The Village Voice‘s Jim Hoberman has called Steven Soderbergh‘s Che a “single-minded meditation on the practice of guerrilla warfare, the creation of militant superstardom, and the nature of objective camera work[that] is at once visceral and intellectual, sumptuous and painful, boldly simplified and massively detailed.
“Despite this, as well as a commendable performance by Benicio Del Toro, Che may require its own miracle — or at least a few angels — to reach an audience in the form Soderbergh intended. While the first half could certainly be tightened, the movie demands to take its time and be taken in at a single sitting. One can only hope that the world beyond Cannes will get the opportunity to do so at something approaching the original running time.”
One thing discussed yesterday about Che‘s chance of winning the Palme d’Or (but which I didn’t mention in my same-day riff about same) is that everyone on the jury knows that Che, in part because certain humbuggers are saying it’s not releasable in the U.S. in its current form, really needs the Palme d’Or to give it a psychological leg up. Which is why I suspect they’ll act accordingly.