A bit more sleep and a shower (finally) makes it all go down somewhateasier, but the on-the-run food and increasing carpal tunnel syndrome issues don’t help. Also, obey the cardinal rule: avoid other festival-going friends: you will talk and drink and be merry and hours and hours of precious writing time is gone, never to be recovered.
But Day 2 was certainly the best so far with two decidedly great pictures. The first was The Weinstein Company’s scooped up festival buzzer, Tom Ford’s exquisite “A Single Man,” which is as terrific as they say it is. Ford’s keen eye for perfection and style, plus working with the world’s greatest photographers pays off like no debut before. This is almost preternaturally assured filmmaking and Colin Firth is remarkable in the title role. More on this one hopefully later today,but it’s marvelous and very emotionally affecting. It will change the movie landscape this year.
After that was Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime,” which wasn’t quite as good or mature as we were lead to believe, but it did evince a softer tone, even if the twisted humor was sometime as pitch black as ever. In the ensemble cast, it’s really Allison Janey who shines as the mother trying to get on with her life- and don’t forget this IS a sequel to 1998’s “Happiness,” despite Solondz claiming it “sorta” is a continuation. But make no mistake, the actors playing the characters may be different, but it picks up not far after that picture ended. Its not entirely successful or dazzling at all, but it is still enjoyable for the most part.
Lastly we had Neil Jordan’s romantic and wondrous fairytale, “Ondine,”about an Irish fisherman (Colin Farrell) whose life is transformed when a gorgeous female sea nymph is caught in his fishing net (Alicja Bachleda) Sigur Ros keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson composed the beautiful score which only enhances the already rich atmospheric and dream-like mood. It’s tender, lovely and near perfect, but the bubble somewhat bursts at the end. Still, an enchanting picture we completely enjoyed.
On the docket today is “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s gun trade satire, “Micmacs,” and a double feature of Werner Herzog’s apparently loony “Bad Lieutenant,” and the quasi-horror “My Son, MySon, What Have Ye Done?” More later. Coffee also helps.