Sometimes film festivals require radical gear-shifting. I walked out of a grim drama from the Philippines and, with barely time for a toilet break in between, into a romantic comedy starring
Catherine Zeta-Jones. One thing about seeing so many movies in succession is that they almost seem to comment on each other, and you find bizarre connections. There was more than one point during
The Rebound where I wanted to grab Zeta-Joness character and tell her to watch
Lola, to see what people with real problems look like. Zeta-Jones is perfectly tolerable, comparatively, in the movie. It is, let me say up front, rubbish, but it is not tortuous. Not tortuous is almost a ringing endorsement for a romantic comedy. Theyre welcome to use it on the poster. It features an older woman dating a younger man (comedies are seldom made about the reverse situation), although the older woman is Catherine Zeta-Jones, so if I were said younger man, I wouldnt complain. I could probably make a
Michael Douglas-related joke here but, come on, Im above that sort of thing.
It also features two montages. I made this point the other day, and
Team America made it already, but I bloody hate montages. They are almost always a cop-out, usually employed when a screenwriter needs to get from point A to point B and cant think of a dramatic way to make the transition. So, for instance, Zeta-Joness character, Sandy reaches New York with her two kids having just separated from her husband. She gets a new job, and starts settling into the New York lifestyle. How best to show this? A montage, of course. Further into the story (possible spoilers for people whove never seen a movie before) they have the inevitable falling out. When I watch movies like this I always dread the contrived argument followed, as it usually is, by the contrived reunion. But how to get from one to another? Easy: a montage! Even
Rocky had a montage! Theres not much more to say about the movie except that it features a baffling
Art Garfunkel cameo. He gets, I think, third billing in the opening credits and has about five sentences in the movie. Equally baffling is why a movie like this is playing at the film festival at all; although mainstream comedies have played at EIFF before (
Knocked Up, Clerks II, Road Trip) they arent generally rom-coms as conventional as this one. A little research suggests that its struggling to get released; its been out in various countries for a while but doesnt seem to have a fixed US or UK release date, which might be why its trying to fit into the festival programme. But it does not belong. Its not
How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days bad. But it certainly aint good.
Although The Rebound turned out to be rubbish, I was quite looking forward to something light after
Lola (aka
Grandmother) a dark, raw work from the Philippines. It tells the story of two elderly women, one whose grandson was stabbed to death, and one whose grandson was the murderer. The movie follows them through the turmoil and practicalities of dealing with the incident, from the funeral arrangements to the legal disputes. This story allows a framework in which we see the poverty and desperation of many of these people, as the two women struggle to pay the mounting costs of the funeral, lawyers, and the money the grandmother of the murderer must pay the grandmother of the victim to have him released from prison. It is filmed with hand-held cameras and captures a sense of realism rare in modern movies. Its not an easy movie and it has moments of real pain and sadness as we watch these two women struggling to keep their families together and make ends meet while both being punished, to some degree, by the actions of the murderer and the society they live in. It is certainly worthy of your attention. Tomorrow I look forward to
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? which is directed by
Werner Herzog and produced by
David Lynch, and if that doesnt make you want to see it I dont know what will. Also showing tomorrow is
The Secret In Their Eyes, winner of this years best foreign language picture Oscar. Movies still to look forward to include
Get Low, which has a role for
Bill Murray (again, enough on its own to make me want to see it), and closing-night movie
Third Star. Its not been a spectacular festival so far, but its been a lot of fun and theres plenty of intriguing possibilities to go.