of the Writers Guild chief financial officer Don Gor, wh...
Here comes still more interesting, exclusive reading from the secret files of the just-settled class action lawsuit between screenwriter William Richert and the Writers Guild of America west. Last time, you may remember, we brought you the secret deposition of Terri Mial, the whistleblower whose job it was to oversee residual and foreign levy payments. Mial testified that she was instructed not to pay out the checks that came in, and to shred the check lists. Now comes the July 2007 deposition of the Writers Guild chief financial officer Don Gor, wh...
- 9/8/2009
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
By Sharon Waxman
We've been wondering what that elusive foreign levy payment looks like.
William Richert, the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit that reached a preliminary settlement this week, provided us with a copy of a check he received earlier this year, apparently mistakenly, of money owed him for decades.
It's a very interesting case study in what is or isn't going on in terms of accounting at the guild. Hollywood business managers, lawyers and accountants would do well to pay attention.
But even us average folks can understand a...
We've been wondering what that elusive foreign levy payment looks like.
William Richert, the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit that reached a preliminary settlement this week, provided us with a copy of a check he received earlier this year, apparently mistakenly, of money owed him for decades.
It's a very interesting case study in what is or isn't going on in terms of accounting at the guild. Hollywood business managers, lawyers and accountants would do well to pay attention.
But even us average folks can understand a...
- 9/3/2009
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
Though he has raised the risks considerably, once again writer-director Gus Van Sant Jr. has come up with a film that zeros in on the poignance and gentle comedy at the heart of an otherwise seamy situation. And with the sole exception of a misfired Orson Welles tribute, his new film, "My Own Private Idaho, '' is his most accomplished effort yet.
Despite the fact that it is the story of a teenaged narcoleptic male hustler in Portland, Ore., with an obsession about finding his mother, the film's tonal richness, its hipness and its plain humanity, as well as the considerably canny casting of River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in lead roles, mark this feature as one to watch.
Outstanding specialty success is all but assured; even more, the film has the potential to wade into the mainstream and make a sizable cache.
Phoenix and Reeves play Mike Waters and Scott Favor, respectively, a pair of teenagers making their living off the mostly male, occasionally female, paying public.
Mike, the center of most of the attention, is actually gay and is obsessed with finding the mother who abandoned him to state care as a child. The movie's title refers to the image of a country home and family he carries around in his head.
Scott, whose own sexual preferences are straight but likes the money of hustling almost as much as the shock it gives his politician father, agrees to take off into the countryside, in the United States and eventually even Italy, in pursuit of leads.
A series of dead ends leads to Mike's brother Richard (James Russo, who, despite appearing only briefly onscreen, makes a powerful impression) and some devastating revelations that, nevertheless, help Mike get on with his life.
However, as with Van Sant's other features, plot doesn't do justice to the crowded anecdotes, varying tones and stylistic insouciance.
In one scene sure to increase the film's buzz factor, Reeves' picture on the cover of a male nudie magazine suddenly comes alive and starts talking about the vicissitudes of hustling, eventually landing in an argument with the many newly animated figures on the covers of the rack's other magazines.
Van Sant emphasizes the vulnerable side of Phoenix's persona, and not only does the young actor deliver his best performance, he manages to limn a gay character who will probably have an enormous appeal to young women. Even his narcolepsy, which causes Mike to fall asleep in moments of stress, alternates between the wryly sad and macabrely humorous.
Grace Zabriskie as a horny suburban matron, Udo Kier as the ultimate Euro-sleaze pickup artist, and Mickey Cottrell as a clean-freak client of Mike's, add to the general zaniness.
Yet, no matter how pronounced the sexual humor, pathos underlies every scene, and in the Italian interlude, when Scott falls for a beautiful girl (Chiara Caselli) he meets on a farm and perforce abandons Mike, Van Sant creates a profoundly sympathetic portrait of an emotionally impossible situation.
The film does contain interludes shot in the style of Welles' "Chimes at Midnight, '' during which Reeves' character acts out a drama of filial rebellion and reconciliation, with William Richert performing a good turn as the Falstaff character. Unfortunately, Van Sant's editing becomes so self-consciously heated, and the dialogue so ersatz, that barely a moment works.
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
Fine Line Features
Writer-director Gus Van Sant Jr.
Producer Laurie Parker
Directors of photography Eric Alan Edwards,
John Campbell
Production designer David Brisbin
Editor Curtiss Clayton
Color
Cast:
Mike Waters River Phoenix
Scott Favor Keanu Reeves
Richard Waters James Russo
Bob Pigeon William Richert
Carmella Chiara Caselli
Alena Grace Zabriskie
HansUdo Kier
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Despite the fact that it is the story of a teenaged narcoleptic male hustler in Portland, Ore., with an obsession about finding his mother, the film's tonal richness, its hipness and its plain humanity, as well as the considerably canny casting of River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in lead roles, mark this feature as one to watch.
Outstanding specialty success is all but assured; even more, the film has the potential to wade into the mainstream and make a sizable cache.
Phoenix and Reeves play Mike Waters and Scott Favor, respectively, a pair of teenagers making their living off the mostly male, occasionally female, paying public.
Mike, the center of most of the attention, is actually gay and is obsessed with finding the mother who abandoned him to state care as a child. The movie's title refers to the image of a country home and family he carries around in his head.
Scott, whose own sexual preferences are straight but likes the money of hustling almost as much as the shock it gives his politician father, agrees to take off into the countryside, in the United States and eventually even Italy, in pursuit of leads.
A series of dead ends leads to Mike's brother Richard (James Russo, who, despite appearing only briefly onscreen, makes a powerful impression) and some devastating revelations that, nevertheless, help Mike get on with his life.
However, as with Van Sant's other features, plot doesn't do justice to the crowded anecdotes, varying tones and stylistic insouciance.
In one scene sure to increase the film's buzz factor, Reeves' picture on the cover of a male nudie magazine suddenly comes alive and starts talking about the vicissitudes of hustling, eventually landing in an argument with the many newly animated figures on the covers of the rack's other magazines.
Van Sant emphasizes the vulnerable side of Phoenix's persona, and not only does the young actor deliver his best performance, he manages to limn a gay character who will probably have an enormous appeal to young women. Even his narcolepsy, which causes Mike to fall asleep in moments of stress, alternates between the wryly sad and macabrely humorous.
Grace Zabriskie as a horny suburban matron, Udo Kier as the ultimate Euro-sleaze pickup artist, and Mickey Cottrell as a clean-freak client of Mike's, add to the general zaniness.
Yet, no matter how pronounced the sexual humor, pathos underlies every scene, and in the Italian interlude, when Scott falls for a beautiful girl (Chiara Caselli) he meets on a farm and perforce abandons Mike, Van Sant creates a profoundly sympathetic portrait of an emotionally impossible situation.
The film does contain interludes shot in the style of Welles' "Chimes at Midnight, '' during which Reeves' character acts out a drama of filial rebellion and reconciliation, with William Richert performing a good turn as the Falstaff character. Unfortunately, Van Sant's editing becomes so self-consciously heated, and the dialogue so ersatz, that barely a moment works.
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
Fine Line Features
Writer-director Gus Van Sant Jr.
Producer Laurie Parker
Directors of photography Eric Alan Edwards,
John Campbell
Production designer David Brisbin
Editor Curtiss Clayton
Color
Cast:
Mike Waters River Phoenix
Scott Favor Keanu Reeves
Richard Waters James Russo
Bob Pigeon William Richert
Carmella Chiara Caselli
Alena Grace Zabriskie
HansUdo Kier
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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