Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
April 2005 activity
Total Log Entries: 44
- Adam (0)
- Andrew (0)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (0)
- David (0)
- Eva (0)
- Evan (0)
- Ian (0)
- Jenny (0)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (15)
- Megan (0)
- Rumsey (8)
- Teddy (0)
- Thomas (4)
- Timothy (0)
- Victoria (0)
Total Comments: 7
- 2046 (0)
- The Interpreter (0)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (0)
- Point Break (0)
- Muriel (0)
- Gloria (0)
- Zorn’s Lemma (0)
- Eaux d’Artifice (0)
- The Days (0)
- The Ladykillers (0)
- The Awful Truth (1)
- Arrested Development (0)
- Shaun of the Dead (1)
- Stranded (0)
- Finding Neverland (0)
- Secret Window (1)
- Eros (0)
- Closer (0)
- King of the Zombies (0)
- La Ciénaga (0)
- The Birds (1)
- Passage à l’acte (0)
- Wavelength (0)
- Duck Soup (0)
- Changing Lanes (0)
- 12 Monkeys (0)
- Ghostbusters (0)
- Maria Full of Grace (0)
- Laura (0)
- Stage Fright (0)
- The Idiots (0)
- Stray Dog (0)
- Mirror (0)
- Three on a Match (0)
- Before Sunset (1)
- The Power and the Glory (0)
- Aguirre: The Wrath of God (0)
- The Ring Two (1)
- Happy Together (0)
- Rocky IV (1)
- My Own Private Idaho (0)
- Suspicion (0)
- Young Törless (0)
- Days of Thunder (0)
Full Archive
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The Interpreter / UK / USA / France / 2005
It has always been of some intrigue to me, the relationship between an actor’s celebrity and their ability to convincingly execute their craft. A recent example (on this side of the pond, at least) were the tabloid revelations concerning Nicole Kidman and Jude Law during the filming of Cold Mountain. Upon watching that film, I couldn’t help but wonder what real passions lay behind the physical contact of their characters on-screen because of the extensive tabloid coverage highlighting an alleged “affair”. Such wonder inevitably shifted my focus away from what was actually going on and thus rendered any artistic craft on behalf of Ms. Kidman or Mr Law redundant. I dare say the same will happen when I watch the remake of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, what with the furore surrounding Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and any relationship that existed betwixt the two.
Sean Penn doesn’t do tabloid — but he does do political, and was an outspoken (celebrity) critic of the recent Allied military excursions in Iraq. That criticism included a staunch defence of the United Nations, the organisation in which The Interpreter is based, and I couldn’t help but feel distracted by Penn’s political persuasions throughout the film.
Where the UN is concerned, the film’s message is somewhat undecided: it can’t seem to choose between the way of the gun or the wordplay of diplomacy — the art of translation, in this case, possibly mightier than the sword. Penn’s involvement simply adds to the flip-flopping politick from which The Interpreter suffers, and leads me to suggest it is not the business of film — this film, at least — to discuss the merits of the UN as an effective international peace-keeping organisation or otherwise. (Political thrillers, on the other hand, are precisely the business of film: see, for example, The Manchurian Candidate.)
Oh, and though the film’s advertising will tell you Kidman and Penn are the stars of this film, they are wrong: the real star is the UN building itself. I’ve never been to New York but when I do make it, Wallace K. Harrison’s exquisite building will be high up on my list of places to visit.
by Rich Watts | Source: 35mm print
28 Apr 2005 9:03 AM | Submit Comment