2008 Program guide - Victoria Film Festival

WORLD PERSPECTIVE
36
HOLLYWOOD DREAMS THE WALKER
DIRECTOR: HENRY JAGLOM
USA
2007 100 MINUTES 35MM
PRODUCER: ROSEMARY MARKS-CARR
WRITER: HENRY JAGLOM
From critically acclaimed director Henry Jaglom comes Hollywood
Dreams, an inside look at the nature and façade of fame in Hollywood.
With one of the most neurotic and manic performances on screen
since Gena Rowlands starred in A Woman Under The Infl uence,
Tanna Frederick plays aspiring starlet Margie Chisek. Margie’s
unapologetic social climbing pays immediate dividends when she is
taken under the wing of Hollywood producer Kaz and his partner
Caesar (a magnifi cent, at times tortured, performance by David
Proval). Tanna enters their world like a hurricane, and in the process
meets gay Hollywood icon Robin (Justin Kirk, Weeds). She falls for this
unattainable object, although not everything is as it seems.
Tanna Frederick gives a stunning performance in her fi rst leading role.
Her discomfort with her surroundings is parlayed to the audience,
to truly exceptional cinematic effect. At the same time, she ably slips
into any situation in order to achieve her goals of making it to the top
of the Hollywood pecking order. With a supporting cast of Seymour
Cassel, Eric Roberts, Proval, Kirk, and Karen Black, Hollywood Dreams
is a magnifi cent portrayal of the Hollywood star-making machine.
Jaglom’s honest writing and his characters’ half-hearted deceptions
make this one of the fi nest inside looks at Hollywood and the people
who populate tinseltown since Altman’s The Player.
Saturday • February 2 • Capitol 6 - 1 • 12:15 PM
DIRECTOR: PAUL SCHRADER
USA / UK
2007 107 MINUTES 35MM
PRODUCER: DEEPAK NAYAR
WRITER: PAUL SCHRADER
PRINT: COURTESY OF THINKFILM
Embarking on his 1993 adaptation of The Age of Innocence, Scorsese
insisted that the tea-set terrain of Edith Wharton was really just as
vicious as the badlands of GoodFellas, the only difference being that
they killed you with a smile as opposed to a gun. You get a similar
impression from The Walker’s reactionary Washington backdrop.
Society ladies have very busy husbands and very busy schedules. So
sometimes a gentleman of taste, distinction and proper breeding
who poses no romantic threat is called on to accompany the rich and
powerful to must-attend events. Witty conversationalists, snappy
dressers and etiquette snobs, these “walkers” have old-fashioned
scruples – which, in the case of Carter Page III (Woody Harrelson), lead
to an accusation of murder and the potential ruin of his family’s honour.
Page, all southern-gentry drawl, surrounds himself with the smartest
women of a certain age, who are themselves married to the most
powerful men in Washington, D.C. Natalie Van Miter (Lauren Bacall),
Abigail Delorean (Lily Tomlin) and Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas)
protect and scold him at weekly card games and various parties.
However, Page’s idle life is thrown into turmoil when Lockner fi nds her
lover stabbed to death. The chivalrous Page agrees to report the murder.
In this whirl of backslapping cocktail receptions and rapier-duel canasta
parties, the weak and vulnerable are always doomed to fl ounder.
Thursday • February 7 • Caprice • 7:15 PM
Saturday • February 9 • Capitol 6 - 6 • 2:15 PM