Michael Dwyeron film
Consensus among critics was rare this year at Cannes, where the most divisive entry was Synecdoche, New York, the first feature directed by Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter of Being John Malkovichand Adaptation.It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theatre director with ever- increasing intimations of his own mortality.
The distinction between his life and art become as blurred for him as for the viewer when a grant allows him to embark on a production that is as sprawling and self- indulgent as the movie itself, which arguably makes more references to toilet functions than the entire Carry Onseries.
Five months after its Cannes premiere, Synecdoche, New Yorkfinally has been acquired for distribution in Ireland and the UK. On its US opening last week, Varietyeditor-in- chief Peter Bart remarked that while such an opaque film needs rave reviews, Kaufman's "worshipful reviews are even more opaque than his movies".
Bart cites Los Angeles Timesreviewer Carina Chocano's description of the film as "unrepentantly solipsistic" and "achingly, achingly sad", but "hard to follow". Bart notes that New York Timesreviewer Manohla Dargis acclaimed it as "extravagantly conceptual" and "one of the best films of the year", adding that hers is "a pathetic response."
"Okay, I'll take her word for it," Bart responds. "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"
Penn may be ahead by a nose
Sean Penn is known for turning up his nose at awards ceremonies - although he was at the Oscars in 2004 to accept the Best Actor award for Mystic River. In Gus Van Sant's latest movie, Milk, Penn wears a prosthetic elongated nose that makes him closely resemble the murdered gay San Francisco official Harvey Milk. The film, which has been generating Oscar buzz since its US premiere this week, opens here in mid-January.
Bizarre as it may seem, false noses can be a harbinger of Oscar nominations. In 1991, Cyrano de Bergeracpicked up nominations for Gérard Depardieu, who wore a fake nose, and for two-time Oscar-winning Irish make-up artist Michele Burke, who designed it.
José Ferrer won the Best Actor Oscar for the 1950 Cyrano de Bergerac. And Nicole Kidman collected her Oscar for The Hours(2002), in which she donned a nasal appendage to play Virginia Woolf.
IRA informer film on way
As the critically acclaimed Hungergoes into its second week on Irish cinema release, London-based Metrodome Distribution has acquired the UK and Irish rights to another Northern Ireland drama, Fifty Dead Men Walking, based on the book by IRA informer Martin McGartland, who gave it that title because he believes his undercover activities saved that many lives between 1987 and 1991.
The film's world premiere at the recent Toronto festival was steeped in controversy. McGartland threatened legal action to stop that screening, claiming the film misrepresented him, but he withdrew his objections. Cast member Rose McGowan was heavily criticised for her comments at a Toronto press conference when she stated: "I imagine, had I grown up in Belfast, I would 100 per cent have been in the IRA. My heart just broke for the cause."
Jim Sturgess (from 21and Across the Universe) plays the character based on McGartland, with Ben Kingsley as the Special Branch agent who recruits him.
Fifty Dead Men Walkingopens here in March.
A twitch in time
Five years after making his promising feature film debut with the Donegal-set romantic comedy The Honeymooners, Karl Golden starts shooting his second feature, Pelican Blood, this month. It's described as an urban love story between obsessive bird spotters, played by Harry Treadaway and Emma Booth.
Talk about a bitter dispute
Director Eron Riklis will discuss his new movie, Lemon Tree, after a preview of the film at Light House Cinema in Dublin next Monday. The factually-based drama features Hiam Abbass (from The Visitor) as a Palestinian widow who stands up to her new neighbour, the Israeli defence minister, when he insists her tree must be cut down for security reasons. www.lighthousecinema.ie
Galway's jnr film grá
The latest animated feature from Galway-based Magma Films, Niko and the Way to the Starswill make its Irish debut at the Junior Galway Film Fleadh, which starts on Wednesday. The programme includes notable recent films The Beat My Heart Skipped, Persepolisand Man on Wire, along with the Irish-language Poitín(1978), short films made by schoolchildren from the Muskerry Gaeltacht, and workshops on acting and animation. www.juniorfilmfleadh.com
Brenda Fricker honoured in Kerry
As the successful Kerry Film Festival enters its closing weekend, Jim Sheridan is set to present the event's inaugural Maureen O'Hara Award to Brenda Fricker at a ceremony in Tralee tomorrow afternoon. Fricker won an Oscar for Sheridan's My Left Foot, and reunited with him for The Field, based on the play by John B Keane.
mdwyer@irish-times.ie
