We have no clue why IFC gave AICN of all people the first dibs on the U.S. “roadshow” poster for Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” (Harry’s post makes it sounds like it’s ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ does this mean there’s a non-roadshow poster coming?), but they did. It’s pretty much like the French version that was released a few months ago and we have to say compared to the very incredible trailer that came out yesterday, it’s a bit of a disappointment. We were hoping for some design to really capture the tenor of the films, but none of the various posters have quite done it. Regardless, after watching the U.S. promo yesterday, we’re so damn psyched to see it again. The music runs a chill through our spine. We’re really glad that the critics who seem to “get” it, Scott Foundas, J. Hoberman, etc., are some of the ones we most greatly admire (they also curated a lot of the very excellent New York Film Fest international slate that we loved so much this year).
We may snap if this film isn’t recognized by Oscar in some capacity.
Let’s face it, biopics are generally the worst because of the typical obvious on-the-nose beats inherent in most of them and Soderbergh does away with all of them. And does he ever. We’re reading the original Peter Buchman script and god, it’s so drastically and full of that kind of cliched nonsense.
“CHE picks up the flaming torch and calmly, and without regard to the hail of bullets flying around him, runs up and set the barracks on fire” (all the other guys that attempted had to cower away from the bullets, but no CHE WAS BRAVE ENOUGH! ) Barf, thank god, Soderbergh was smart enough to make him do a major rewrite.
A film we didn’t totally love per se, but a strong scrappy contender that’s still deserving, Chile’s “Tony Manero,” won best film at the 26th Torino Film Festival over the weekend. Directed by Pablo Morrain, the film is also Chile’s official entry to the Best Foreign Oscar race. [Film Essent]