Austin Film Festival: The Ice Harvest, The Dying Gaul, and The Matador

Fritz here. On Friday, I saw The Ice Harvest and The Dying Gaul. Yesterday, I caught The Matador. Director Harold Ramis (Egon from Ghostbusters) introduced his film The Ice Harvest. He said, "I always wanted to visit Austin because I heard it was the hippest place in Texas, which isn't saying much." After getting laughter, he followed with, "I actually came down to see one of your state's many executions, but they didn't have any today." More laughter. My friends have told me that if you tell someone from another part of the state that you live in Austin, they look at you funny. So, apparently, there is some mutual loathing (Austin's county is the only one in Texas that Kerry won). Anyway, I enjoyed Ramis' remarks. Yesterday, there was a screening of Ghostbusters that Ramis was in attendance for right before The Matador. As I waited in line, Ramis came out the front of the theater. He ambled in the direction of where we were standing in line. The kid in front of me looks to Ramis as he walks by and asks him if he could shake his hand. Ramis smiles and shakes the kid's hand. I smile and also get a handshake from Egon. Personally, I never ask for autographs or go up and gush to celebrities, even ones I like, b/c I always feel goofy and awkward and I'm not sure if I were famous that I'd like people constantly eating up my time by asking for photos, pictures, or awkward small talk. I like that kid's handshake idea. You get to communicate some degree of admiration for the person without really embarassing yourself or taking up the famous person's time. So, I salute you, pimply-faced college kid who stood in front of me in line!

Also, I just got word that I will be writing 8 300-word reviews for a new Candian fashion magazine calle Floe, which should launch next year. I will be an internationally published journalist and movie critic! Yay! It may not lead to anything more, but I'm very excited. When my friend Rachel first mentioned Floe's existence, I figured it wouldn't lead to anything, but it was a nice gesture to point it out to me, so I contacted them. And, so it happens, I'm covering the Austin Film Festival for them. I will keep you posted as to when the issue will hit stands.




The Ice Harvest

If Kiss Kiss Bang Bang playfully toyed with the conventions of noir movies, The Ice Harvest plays those conventions in fairly standard, if skillfully made fashion.

As one would expect from director Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day), there are comedic elements to the tale of mob lawyer Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) and local pornographer Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton), who steal over $2 million from mobster Bill Gerard (Randy Quaid). Despite the laughs, which are fairly plentiful, thanks to a well-written script by Robert Benton and Richard Russo (Nobody's Fool, Empire Falls), the story is pretty much a typical noir tale about a crime gone wrong. It is like a slightly more comedic version of Kubrick's The Killing or Reservoir Dogs. The Ice Harvest is funnier, but when the violence happens (and it happens fairly often as the film progresses), it is taken as seriously as a bullet to the head. In tone, it is probably closest to the underrated 2001 film Novocaine (starring Steve Martin).

Everything about the film comes across as skillful and professional, if unspectacular. The movie is fast on its feet (88 minutes) and features solid, workmanlike performances from Cusack and Thornton. Cusack does a respectable job of portraying a standard noir anti-hero. Charlie is a loser who rarely sees his children, but steals the money because he longs for something better. Specifically, he longs for the love of femme fetale Renata (Connie Nielsen), who runs a local strip club. Cusack and Thornton's escape ends up being hampered by an ice storm. This being noir, bad things happen and the corpses pile up as the night progresses.

For fans of the genre, The Ice Harvest is a film worth checking out. It is not best-list material, nor is it even as good as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but it a good, straightforward genre piece.



The Dying Gaul

Writer/Director Craig Lucas' The Dying Gaul opens with screenwriter Robert Sandrich (Peter Sarsgaard) meeting with Jeffrey (Campbell Scott), a studio executive. Jeffrey wants to buy Robert's ultra-personal script about his male lover dying of AIDS. However, Jeffrey wants to change the gender of the lover to female. At first, Robert denies the request, but eventually caves in when Jeffrey offers to buy the script for $1 million.

Initially, The Dying Gaul seems like it will become a compelling story about one man making compromises and the consequences of selling out. However, after about 30 minutes, the film takes a different, less interesting turn when Jeffrey and Robert commence an affair. Jeffrey's wife Elaine (Patricia Clarkson) does not know at first, but finds out in an internet chat room (she knows she is talking to Robert, but he is unaware of who he is talking to and admits to the affair). After this, Elaine sadistically toys with Robert by posing online as his dead lover, pushing the screenwriter to the edge of sanity.

Sarsgaard, Scott, and Clarkson are all very talented character actors and do just fine with their performances. However, the script lets them down. What starts as an intriguing exploration of personal compromise turns into three unlikeable characters doing terrible things to each other. Last year's Closer also featured unsympathetic characters deceiving each other, but The Dying Gaul has nowhere near the wit or dark of humor of Closer.

Despite the decent performances, I doubt The Dying Gaul will get a release in most cities.



The Matador

The Matador, by writer/director Richard Shepard, has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the film fest. Pierce Brosnan plays Julian Noble, a washed-up hit man who decides he desperately neeeds a friend. In Mexico City for a job, he meets a kindly businessman (Greg Kinnear), who has recently had a string of bad luck (he lost a job and his only child in a short span of time). After a few rocky early conversations, the two men develop a friendship, even as Kinnear becomes uncomfortable with Brosnan's profession. To say much more about the plot would spoil things.

The synopsis does not do the film justice. In fact, the synopsis alone makes the film seem silly. Indeed, what is admirable about The Matador is the number of times it seems as if it will careen off the tracks and become annoying and/or idiotic, yet it unfailingly stays on the right path and remains funny and even heartfelt. Brosnan does very good work, making Julian seem alternately sinister and pathetic. Kinnear, who usually plays shallow jerks, does a fine job playing a nice guy. The script helps him immensely. Nice guys are usually hard to play on screen without making them seen too saintly or nerdy. Kinnear and Shepard pull it off. Danny (Kinnear's character) is an excellent creation. His emotions and reactions are believable and consistent, both with Brosnan and with his loyal wife (Hope Davis).

I have no idea when The Matador will hit theaters, but check it out. It is a funny, and at times, surprisingly sweet comedy about an unlikely friendship.

F.E.