connielane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
connielane) wrote2005-04-15 08:54 am
connielane) wrote2005-04-15 08:54 am
Nashville Film Festival, Day One
I left work yesterday, grabbed some supper, and headed out to Green Hills for the first day of festivities. I was reminded again why I hate that part of town - the traffic is always a nightmare, especially at rush hour. I knew I had to be in my seat 15 minutes before showtime or I'd lose my seat, and I had no idea how long it would take to pick up all my stuff at Will Call. I got there, got my stuff, which included a nifty laminate and 30-some-odd tickets (see pic below), and headed past the news cameras to the queue for the movie (The Thing About My Folks). My nifty laminate pass meant that I could get comp tickets to any film/panel/party I wanted to attend, which was good because one ticket to this first film cost an amount not to be sneezed at.
It seemed to take forever for everyone to get inside. I was curious about this film. I knew it had some actors I loved (Peter Falk, Paul Reiser, who wrote the script, Olympia Dukakis, Elizabeth Perkins). I knew the director, Raymond De Felitta, had done another great little film called Two Family House. And I knew that it had recently played in Austin at SXSW, and that Harry Knowles enjoyed it. But it was a movie about family, and most of those - as you know - tend to be a little... precious, if you get my meaning. This film, though, was wonderful. It's not overly sentimental, it doesn't rely on jokes for its humor, and it has a refreshing take on "family film" elements that so often fall into the sentimentality trap. That's not to say there aren't poignant moments in the film, but they feel real instead of manufactured. Reiser's neurotic and hilarious writing (Falk compared him to Neil Simon in the Q&A) really made the story work.
The story, by the way :P, revolves around a father and son (Falk and Reiser, respectively) who go on a little soul-searching road trip when the father's wife walks out on him after 47 years of marriage. Sounds predictable, but it's not. There are some great conversation scenes in this, as well as some great comic scenes. Particularly memorable is a scene where Falk is playing pool, and his opponent refuses to pay the money he originally bet. He tells Falk to "eat sh*t and die", and Falk's reaction is priceless! It was even funnier when we found out that the line was ad-libbed, and Falk's "My God!" was his real response. He asked Reiser afterwards if that was something people actually said, because he had never heard it before. There are some really great supporting performances, but the movie really belongs to the relationship between Falk and Reiser.
The movie also makes great use of flashbacks - which play sort of like extremely well-shot home movies. I think part of the reason this doesn't play like a "family film" is that there's occasionally some strong language. The dialogue is real and never seems forced - a hard thing to do, especially in a film dealing with family issues. It was just an overall wonderful movie, and I hope some studio is willing to take a chance on it.
We had a Q&A afterward with De Felitta, Reiser & Falk, and several people expressed their astonishment that a movie like this wasn't getting a big distribution push. Reiser encouraged everyone (a couple of times) to go to imdb.com and leave comments. After the Q&A, a shuttle took us to BMI Music for a party on the roof. It felt so incredibly cool to just walk in and experience that. Below is a pic I took from the roof.
There was an open bar and lots of expensive finger food, and De Felitta, Reiser and Falk posed for lots of pictures. It was interesting to eavesdrop on all the industry talk, and I was amused when a distributor for one of the other films at the festival asked me if I had a film there. Maybe she asked everyone that, but I'm going to tell myself that I looked cool enough to be a filmmaker. :D
For those of you who heard my phone post, I was wrong. This was the real party, and the director and stars did stay for pretty much the whole time. They were lovely, lovely people, and so gracious. Reiser stood outside, smoking a cigar and telling stories, and De Felitta and Falk stood talking to people until nearly 11:00.
This, like the others, is not a great pic, but from l to r: Peter Falk, one of the festival officials, some other guy I don't know, and Paul Reiser.
About 10 minutes before the shuttle came to take us back to the theater, the celebs left and we made our way back down to the lobby. On the ride back, the director of one of the films I'm seeing Saturday got on the intercom and gave a goofy plug for his movie. I got home earlier than I expected, but no less tired. Looking forward to another day of this!
It seemed to take forever for everyone to get inside. I was curious about this film. I knew it had some actors I loved (Peter Falk, Paul Reiser, who wrote the script, Olympia Dukakis, Elizabeth Perkins). I knew the director, Raymond De Felitta, had done another great little film called Two Family House. And I knew that it had recently played in Austin at SXSW, and that Harry Knowles enjoyed it. But it was a movie about family, and most of those - as you know - tend to be a little... precious, if you get my meaning. This film, though, was wonderful. It's not overly sentimental, it doesn't rely on jokes for its humor, and it has a refreshing take on "family film" elements that so often fall into the sentimentality trap. That's not to say there aren't poignant moments in the film, but they feel real instead of manufactured. Reiser's neurotic and hilarious writing (Falk compared him to Neil Simon in the Q&A) really made the story work.
The story, by the way :P, revolves around a father and son (Falk and Reiser, respectively) who go on a little soul-searching road trip when the father's wife walks out on him after 47 years of marriage. Sounds predictable, but it's not. There are some great conversation scenes in this, as well as some great comic scenes. Particularly memorable is a scene where Falk is playing pool, and his opponent refuses to pay the money he originally bet. He tells Falk to "eat sh*t and die", and Falk's reaction is priceless! It was even funnier when we found out that the line was ad-libbed, and Falk's "My God!" was his real response. He asked Reiser afterwards if that was something people actually said, because he had never heard it before. There are some really great supporting performances, but the movie really belongs to the relationship between Falk and Reiser.
The movie also makes great use of flashbacks - which play sort of like extremely well-shot home movies. I think part of the reason this doesn't play like a "family film" is that there's occasionally some strong language. The dialogue is real and never seems forced - a hard thing to do, especially in a film dealing with family issues. It was just an overall wonderful movie, and I hope some studio is willing to take a chance on it.
We had a Q&A afterward with De Felitta, Reiser & Falk, and several people expressed their astonishment that a movie like this wasn't getting a big distribution push. Reiser encouraged everyone (a couple of times) to go to imdb.com and leave comments. After the Q&A, a shuttle took us to BMI Music for a party on the roof. It felt so incredibly cool to just walk in and experience that. Below is a pic I took from the roof.
There was an open bar and lots of expensive finger food, and De Felitta, Reiser and Falk posed for lots of pictures. It was interesting to eavesdrop on all the industry talk, and I was amused when a distributor for one of the other films at the festival asked me if I had a film there. Maybe she asked everyone that, but I'm going to tell myself that I looked cool enough to be a filmmaker. :D
For those of you who heard my phone post, I was wrong. This was the real party, and the director and stars did stay for pretty much the whole time. They were lovely, lovely people, and so gracious. Reiser stood outside, smoking a cigar and telling stories, and De Felitta and Falk stood talking to people until nearly 11:00.
This, like the others, is not a great pic, but from l to r: Peter Falk, one of the festival officials, some other guy I don't know, and Paul Reiser.
About 10 minutes before the shuttle came to take us back to the theater, the celebs left and we made our way back down to the lobby. On the ride back, the director of one of the films I'm seeing Saturday got on the intercom and gave a goofy plug for his movie. I got home earlier than I expected, but no less tired. Looking forward to another day of this!