Steven Soderbergh’s Che Receives Major Response at Cannes, Palm d’Or Talk
Today, director Steven Soderbergh’s four hour subtitled Che Guevera biopic, Che (presented as two films entitled The Argentine and Guerilla) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Online, critical reception is already momentously loud and divided, in a “Here we go…” way. And as you might expect, the film(s)’s questionable commercial prospects and controversial depiction of the Argentine revolutionary, as played by an uncanny Benicio Del Toro, have some critics waiting it out and chatting about the terrible sandwiches given at intermission instead. However, Cinematical’s Kim Vonyar is incredibly stoked on both films and believes that Soderbergh is a lock for the festival’s top prize, the Palm d’Or…
“Consensus among many of the very smart people I know here at Cannes (well, except for Variety, apparently) is that Che will almost definitely win the Palm d’Or, and if Benecio del Toro doesn’t win the Best Actor Oscar come January, there’s something wrong with the world.”
Stunned by Soderbergh’s DV auteurism, Cinematical’s James Rochhi observed in the first full-length review around, that the biopics’ style, tone, character study and story choices are all open for heavy debate (umm, that’s cool, I agree with him), but says that Oscar talk for Del Toro is also certain. In summation, he proclaims…
“Bold, beautiful, bleak and brilliant, Che’s not just the story of a revolutionary; in many ways, it’s a revolution in and of itself.”
Put that in your pipe, eh? Sounds sweet. In his own way, Jeffrey Wells has stepped out as one of the first supporters/gushers of both films, calling The Argentine “brilliant” and Guerilla “killer.”
“[The Argentine] is what I’d hoped for and more. The tale is the tale, and it’s told straight and true. Benicio del Toro’s Guevara portrayal is, as expected, a flat-immersion that can’t be a “performance” as much as…I don’t know, some kind of knock-down ass-kick inhabiting. Being, not “acting.” No sentimentality, very straight. Oh, God…the second half is starting right now…”
Note the phrase, “it’s told straight and true,” because many historians, college students, Cubans, critics and Slashfilm readers (I’m predicting…) will inevitably take issue with Soderbergh’s decision on what to leave out and what to include from the man’s combative, violent life and ethos. Another reason why these subtitled films are a hard sell. Variety’s Anne Thompson [no linkage] doesn’t dive into the films’ politics, but she was nonetheless underwhelmed and glum. She believes the majority of the press on hand reacted similarly…
“‘A folly.’ ‘A mess.’ ‘Great.’ These words came from some of the critics coming out of Steven Soderbergh’s four-hour 18 minute Spanish-language Che Wednesday night. At the end there was slight applause; no boos. My own description: noble failure.”
She adds that “Benecio [sic] del Toro gives a great performance…” but she’s particularly down on the direction of the second film, Guerilla, saying, “Soderbergh isn’t interested in the things that compel moviegoers to engage with characters: drama, psychology, motivation. He doesn’t dwell on the relationship between Che and Castro. He doesn’t tell you how ‘Ernesto’ turned into ‘Che.’” This works against the frenetic industry buzz that Spoutblog has thoroughly documented; that site points out that the films are being pitched to buyers separately…
“Rumor has it that the second half of the story is currently in better shape than the first; it remains to be seen what would be lost if half of Che was demoted to straight-to-DVD.”
Please, let’s hope this doesn’t happen. I don’t think the Interwebs (or Che) could survive the weight of so many blog tears and life-hating, unedited diatribes. We’ve posted a new video clip from Che (The Argentine half) below. It doesn’t reveal much, but it gives you an idea of the camera work and Soderbergh’s depiction of jungle warfare. One thing is for sure, Che’s t-shirt posse won’t be going away anytime soon (feh!).
Movie Review: Ocean’s 13
Ocean’s Eleven was a fun, slick, stylized star-filled popcorn vegas bank heist flick. Even my father enjoyed the film (although he said he liked the original Sinatra film better). And truth be told, it’s hard to put this many charismatic actors on the screen and not incite magic. The sequel failed in almost every way. Sure, the stars were back, but gone was the stylized crazy story that made the first film so much fun. It also suffered from what I like to call the Temple of Doom syndrome, where they uplifted the characters and placed them in a whole new setting. With a sequel, people want to see more of the same thing. And who really wants to see the Ocean crew pull of a set of lame European heists anyway?
Ocean’s Thirteen returns to the original locale: Vegas Baby, Vegas, where ruthless casino owner Willy Bank (Al Pacino) double crossed Danny Ocean’s (George Clooney) friend and mentor Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), putting him in the hospital. Danny calls the crew back to action to seek revenge against Bank and his new lavish Vegas Casino which is geared towards “whales.” The plan is to cost the casino over $500 million in just under four minutes, effectively ruining Banks life.
The story is convoluted and ridiculous at best, but we don’t care. All three Ocean’s films have been set in a world of wacky unrealistic elaborate situations, which require the right character to be in the right place if something unplanned happens. But again, we don’t really care.
Director Steven Soderbergh returns to the slick seventies style, split screens, fast pans, steadicam, dolly shots and even 70’s style zoom-ins. Unfortunately, the fun big actor cameos (playing themselves) have all but been abandoned, with the exception of one big tv star appearing on the television screen.
Ocean’s 13: Fifteen New Production Photos
Earlier this week we posted a few new photos from Ocean’s 13. Well today we’re back with more - 15 new photos to be exact! Beware of spoilers, and left click for slightly higher resolution versions.
The third film stars stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin, Al Pacino, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould.
Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 13 will premiere at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in May, and will open nationwide on June 8th 2007.
New Oceans 13 Photos Revealed
Update [3/29/07]: Click here for 15 New Photos from Ocean’s 13!
The full length Ocean’s 13 movie trailer will hit the web on Thursday, March 29th. In anticipation of the new trailer, Warner Bros has released a bunch of new photo stills from the movie.
The third film stars stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin, Al Pacino, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould.
Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 13 will premiere at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in May, and will open nationwide on June 8th 2007.