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This is a rather large Cinemascope film for
this file but fits because it was filmed entirely in St. Paul, MN with
the help of the MN film community (after I had moved back to VA) and is
on one of the “indie” labels. Robert Altman has an all star veteran cast
and the film is somewhat simpler than most of his earlier efforts. The
story is simple: Garrison Keillor ("Lake Wobegon") is hosting his last
radio broadcast (the look of the film is early 1970s, given the pay
phones, permitted smoking, etc. – in those days St Paul had a place
called the Noble Roman) in a building that looks like the Orpheum
Theater in St Paul on the main park. I used to hear his famous
broadcasts (for which this film is named) on Saturday afternoons,
sometimes at a friend’s house in Roseville. Keillor makes good word
salad, with inventive jokes and memories of simple farm life with new
recipes of activity. There is no great pretense beyond pleasant life.
“Life is a struggle…. We are a dark people,” he says of Minnesotans.
Kevin Kline plays the “private detective” as the film opens at Mickey’s
Rail Car Diner, across the park—where I have eaten at least once. The
film will end there as the principles get together for an after show
repast (like I did at Applebee’s not too far away, near Hamline
University, after my lecture on crutches in 1998). Most of the film is
inside the theater, on lavish ornate sets, featuring entertaining
country and western numbers and entr’actes. There is a comedy CW routine
with punnish risqué humor “diarrhea is hereditary—it runs in the
genes”). There is odd Altman-like discussions – why would somebody major
in physics or chemistry but not philosophy – because you can’t put
Descartes before the horse! Philosophy as a major was a trendy idea
among some of my LPMN friends in Minnesota in the late 90s – I think I
heard that joke the night of my own lecture. So for me the movie is a
bit of déjà vu. But it gets better. An old codger is found dead of a
cardiac arrest, and nobody can do anything about it. Then the “Dangerous
Woman” (Virginia Madsen) appears and claims to be an Angel, and for all
we know, maybe she is. (Another one of my own screenplay ideas that I
have leaked out on this site!) At one point Guy Noir detective pays
homage to the fairer sex and pats a pregnant belly, even standing for,
and suggests giving up sex with the opposite sex. The cast also has
Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones (“Axeman”), Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin.
After the film, I was prepared to drive back to by old life in downtown
Minneapolis in that chummy apartment, but that life is gone.
The Ice Storm (1997, Fox Searchlight, dir. Ang Lee, 112 min, R)
was a spouse-swapping party that takes place in New Canaan, Conn.,
on a night where a real ice storm strikes and the results are
tragic. I’m not used to seeing people trade house keys like they do
in this movie. I don’t do that! The idea that sex is for
self-discovery and pleasure rather than for family commitment and
life transmission seems taken as far as it can go in this film,
which was quite a hit in the go-go late 90s. Times are a-tougher
now.
The Ice Harvest (2005, Focus, dir. Harold Ramos, 89 min, R) is
another slick little film based on goings on during an ice storm,
this time on Christmas eve in Wichita, Kansas. The rain freezes on
contact, all right, making a landscape that rivals Dallas on New
Years Day 1979. Indoors, Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) and bumpkin
partner Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) has embezzled two million
dollars, and they need to get it out of town. Pretty much a simple
plan. The sot Peter (Oliver Platt) makes a sidekick, and accomplice
Roy (Mike Starr) never shows his face. Eventually Charlie, Vic and
Roy wind up on a quay on a frozen pond (it ain’t Crater Lake in
Smallville) with Roy compressed in a trunk, a man falling into
the ice to drown, and all three shot. That scene is masterful, and
even reminds one of Blood Simple. This was Focus’s other
major Christmas release, almost on equal footing with Brokeback
until awards time. This little film should have gotten more
recognition. The DVD includes Bibbly Bob Thornton doing another
imitation of his speech (uh-huh) from "Sling Blade." The film was
apparently shot near Chicago, and it actually rained a lot even in
the winter when they filmed -- global warming.
The Devil’s Pond (2003, Artisan/Splendid, dir. Joel Viertel, 92
min, R) is a two-character drama reduced to essentials. Handsome
hunk Kip Pardue, usually a nice guy, still seems like one as he
plays a psychotic groom (Mitch) trying to trap his bride on a
honeymoon island in “Heaven’s Pond.” Julianne Olsen (Tara Reid) has
to outwit him. At one point Mitch says, “you’re not a real man until
you have a wife and family of your own.” Some people really believe
that. This little indie certainly makes a great point (as do some
soap operas) about how an appealing man can go awry when he believes
that family formation a mandatory prerequisite for manhood and
freedom.
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