Shmooze fest A World Film Fest diary by MATTHEW HAYS
Jury President Jacqueline Bisset attended, supplying the evening with ample glamour and elegance. All eyes were on the Snake Eyes folks, however, since they'd been heard about but largely unseen for the better part of August. Nicolas Cage arrived with his wife Patricia Arquette; they held court with Brian De Palma at the night's most-watched table. But while they were watchable, they certainly were not approachable. The Untouchables were surrounded by a rather hawkish publicist-turned-bodyguard, who insisted no one puncture the threesome's personal space. "Everyone seems to want to touch them," the publicist told me later, in an effort to explain her behaviour. At one point during the evening, a filmmaker made a motion to but out her cigarette in the ashtray on De Palma's table. The publicist quickly grabbed her arm and exclaimed "No!" When the director glanced over at the Untouchables she quickly realized what the fuss was about. "I'm a lesbian," she reportedly told Ms. Publicist, "what the hell would I want with Nicolas Cage?!" Guy Maddin, whose latest film, Twilight of the Ice Nymphs, has been confounding audiences with its bizarre narrative, has cancelled his trip to the World Fest, standing up some 15 journalists who were booked for interviews. A dent in the publicity campaign for this movie can't be a good thing, since Maddin's off-the-wall style is a difficult sell to audiences under the best of circumstances. Last chances for this weekend: You Can't Beat a Woman (Thursday, Aug. 28, 7:20 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 30, 11:20 a.m. at the Parisien) is Gail Singer's feature-length global doc on violence against women. Most refreshing is the seasoned director's injection of humour into a topic which has traditionally demanded a dour treatment. In the Company of Men (Thursday, Aug. 28, 10:10 p.m., Parisien) is rapidly becoming the most talked-about movie on the continent. Two men decide to wine and dine an attractive deaf co-worker, then dump her--just for the hell of it. The film's subject is so unpleasant that walkouts have been plentiful. Concordia grad Claudia Morgado Escanilla's latest film, Sabor a mi (Thursday, Aug. 28, 3:20 p.m., Parisien), is a strikingly beautiful look at an erotic encounter between two women. Escanilla's award-winning style is at work here again--the compositions are perfect, the images unforgettable. And not to be missed is Blackrock (Tuesday, Sep. 2, 11am, Parisien), Aussie Steve Vidler's tremendously moving take on the shock that the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl brings to a small beachfront town. The performances are uniformly excellent and Vidler's intelligent direction never veers into the sentimental. The World Film Fest's official hotel, the Hôtel Complexe Desjardins, changed owners this past year, and things have never been worse. The bar located outside the press office, a popular hangout for filmmakers and media types alike, has remained shut during the day despite a healthy demand for beverages, and the nearby restaurant refuses lunch service after 3 p.m. Filmmakers, festival organizers, guests and the press have never been more pissed off about such substandard service at an alleged world-class event. The hotel should shape up or the World Film Fest should ship out. Lord knows, there are plenty of hungry hotels in Montreal that would kill to host such a publicity-grabbing and money-making event. Finally, Montreal film types are licking their wounds this week as Miramax officials confirmed that their Studio 54 movie will not film in Montreal, but in Toronto. Miramax spokespeople wouldn't say why Hogtown won out, only that the decision came about due to several factors. Mike Myers is rumoured to be playing 54's ringmaster Steve Rubell. Montreal's hopes were raised when location scouts spent several weeks combing the city's clubs in search of shooting locales. The Miramax project is not based on Anthony Haden-Guest's recent book about the legendary '70s nightclub, The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night. |
For all the talk of how dreary the World Film Fest's opening parties are, this year's turned out to be worth attending. Though this fest is supposed to be less stellar than its glitzier cousin in Toronto, the stars were out and about last Friday night.