Post by Carla on Oct 5, 2006 12:05:36 GMT
Source: As Little as Possible
Telluride, Colo. -- Discussion after late-night movies happens on the gondola
ride from the Chuck Jones Theater in the mountains to the town of Telluride,
in the valley between them. It's pitch black inside the car; outside are only
stars and the golden lights below; inside are eight (usually random) cinephiles
thrown together in a dark moving box for 15 minutes.
Tonight the discussion was about Fur, the Diane Arbus biopic starring Nicole Kidman
in another daring career choice. As one of the voices in the darkness said on the gondola
ride, Kidman has "guts." This is not your conventional biopic (thank Jesus).
Its world premiere ended a short while ago, and it redeemed the genre for me.
It's not a great film, but it is a good one, and certainly better than the rash of music
biopics that stumbled into our field of vision in the past couple years.
Fur is by the director of Secretary, Steven Shainberg, who was in the audience.
Both his films exist beyond weirdness.
I don't believe in spoiling the particulars of movies, so let's say this: Fur is not a movie
about performances or imitations, so don't expect to be blown away by Kidman's acting,
which is appropriately subdued and reactionary. Fur is a movie to devour with your eyes
and ears. The production value is top-knotch. It's painterly, as well as photography-ly.
Carter Burwell, as always, comes through with a beautiful score. This is a movie that slowly
reveals itself to you -- watching it has the same effect as putting your eyes close to an
impressionist painting and slowly backing up. What I appreciated most about Fur is that it
claims in its subtitle to be an "imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus." Shainberg himself said
before the film that the story was teased out of the essence of Arbus rather than actual
events and people. That's the way to do a biopic, I say. A slavish commitment to history
and the subject's personality results in formula, not invention. Fur is, thankfully, a complete
and engaging invention. It's in limited release Nov. 10.
Telluride, Colo. -- Discussion after late-night movies happens on the gondola
ride from the Chuck Jones Theater in the mountains to the town of Telluride,
in the valley between them. It's pitch black inside the car; outside are only
stars and the golden lights below; inside are eight (usually random) cinephiles
thrown together in a dark moving box for 15 minutes.
Tonight the discussion was about Fur, the Diane Arbus biopic starring Nicole Kidman
in another daring career choice. As one of the voices in the darkness said on the gondola
ride, Kidman has "guts." This is not your conventional biopic (thank Jesus).
Its world premiere ended a short while ago, and it redeemed the genre for me.
It's not a great film, but it is a good one, and certainly better than the rash of music
biopics that stumbled into our field of vision in the past couple years.
Fur is by the director of Secretary, Steven Shainberg, who was in the audience.
Both his films exist beyond weirdness.
I don't believe in spoiling the particulars of movies, so let's say this: Fur is not a movie
about performances or imitations, so don't expect to be blown away by Kidman's acting,
which is appropriately subdued and reactionary. Fur is a movie to devour with your eyes
and ears. The production value is top-knotch. It's painterly, as well as photography-ly.
Carter Burwell, as always, comes through with a beautiful score. This is a movie that slowly
reveals itself to you -- watching it has the same effect as putting your eyes close to an
impressionist painting and slowly backing up. What I appreciated most about Fur is that it
claims in its subtitle to be an "imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus." Shainberg himself said
before the film that the story was teased out of the essence of Arbus rather than actual
events and people. That's the way to do a biopic, I say. A slavish commitment to history
and the subject's personality results in formula, not invention. Fur is, thankfully, a complete
and engaging invention. It's in limited release Nov. 10.