CANNES -- In 1980, Michael Cimino made history in Cannes. Preceded by the
wildest rumors, "Heaven's Gate" was shown in its three-hour version and
triggered tremendous controversy among American journalists in particular.
Adding fuel to the fire, came the news, at the end of the press conference,
that United Artists, which had produced the budget-gobbler, was going
bankrupt.
Back with "Sunchaser", his first studio-released movie in
sixteen years,
Cimino was afraid he might be forced to rehash the past. When the inevitable
question came, he "innocently" asked the journalist whether he played golf.
"No, why?" "Because if you did, you'd know you never think of the last hole,
you think of the next one."
Exit "Heaven's Gate".
"Sunchaser" is splendidly shot, in full Cinemascope--which the Arizona
locations demand. It is a road movie -- make that a *journey* movie -- in
which a terminally ill Native American teenage convict (John Seda) kidnaps a
doctor (Woody Harrelson) and forces him to take him to a holy mountain where
a high priest and a magic lake will cure him of his cancer. Harrelson is
great, but keep an eye on Jon Seda, he's something else entirely. Better yet,
go to your video store and rent Darnell Martin's "I Like It Like That" and
find out how promising this young Hispanic actor is.
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Andre ("Wild Reeds") Techine's "Les Voleurs" ("The Thieves")
is superb.
Broken into chapters, playing with time, narrated by several different
voices, it is a multi-layered film that deals with a love-hate relationship
between a cop and his mafia-like family, a love-hate relationship between the
cop (Daniel Auteuil) and a teenage tough gal (Laurence Cote), a love-hate
relationship between the cop and a philosophy teacher (Catherine Deneuve) the
girl is also having an affair with. Only with Techine (her fourth film with
him) could Catherine Deneuve play a lesbian grandmother you could instantly
fall in love with. It all sounds complicated but it isn't. It's luminous,
subtle, rich, and damn good.
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This year's "film-surprise" was hardly that. A week ago, "Variety" surmised
it was Steve Soderbergh's new opus -- and it was. (In all honesty, all it
takes is check with subtitling labs which movies they're working on.)
Presented as a "work in progress -- no titles, no credits and (mercifully) no
press-kit -- "Schizopolis" is a spoof, a gag of a movie in which the *auteur*
of "sex, lies and videotape" (Golden Palm in 1989) plays several parts. It
starts out as the story of a man writing a speech for the president of a
sect, but, since it is semi-experimental, it veers at will from one story to
another, with Soderbergh playing another character who is the spitting image
of the previous one (but speaks a different language). It's quick, sharp, and
fun.
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