ABBOT GEUSER
Sparring for success: Michelle Rodriguez in Girlfight.
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FINALLY, SERIOUS FILMS are on their way. Fall is the time when Hollywood traditionally brings out its big guns: Oscar contenders, festival favorites, and prestige productions we've read about and long to see. This autumn is no different. At last we can view Little Nicky, the latest effort by that brash auteur of American cinema, Adam Sandler. Finally, in The 6th Day, we can discover what the complex European sensibilities of Arnold Schwarzenegger have in store for us. Feminists can expect an uncompromising indictment of the patriarchy in Charlie's Angels. And for fans of pure avant-garde cinema, Jim Carrey promises to deconstruct the entire capitalist fa硤e of Christmas in that Grinch movie.
Can't wait? Neither can we. Neither can Hollywood, for that matter, which has seen its grosses decline seven percent compared to last summer's Phantom Menace-driven business. (Moreover, theaters are going into bankruptcy by the minute, having built too many screens too quickly.) The summer was hardly a washout for moviegoers, but it lacked that One Big Hit that teens could see over and over and adults could talk about at work. (Scary Movie doesn't meet both criteria.) Mediocre M:I-2 topped the box office, while the superior Gladiator lagged near behind. Neither Perfect Storm nor Patriot were that great, and the few pleasant surprises of the warm weather months were on the order of Croupier, Chuck & Buck, and Chicken Run.
Art and commerce don't always mix at the multiplex, of course, although there's always hope that a critical-popular success like American Beauty will emerge this fall. A few candidates have already been seen at Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto (where the film fest is currently underway). Some of the true Oscar-worthies won't even play here this year, opening in short runs in NYC and LA instead, before national 2001 release.
For the impatient, we offer a fall preview of coming attractions both large and small, national and local, arty and lowbrow, with release dates always, always subject to change.
SEPTEMBER
After Your Friends & Neighbors, Neil LaBute takes a step toward the mainstream with Nurse Betty (already playing), but it's not yet clear whether the mass audience will take a step toward him. While Jerry Maguire leading lady Ren饠Zellweger plays nurse, her former director Cameron Crowe—a part-time Seattle resident—is mining his own life as a young rock journalist in Almost Famous (reviewed this issue). Although Crowe couldn't secure Brad Pitt for the lead, in Billy Crudup he has a star who's almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the '70s back into vogue following Without Limits and Jesus' Son.
That decade memorably gave us The Exorcist, which will enjoy a rerelease (mainly to hype the DVD), and also informs EMP's fall film series that began this week with Tom Verlaine—of '70s band Television—providing live accompaniment to old silent movies. Over a dozen Wednesdays into late November, you can see rare music flicks such as Wattstax (1973), the punk-rock doc The Blank Generation (1976), and the Sun Ra doc Space Is the Place (1974). The whole program is curated by the NW Film Forum, with top-notch sound at the House of Paul.
Another excellent NW Film Forum-curated series begins at the Grand Illusion with over a dozen titles by French New Wave master Alain Resnais, starting with his great Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959). (See related article, this issue.) Meanwhile, the Varsity-Egyptian folks are bringing us a few SIFF faves, including Dark Days, Benjamin Smoke, Goya in Bordeaux—plus another '70s music doc, Gimme Shelter (1970) with Mick and Keith. Tipping into October, a two-week run of the new French comedy The New Eve promises to upend a few notions of feminism and contemporary romance.
The feel-good woman boxing flick—and Sundance prize-winner—Girlfight is also slated to open late in the month, the same weekend as Denzel Washington's feel-good football movie, Remember the Titans. We guess there's just something about kicking ass within the bounds of sport that lends itself to the triumph of the human spirit. (Of course, most people will probably watch the Olympics instead.)
OCTOBER
For those left unsatisfied by the recent week of Kubrick flicks, there's a 70mm print of his Spartacus (1960), which—truth be told—is both better and worse than Gladiator. Sure, they did the battle and crowd sequences without CG effects back then, but the acting wasn't exactly subtle. (Come to think of it, Oliver Reed would've fit in quite nicely.) Just think how cavernous Kirk Douglas' cleft chin will look on the big screen!
Festival-wise, we've got gay and lesbian and Spike and Mike, with the former far preferable to the latter's gross-out 'toons. Look forward also to the Seattle Underground Film Fest and a week of horror pics at the Egyptian. SAM begins another fall film noir series that concludes with Chinatown in December; buy your tickets early, since it'll surely sell out in advance. The classic, influential French heist film Rififi (1955) makes a reappearance, while Lars von Trier—so beloved in France—brings us Dancer in the Dark with Bj�and Catherine Deneuve. It's a musical, but not in Icelandic—so far as we can tell. After the off-putting Idiots, he could afford to make something a bit more accessible. (Happily, SAM is showing his '94 Danish TV miniseries The Kingdom in all its four-hour glory.)
