Rendition on the horizon

There's no doubt that it's been an exciting time over the last few days - well, the last month - for all Jake fans and the indications are that it will just keep getting better as 2007 progresses. Zodiac is still in the cinemas of much of the world, doing its best as the only non-franchise movie against the likes of Oceans 13, Pirates 3 and Spidey 3, but now Rendition, Jake Gyllenhaal's next project (at least on screen), is just beginning to show above the horizon.


We all remember the agony and frustration of the repeated delays that dogged Zodiac's release, not to mention the exasperating lack of information, but it looks like we could be rewarded with Rendition. Rendition, directed by Gavin Hood, hasn't been delayed but, on the contrary, it's been brought forward in both the US and the UK to October 12 this year (although, for some unexplained reason, Canada has to wait for another two months). Not only that, the production and post-production have progressed so smoothly and, one would think, to schedule, that advance screenings are underway and, judging by an account at imdb of one such screening, it looks like only minmal 'tweaking' will be necessary.


This is what the lucky viewer had to say yesterday: "Rendition is a very solid film with strong performances and direction, a taut script, and great cinematography and locations. Some scenes can be hard to watch, but the various intertwining storylines pay off and are well edited, and the movie runs on a steady pace. Definitely a possible Oscar contender. The audience seemed to like the movie quite a lot when they gave it a good round of applause at the end. This version of the movie was pretty much in the final stages in terms of editing, etc., and certainly there will be some fine tuning going on."

Rendition is not necessarily going to be an easy film to watch - the practice of rendition has been in the news in recent days, particularly concerning the existence and movements of 'torture planes' and the disappearance of individuals, now countryless non-citizens, who have no recourse to justice. So topical and controversial Rendition will be, and it will make us think. Here is more information about the film's story and characters, including Jake's role as Douglas Freeman, the National Security Agent based in Cairo who faces a crisis of conscience.


At the moment, one can only speculate about the reasons for Renditon's new release date. Does it, for instance, have anything to do with the film festivals of Venice, Toronto and Vancouver? It looks like the promotion will be well underway at the New York Film Festival, where New Line Cinema, the makers of Rendition, will be celebrating 40 tears of cinema at Lincoln Center's Theater on October 5 - Jake, along with other members of Rendition's starry and award-winning cast, is expected. And after the news of today, one can only speculate on what else Jake may be doing in NYC in October.


Pictures from IHJ and RealMovieNews.