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The film treads no new narrative or stylistic ground it’s a look at the lives of unhappy, privileged white teens in the northern California suburb of the title, and Coppola is clearly going for the dreamy lyricism that characterizes her aunt Sofia’s work.īut “Palo Alto” is an example of how to turn been-there-done-that material into something luminous. Much to the excitement of his autograph-hungry groupies, Franco showed up a second time to help present “Palo Alto”, the debut film from Gia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola’s granddaughter), which is based on Franco’s book “Palo Alto Stories” and features the actor in a supporting role. His is the kind of grating, fully committed performance that the jury may choose to reward. The little-known Scott Haze sinks his teeth into the main role with theatrical glee, doing everything short of grabbing the camera and swallowing it whole.
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It’s also a chore to sit through: a dramatically shapeless movie which demands that we accompany the scowling anti-hero while he wanders, rapes, defecates and yells until he froths at the mouth for 104 very slow-moving minutes. The story of Lester Ballard, a roving, raving outcast prone to bursts of violence and necrophilia in 1950s Tennessee, “Child of God” is shot with rough, raw energy and steeped in a suitably barren Southern atmosphere. It was the most rapturous response to a star that I’ve seen here yet – tied, perhaps, with the stampede of fans who nearly ran me over while chasing a limo bringing Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) from the festival premises to his hotel.Īs for Franco’s film itself, the reception was cooler. His arrival for the screening of his competition entry “Child of God” (adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel) drew screams and even a collective lunge, deftly contained by a couple of good-humoured security guards.
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Meanwhile, the biggest attraction for the Italian fan girls camped out next to the red carpet was US actor-director-writer-provocateur James Franco. But coming from the director who gave us films like the nimble, imaginative “The Queen” and the delicious noir “The Grifters”, this is far from Frears at his best. Despite moments of wit (the director wrings odd-couple humour from the relationship between working-class, devoutly Catholic Philomena and posh, cynical atheist Sixsmith), “Philomena” is essentially a tearjerker, complete with a cloying score from Alexandre Desplat.ĭench and Coogan sell it well, occasionally cutting through the high-minded sentiment to dig up some real emotion. The film is based on a true story: Philomena Lee was one of many “fallen” Irish women in the 1950s shamed into giving up babies they had out of wedlock to nuns, who, in turn, sold them to wealthy American couples looking to adopt.įrears gives the story a slick makeover, blending melodrama and comedy with brisk professionalism and a hearty helping of schmaltz.
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But the biggest competition crowd-pleaser – the film that generated the most laughter, tears and applause – has been British director Stephen Frears’ “Philomena”, starring Judi Dench as an Irish woman who enlists former BBC reporter Martin Sixsmith (played by Steve Coogan) to help find her long-lost son. The 70th Venice Film Festival has been underway for five days now, and everyone in attendance has a favourite among the movies screened so far.įor me, nothing has been as gripping or hauntingly beautiful as Kelly Reichardt’s “Night Moves”, which premiered Friday night.