Barely a week ago your roving Film Scouts correspondent was happily sailing
on the ms Ryndam. The Holland America cruise ship has a subdued elegance
in contrast to those gaudy pleasure boats that Kathy Lee Gifford is always
singing about.
Among its many features is a plush movie theater where they kept showing
WATERWORLD in what appeared to be a desperate final attempt to dredge up
an audience for that multi-million dollar blooper. But the theater was also
the scene of the fourth annual Floating Film Festival, an event dreamed
up by one of the founders of the Toronto International Film Festival, Dusty
Cohl.
Dubbed FFF by those in the know this is surely the world's most exclusive
film festival in that it takes place entirely on the high seas. As such
attendance is inevitably limited to those who can stand seeing movies in
a theater that actually moves. During one of the previous floating festivals
the theater creaked and swayed to such an alarming degree that more than
one festival guest rushed from the movie, ready to abandon ship. As a result
the festival programmers, who include such old salts and veteran film critics
as Roger Ebert, Richard Corliss (and his equally perceptive wife - the assistant
curator of photography for MOMA - Mary Corliss) and your not always faithful
correspondent, have learned to refrain from presenting movies that feature
footage of shipwrecks and stormy seas.
This year I'm happy to report that the Caribbean remained relatively calm
and the ship began to rock n'roll only when Ebert did his unique karaoke
rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes." Rocking Roger topped off his
showstopping number by rattling off a number of jokes at breakneck speed.
Then Roger, whose comic routine if not his singing rated at least one thumbs
up, reluctantly turned over the stage to Corliss. With that Time Magazine's
tall and dignified critic all but stole the show matching his own lyrics
to the tune "Don't Be Cruel." "They say that movie critics
are nasty and hard," sang Corliss, hitting all the right notes. "But
really I like all kinds of films as long as they're in Chinese."
I'm afraid you had to be there to fully appreciate the FFF's traditional
non-movie event - the karaoke competition. The singing critics, myself included,
were only grateful that there weren't any music critics on board. Corliss
later went on to introduce IN THE HEAT OF THE SUN, a compelling Chinese
film about an energetic gang of Beijing teenagers confronting the limitations
imposed by the Cultural Revolution.
"Roger and I have tried to promote our love of Chinese cinema with
our love of Chinese food," said Corliss. To appease his appetite for
the cinematic equivalent of dim sum Corliss also presented CHUNKING EXPRESS,
a frenetic noir-ish tale of a lovelorn cop and a lethal dame in a blonde
wig. Directed at a reckless pace by Hong Kong's hottest young director Wong
Kar-Wai the movie is being released with Quentin Tarantino's official seal
of approval.
Speaking of Tarantino one of the festival's main attractions was Ebert's
scene-by-scene analysis of the American director's most acclaimed movie
"Pulp Fiction." "It's known as democracy in the dark,"
said Ebert in describing his teaching method. "We are adopting The
Mystery Science Theater approach. If you see something interesting you yell
out 'Stop.'"
There were interesting films to see during the 10-day Eastern Caribbean
cruise. "HEARTS AND MINDS, a rigorous drama from South Africa about
a white policeman who's sent to infiltrate the ANC, attracted favorable
attention despite the tough subject matter. ANTONIA'S LINE, by Dutch filmmaker
Marleen Gorris, was deemed the most popular choice by the 150 passengers
who participated in the festival. But everyone was even more touched by
the remarkable documentary ANNE FRANK REMEMBERED which contained an indelible
home movie shot of the young Holocaust victim peering from a window in happier
times.
Needless to say I remained partial to my own personal selections. They included
John O'Brien's MAN WITH A PLAN, a delightfully droll Frank Capra-inspired
tale of a debt-ridden 74-year-old Vermont farmer who runs for Congress.
I also presented DRIVEN, a remarkably accomplished first feature by Michael
Shoob, about LA cab drivers and their personal dreams. The movie's features
dream team of actors - Tony Todd, Daniel Roebuck, Whip Hubley and Chad Lowe
who are bound to earn more recognition for their exceptional work.
My final act as a programmer was to arrange for a showing of BEAUTIFUL GIRLS,
an endearingly witty romantic comedy about "dudes in flux" which
features a dream cast headed by Matt Dillon and Timothy Hutton (who's never
been more appealing.). The movie's director, Ted Demme, flew into Nassau
in the Bahamas to spend the final night on the ship. "I just saw 'The
Poseidon Adventure' last week," said Demme displaying that panicked-look
of a true landlubber. "Are we really moving?"
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