Friday, December 14, 2007
Katja and Mouse
With the exception of two or three set-up sequences, Interview is essentially a one act psychological sparing match between a reporter in the process of a reporter on the decline and a glossed out mainstream media starlet. Steve Buscemi (who also adapted and directed) plays Pierre the reporter and Siena Miller is Katja, who is kind of like watching a walking jeans ad at times.
Tight one act two or three actor films are drama nerd paradise when done correctly if less they are interesting exercises. Interview, My Dinner with Andre, Inserts, and Two Girls and A Guy are memorable because of their tightrope walk if nothing more. I didn't connect that extensively with the overall content and execution of Interview but it hyperlinked me to three areas of observation:
Real-time cinema in the HD DV era
Interview covers some of the same ground that Mike Figgis (Hotel and Timecode), Soderbergh (Full Frontal and Bubble), (Nine Lives) and Alexander Sukorov (Russian Ark) have been working with. Most of the films listed above are the sons and daughters of Hitchcock's Rope, actively, mucking with the cinematic ability to record real time. There are one noticeable jump cuts out of the illusion of real time in this film. Buscemi doesn't take time for the characters to set up a video camera for one of the confession sequences in the film. But for this film, they don't rely on a single camera, but with three cameras with stable and agile video operators. It was the same crew that worked on the original with director Theo Van Gogh. And I can see where it has the potential for a kind of intimacy and truth that might be more immediate and intense than traditional master-closeup-mediumshot-reaction-cutaway methodology of 'ol Hollywood. Think about it---the reaction shot is now a part of the master, or at least of its same performance.
Meeting Theo
Before seeing this film, about all I knew of Theo Van Gogh was that he was murdered a couple years back. Interview intrigues me to check out more. My red envelope crack dealer only has a couple of his titles for now, but I imagine the cable indy twins (IFC and Sundance) have been all over this for a while. There was some interesting stuff going on in that loft between Pierre and Katja, and how it got there is peaking my interest. The Buscemi Interview is one of three remakes by American directors that Van Gogh's former colleagues are spearheading.
Hooray for our side
It is quite cool to see former fireman Buscemi (Fargo's funny looking one) direct and act in this is one more victory for the extraordinary ordinary looking actors who are in the mainstream. Bravo for John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Buscemi, and Jack Black! I think it is great that it is great that theaters and media ink can be filled with folks who aren't Cruise-Affblech-Clooney and others with male beauty carved and unreal except for an exceptional minority.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:09 PM
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