Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. Oh, man. You lucky bastard. It’s really surprising to see people buzzing about a De Palma film based on a few festival screenings. It’s a good surprise, but it’s still sort of shocking. I’m so used to people writing him off that I’m intrigued now. If non-De Palma fans are getting crazy about this one, it might be something really exciting. I’ve seen MICHAEL CLAYTON, and I’m hoping to get my muzzle removed soon on this and a few other films. I’ll just say that Warner Bros has a very, very strong line-up of movies this fall, and I look forward to writing about some of them. Soon. For now, here’s Mastidon:
Ahoy Quint! Figured I would write you directly since you published my last review. Yesterday in Venice I attended the world premiere of Redacted and the second airing of Michael Clayton. I thought you guys would like some more insight on how the festival runs. Venice has 2 screens open to the general public, the main venue, which is where all the premiers are held, and a second temporary bigger one for screenings that start just after the main premiers. For example, Michael Clayton premiered at 6:45 PM and was shown in the other cinema at 8:30.PM. The second venue is very strange. Its setup inside a circus tent with 1800 seats and a state of the art sound system. Where the viewers in the main venue are 50-50 Italians and foreigners, the tent is 90% Italian giving the atmosphere the feel of a regular movie screaming. Attached to this email are several photos. Feel free to use and publish any or all of them. Now onto the reviews.... Redacted - 5 stars Disturbing. This is the only word I could think of when it finished. By far, the most upsetting film I have seen since Schindler's list. Written and directed by Brian De Palma. This is not Bonfire or Scarface, but an entirely different De Palma. A quote from Brian himself from his directors notes that are published in the official catalog for the event. "To Redact is to edit or to prepare for publishing. Frequently a redacted document or image has simply personal (or possibly actionable) information deleted or blacked out; as a consequence redacted is often used to describe documents or images from which sensitive information has been admitted. The true story of our Iraq war has been redacted from the mainstream corporate media." - Brian De Palma. Brian's goal is to show the viewer the side of Iraq the media refuses to. I can only imagine how many people he will piss off with this film. It won't be long until someone calls him un-American or a friend of the terrorists. ***SPOILERS**** The movie opens with a statement that the events pictured in this film are fictional. However, they are all based on true accounts of other events in Iraq. Black lines appear through various words until only the letters REDACTED are left. The film stars are all relatively unknown which is key considering its premise - a story told from video journals of a soldier, a French documentary film maker, and an Al-Jazeera like network. The story focusing on the events before, during, and after the rape of a 15 year old Iraq girl by American soldiers. We are first introduced to the soldiers through a home movie being made by one of them, a Latino named Angel Salazar. It seems Angel was denied entrance to film school so he believes he can get in by making his own documentary of Iraq. Through Angel we meet his entire squad. All seem like relatively normal Army guys. Mostly bored and horny. Everywhere pictures of naked women hanging on the walls. And constant talk of getting laid. The film then switches over to a checkpoint where American's search cars going between zones. At this point the film is now in French with English subtitles. We are lead through the entire process from the point of view of a passenger in the Iraqi's car. Several key statistics are given such as half of the population of Iraq is illiterate so how could they possibly read or understand the signs. Then the key statistic that over 2,000 Iraqis have been killed at US checkpoints but of the 2,000 only 60 have been proven to be insurgents. A bit further on, the film then switches back to the Americans where a car appears to be running a checkpoint. They order he car to stop but it won't. The Americans open fire and the car stops. Out comes a man trying to take his sister to the hospital as she is giving birth. The sister has been shot. The Al-Jazeera network takes over at which point we learn the woman and baby both died. From the Iraqi point of view, the Americans waved him through the checkpoint and did not tell him to stop. Clearly a lost in translation situation. As a final in your face, the movie switches back to Angel's video where he is interviewing the soldier about the events. The soldier openly says he has no remorse or care about the dead woman. The movie continues through the lives of these men and their actions. There is a full out rape of a young woman on camera. And if you were grossed out by the bathroom scene in Scarface, this one blows that way with a revenge decapitation. The sound effects used still make me flinch when thinking about them. The movie ends with real pictures from dead civilians in Iraq including a pregnant woman who was clearly killed at a checkpoint. The entire film is only 90 minutes long. Any longer would simply have been to painful to watch. ***END Spoilers***** I must caution you not to see this movie on a full stomach as it is EXTREMELY violent. However, if the violence was removed or somehow cut back, the movie would lose its message. This film received an even longer standing ovation than Sleuth. I know some of you have doubts that it lasted 5 minutes, well Redacted blew that one away. After this one, my hands hurt from clapping for so long. It went on for several minutes after the credits had ended. If you think its a good idea we should be in Iraq, or that we have a clue and know what we are doing, then you need to see this movie. If you are opposed to the war, you still need to see this movie to see just how bad it really is. In my opinion, this movie deserves every best picture nod from every organization out there. Will it get it? Probably not as it is way too controversial. My vote is that it should be mandatory viewing for anybody over the age of 16. Intermission After watching Redacted, I followed Brian outside and got this photo. Clearly he looks as moved at his own movie as the rest of us were. I then headed to he bar as after that I needed a drink to calm down. From the bar I headed back to the main cinema to watch the spectacle of the arrival from George Clooney for Michael Clayton. Its unreal how he draws a crowd. For every other premier, the space behind the wall was easily maneuverable but with Clooney, it was just a zoo. See attached photo. After that, I headed down to the beach to watch the sunset and clear my head for Michael Clayton. I was really looking forward to something lighter after Redacted. Michael Clayton - 2 stars As I said in the beginning of the post, I saw Michael Clayton in the circus tent with 1800 of my closest Italian friends. The concept, brilliant. George Clooney as a lawyer who fixes problems for other lawyers. The execution, extremely disappointing. I don't need to waste your time reading a long review of Michael Clayton because it simply isn't worth my time to write it. In short, a very pale imitation of a John Grishom novel. **SPOILERS**** The story is about Michael's involvement trying to fix the situation with the firm's largest client, an evil genetic corporation. Michael is called in after the lead attorney working the case has a sudden attack of morality, strips off all of his clothes, and then decides to tell the truth about his client. Pathetic, I know. ***END Spoilers*** Sydney Pollock who is an actor I have the greatest respect for was completely under used. I'm glad I caught him on Entourage the other night. I wish him well through his current illness. George Clooney's character reminded me of Danny Ocean as a lawyer but far less entertaining. I can sum it up this way, I looked at my watch 3 times to see when this film would end. In all, not a terrible movie, just not a very good one either. Save your money and wait for the video even if your girlfriend begs you to see George. Rent "Good Night, and Good Luck" instead. Tonight I will catch another movie about Iraq, In the Valley of Elah which is Paul Haggis first movie since writing and directing Crash. If it is half as good as Crash, I will be pleased. My final event of tonight is the midnight premier of Blade Runner - The Final Cut. Should be great just to see it on a big screen! Until tomorrow. Chow from Venice! -Mastidon
