Father Geek here with Latauro and the latest edition of our report from beyond the great sea, from Australia, New Zealand, and various other outcroppings of the Great Barrier Reef...

"I’m a maid who would marry... And would take without qualm Any Tom, Dick or Harry... Any Harry Dick or Tom"

AICN-DOWNUNDER

I’ve thrown a copy of KISS ME KATE into the DVD player to help me write a few words about Ann Miller, who died a little over a week ago.

It’s strange, too. I think it was only a day or two after I picked up KISS ME KATE that I heard about her death. (As I write this, I’m just at her entrance where she strides into Howard Keel’s apartment and innocently undresses in front of everyone.) When I re-watched it, I’d been struck by Miller more than anyone. I hadn’t seen it since I was very young, and though I was impressed with her performance I couldn’t understand why.

There’s an incredible amount of nuance in her performance as Lois, a role which on paper could well have come across as a Lina Lamont (I’m not dissing Lina or Jean Hagen, but Lina Lamont is the great one-note character of cinema – exactly the reason she works so brilliantly). She’s the innocent girl in puppy love with Howard Keel at one moment; then the doting girlfriend mothering her boyfriend into behaving the next. It’s a tough transition to pull off, and even tougher to maintain a character’s integrity while doing so. She does it perfectly, and manages to steal the show from both Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson in many, many scenes. If you haven’t seen it (the film centres on a group of actors trying to put on a musical version of “Taming of the Shrew”), it’s a must. You even get to see James Whitmore tap dance and Bob Fosse do likewise in a minor supporting role.

She was discovered by Lucille Ball, and appeared with her in the Marx Brothers’ ROOM SERVICE (which – and again with the coincidences – was played on Australian TV this weekend). Her most enduring film was probably ON THE TOWN, where she played an anthropologist fascinated with Jules Munshin. (Although ON THE TOWN is most remembered for being the Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra sailor movie that begun with “New York, New York”.)

Most recently, she played Coco (Naomi Watts’ neighbour) in MULHOLLAND DRIVE. Ironically, it was only her second film role in over thirty years (since THE GREAT AMERICAN PASSTIME in 1956). Ironic because she’d quit the movie business due to her dislike of nudity and sex being so prevalent in cinema.

She passed away from lung cancer at the age of eighty. Her last acting duty was to host “Too Darn Hot”, a documentary for the KISS ME KATE DVD. And I’ll be watching it the moment the film finishes.

NEWS

Get ready for it guys, here’s the one solitary piece of news for this week (and technically it happened last week): THE NIGHT THEY CALLED IT A DAY has been sold to Miracle Entertainment in the US. Though it failed to make much of a dent in Australia, it does feature Dennis Hopper as Frank Sinatra, the curiosity factor alone is bound to score some degree of revenue.

AWARDS AND FESTIVALS

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

It’s been reported everywhere, but for the record: HARVIE KRUMPET, the short that’s been sweeping every award on the planet, received a nomination for Best Short Animated Film (and, strangely, rejected for Best Feature Documentary). Naomi Watts received a Best Actress nomination for 21 GRAMS alongside WHALE RIDER’s Keisha Castle-Hughes. Peter Weir picked up the James Cameron Special (nominations in both Directing and Best Film categories for MASTER AND COMMANDER). Polaroid-wielders Russell Boyd and John Seale got their nods for MASTER AND COMMANDER and COLD MOUNTAIN, respectively. Rest assured, AICN-D will be self-importantly predicting the winners in the major categories before the ceremony.

AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS

Jan Chapman and Fred Schepisi were named Officers in the General Division of the Order of Australia. So that’s Jan Chapman (AO) and Fred Schepisi (AO).

53RD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

MIFF is now looking for entries for its 43rd International Short Film Competition...

13TH BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

...as is BIFF up north. This festival is much sooner (in July) so get them in!

BOX OFFICE

ALONG CAME POLLY and UNDERWORLD were the newcomers, instantly getting the top two spots (well, not instantly – I’m sure it took a few days). And at the Top of the Heap we have...

• 1. ALONG CAME POLLY
• 2. UNDERWORLD
• 3. THE LAST SAMURAI
• 4. LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
• 5. SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE

RELEASED THIS WEEK

Denzel Washington does a lot of running and yelling, the checklisting of suicidal female authors begins, and a factual film based on the fictional Dirk Diggler is... er... what was I saying?

Yeah, right... Here They are...

• OUT OF TIME
• SYLVIA
• WONDERLAND

REVIEWS

HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG

This is the year for it, the straight-out drama. I made mention of it in my review of MYSTIC RIVER, about how rare it is that a film will be completely and totally a drama. Many are hybrid comedies, or historical epics, or romantic tragedies. Rarely will a film declare itself to be a bare-bones drama.

Jennifer Connolly is a woman who is trying to pick up the pieces of her life, a task complicated when a council mistake takes her house away. Meanwhile, Ben Kingsley is an Iranian man who is trying to restore his family to the prestige they once had. Their stories start off as separate and slowly intertwine as the story progresses.

The standout of the film is Kingsley. He manages to play an Behrani without slipping into cliché. There are no broad strokes, no quirky characteristics to fall back on. He plays the character with such complete honesty that none of his baggage is carried. There’s no Gandhi, no Don Logan. There are few actors that can drop their previous roles – particularly roles that are so iconic – with such immediacy that you aren’t conscious of watching THIS ACTOR at every given moment. He’s the standout, and he makes the film what it is.

I want to mention James Horner as well. Horner is also at the top of his game, but there are moment where I suddenly became aware that it was Horner doing the music. It wouldn’t have bothered me, only there about three chords that were straight out of SNEAKERS... and they came during shots of Ben Kingsley in front of the San Francisco skyline. All of a sudden I expected to see Robert Redford appear at his house with the shell of an answering machine.

It’s difficult to talk about a film that relies on subtle plot turns, particularly if you’re a reviewer who balks at spoilers (unless they’re absolutely called for). The tagline is wholly appropriate: “Some dreams can’t be shared.” Two people who are both at opposing ends, both wanting the exact same thing, and yet we have equal sympathy for both. The bad guy isn’t Kingsley, or Connolly, or even the council that put them in the situation. It’s circumstance. Circumstance is the bad guy, and the idea that we’re all victims of it is the Big Idea of the film.

NEXT WEEK

- The story of Virginia Madsen unsuccessfully protesting the soft drink product placement article in her contract is brought to life in YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A FANTA CLAUSE

- Spencer Breslin will play a kid who must get his stomach pumped after eating too many pink lollies in BOWELLING FOR COLUMBINES

- Remake fears are explained as Patrick Swayze and Brittany Murphy sign on to play Rick Solomon and Paris Hilton respectively in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

Peace out,

Latauro

downunder@aintitcoolmail.com