The Player (Altman, 1992): Prince Charles Cinema, 3.15pm
This film is part of 'Movies on Movies' day at the Prince Charles. Details here.Time Out review:
Shrewd Hollywood exec Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) is already paranoid that a
rival may join the studio; but what of the anonymous postcards he's
getting from a scriptwriter whose pitch he hasn't followed up? Rattled
by the death threats, he decides (wrongly) that the likely sender is
David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio). But when Kahane is found dead after a meeting
with Mill and it becomes known that Mill is dating the writer's
ungrieving lover (Greta Scacchi), his troubles multiply... Robert Altman turns Michael Tolkin's
thriller into the most honest, hilarious Hollywood satire ever, even
persuading some 60 celebs to play themselves. Besides the superb
performances, photography, music and seamless blend of comedy and
tension, what's finally so special about the film is its form. Altman
refines his open, 'democratic' style of the '70s, to show an untidy
world from numerous shifting perspectives, yet the film is far from
chaotic. With its many movie references and film-within-a-film
structure, it's forever owning up to the fact that it's only a movie.
Only? Were more films as complex and revealing about people, society and
the way we watch and think about films, today's Hollywood product would
be far more interesting than it is.
Geoff Andrew
Here (and above) is the trailer.
No comments:
Post a Comment