Only two movies today so I was finally able to catch up on a little bit of
sleep. I don't know that it actually helped though.
Through a bit of wheeling and dealing, and a long wait list wait I wash
able to change my plans and see "Masked and Anonymous."
I like to call this genre of both novel and movies "a week from
Thursday," since it takes place in one of the many possible near futures.
This was one of the big premiers, and stars (in alphabetical order) Jeff
Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Bob Dylan, John Goodman, Jessica Lange and Luke
Wilson and a truckload of other performers whom you will recognize (keep an
eye out for Ed Harris).
Uncle Sweetheart (Goodman) and Nina Veronica (Lange) are arranging a
benefit concert for victims of the war. But the network has given them a
limited budget to work with and they cannot get any name rock stars, so
Sweetheart bails to a come and gone performer, Jack Fate (Dylan) out of
prison.
Reporter Tom Friend (Bridges) is on the verge of being fired or quitting,
whichever comes first, when his editor assigns him to cover the benefit, or
uncover what is behind it. The only reason he agrees is because of Fate.
Though the interview with Fate immediately turns into badgering about the
past.
A lot of mysteries about Fate are revealed in flashbacks and things which
are only explained later in the film (such as why he has the President's
direct phone number).
If premieres are eligible for awards, this should get one for writing.
The dialog is unnatural and tight and has a strangely compelling quality I
can't quite pin down.
Visually this movie has a disturbing edge, there are broken watches,
barbed wire, homeless people with wonderful faces and armed soldiers,
revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries on every street corner.
The acting, the music, the ... I think I'll stop raving now, but I plan
to see it again when it is released.
This would have been a perfect movie to grab someone to go have coffee
and sit around and discuss it for an hour or two, instead I went and saw
"Bollywood Queen."