Day: March 5, 2022

10:20 pm update: Among SBIFF journos there’s always a kind of competition among SBIFF “Virtuosos”, the idea being to choose who’s scored the highest in terms of charisma, wit, spunk, humor and general likableness.

The hands-down winner of the 2022 Virtuoso panel was Red Rocket’s Simon Rex — no question. The audience loved him. The first and second runners-up were CODA’s Troy Kotsur and West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose. Kudos to the other five, but this is what happened.

Earlier: SBIFF’s Night of the Virtuosos is happening as we speak. Dave Karger is moderating, of course, and the eight honorees are Licorice Pizza’s Alana Haim, West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose, Red Rocket‘s Simon Rex, Belfast ‘s Ciaran Hinds and Catriana Balfe, CODA’s Emilia Jones and Troy Kotsur, and King Richard ‘s Soniyya Sidney. (Belfast’s Jamie Dornan couldn’t make it.)

I had somehow ignored the anecdotal fact that Jones, CODA’s struggling protagonist, is British.

I can hear everyone perfectly from my fourth-row seat…no feedback or echo to speak of. Hats off to SBIFF’s tech crew. (Roger Durling informs that they re-booted the sound controls three or four hours ago, partly because I’d briefly complained about the boom-echo thing.)

Congrats to King Richard‘s Pamela Martin by the way, for snagging the top ACE Eddie award (Drama) earlier this evening. Another setback for The Power of the Dog, of course, but otherwise how meaningful is this?

We’ve all been watching Ukrainian citizens going through absolute hell — people of all ages but especially women and the elderly in shock, sobbing, stumbling around, tears streaming down their cheeks….reports of young children being killed, bomb craters, streets littered with shards of destruction, apartment buildings destroyed, homes burning…

This is not about Americans but my God, have CNN viewers ever witnessed such carnage and terror this vividly?…such a steady barrage, and so immediate.

And it’s going to get worse…much worse for so many…God help them all. The brave and heroic Volodymyr Zelensky, God forbid, might be killed. A name-brand CNN or BBC or SkyNews reporter might catch shrapnel or a bullet in the neck. Broadcast-wise, there’s never been this level of horror delivered this constantly…hour after after, day after day. Yes, it’s just “televised coverage” but my God, it’s devastating. In some ways I feel as if I’m almost there. In spirit I certainly am.

Death to Vladimir Putin…never has the phrase “terminate with extreme prejudice” sounded so apt, so justified, so longed for.

Anne “softball” Thompson is moderating this year’s SBIFF “It Starts With The Script” panel — (l. to r.) King Richard writer Zach Baylin, Belfast director-writer Kenneth Branagh, The Lost Daughter director-writer Maggie Gyllenhaal, CODA director–writer Sian Heder, Don’t Look Up director & co-writer Adam McKay, Dune director & co–writer Denis Villeneuve, The Worst Person in the World director & co-writer Joachim Trier.

It’s happening inside the cavernous Arlington theatre. The usual venue, Santa Barbara’s Lobero theatre, is allegedly being renovated.

The acoustics aren’t right again, or at least they aren’t from my front-row center seat — everyone sounds bassy and echo-y — I haven’t been able to make out a single thought or phrase. I’m sure that a properly mixed video of this panel will be much easier to understand.

McKay doesn’t like to sit up — he prefers to slump with his head resting against the seat. I’m told he suffers from a condition — essential tremors — that prohibits him from normal sitting. The large SBIFF panel chairs were used to accommodate him.

If I were moderating, I would ask Baylin how he, a white guy, managed to write such a frank, absorbing, real-deal script about a black family from Compton? How could he have possibly understood or dramatically translated the story of the Williams family, given his privileged white-guy sensibilities? It’s a facetious question, of course, but I’m sure it came up during King Richards’ hiring phase and/or development.

Oh, and by the way: Thompson is wearing plain black slacks or jeans (relaxed fit), but Gyllenhaal and Heder have both submitted to the fashionista fascists by wearing broadly flared slacks (Gyllenhaal’s outfit is earthy copper, Heder’s is light brown corduroy).

I was astonished when Warner Bros. announced that Matt Reeves would direct yet another Batman film…post-Nolan trilogy, post Schumacher, post-Burton. And yet it turned out pretty well — The Batman is a grand symphony of gloom, and all of a harmonized piece. For those who’ve seen it (and those who haven’t), which of the many Batman films stands the tallest? And how good, really, is Colin Farrell’s Penguin?

Please point out any scene in any 2021 film about any kind of romantic or professional conflict that favorably compares to this one.

What is this scene mainly about? Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) is angry about her inability to transcend or otherwise work past her limitations as a writer, along with the suffocating sexism that was par for the course back then. Plus she feels overshadowed by the more gifted and energetic John Reed (Warren Beatty), and so she mostly blames Reed. Naturally.

The writing (Trevor Griffith) is flawless; ditto the acting. Beatty-the-actor is always marvelous when he gets angry. Remember the “bark like a dog” scene in Bugsy?

Kristen Stewart night at the Arlington, 15 or 20 minutes before the show began. Masks are no longer mandatory in California, but the SBIFF greeting staff was asking everyone to wear them anyway…fine. I put mine on, smiled at the ushers and walked into the cavernous theatre.

Ten minutes later I was sitting in my usual third-row aisle seat with my mask off, in line with standard protocol (masks worn standing but not sitting). A lean, white-haired provocateur in a plaid jacket (one of the swells who always wait until just before showtime to arrive) came over, did a theatrical double-take and said, “I was just wondering why everyone is wearing masks except you.”

That wasn’t true, in fact — several people sitting in our immediate vicinity (including Charlize Theron, two rows away) weren’t wearing them.

HE reply (calmly): “I’m not wearing my mask for the same reason that sitting restaurant patrons don’t wear them. Plus the CDC says they’re no longer mandatory.”

White-haired guy: “But this is a private event and the festival has asked everyone to wear them.”

HE: “Unless you’re sitting down. Or unless you’re Charlize Theron or Kristen Stewart or Roger Durling or Anne Thompson. Or unless you’re invited to the after-party.”

White-haired guy (leaning over to inspect my press badge): “But but but….”

HE: “Look, I’m not a mask dilletante. I’ve been masking for two years and I’m triple vaxxed, but the mandatory mask stuff is basically over.”

White-haired guy: “You may not be a dilletante, but you might be a jerk.”

HE: “Okay, I’m a jerk.”