Earlier today I arose at 6 am to catch an 8:30 am screening of Olivier Assayas‘s eloquently written, intriguingly acted The Wizard of the Kremlin, a sprawling historical film which I was wholly taken with despite its 156-minute length. Paul Dano stars as influential Kremlin counsel and Vladimir Putin spin doctor Vadim Baranov, a semi-fictional character who’s largely based upon the still living Vladislav Surkov.
I was especially impressed by Jude Law‘s supporting performance as Putin. A critic friend sneered that it’s basically a TV movie — a view I sharply disagree with. My review will run this evening or early tomorrow…whichever.
Tonight I’ll be catching Mona Fastvold‘s The Testament of Ann Lee, a historical musical about the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect with songbird Amanda Seyfried in the lead role. It screens at at 7:15 pm. I might as well be honest and admit I’m scared to death of submitting to this 130-minute film, mainly because HE nemesis Brady Corbet co-wrote the script with Fastvold, his wife.
The final film of the day will be Alexandre O. Philipe‘s Kim Novak’s Vertigo, which press-screens at 10 pm.
Incidentally: A restored version of Joseph L. Mankiewicz‘s House of Strangers will screen at the Venice Film Festival on 9.2 and 9.3 (Tuesday and Wednesday). Until reading about this on the festival site, I’d honestly never even heard of this 1949 release. All due respect for the great Joseph L., but I’m presuming it’s a stiff.