The Culture Show, Rendition, Cover boy Jake and Donnie's opening night

The Culture Show

I'm afraid it was a case of blink and you'll miss it but, nevertheless, Jake Gyllenhaal's brief interview on The Culture Show was part of a deeply personal and honest assessment of the recent spate of Hollywood movies on the war on terror by someone who has suffered its consequences. Frank Gardner began by discussing Tom Cruise's Collatoral in which there is a scene where a gunshot is followed by the sound of metal (the case) falling to the ground. Frank watched that scene repeatedly so that he could numb himself to the sound that he remembered from his own shooting in 2005.


Rendition was discussed alongside Lions for Lambs (Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise) and The Kingdom (Jamie Foxx). While the interview was being set up, we saw Frank introducing himself to Jake as someone who is not a film critic but instead a man who has reported on the war in Iraq and on terrorism and paid a price for it. The admiration on Jake's face spoke many words before we were shown a brief interview. In this, Jake discussed the scene between Peter Sarsgaard and Meryl Streep and said that we are now all part of an international community with the responsibilities that brings. We hope to bring you the clip of this tomorrow evening but it was woefully brief. Hopefully, it was long enough to get more people to see a film about something that, as Frank Gardner says, is actually happening.

Incidentally, The Culture Show included an interview with Cate Blanchett who not only talked about Elizabeth, but also about I'm Not There, which stars Heath Ledger as one of Bob Dylan's incarnations. It was good to see a clip of a film I can't wait to see.


Rendition screening and reviews

I saw Rendition again today as part of a very appreciative audience as far as I could tell - there were even laughs in the right places and gasps and tears where they should be. The exception was a man behind me who told his astonished wife that he hadn't enjoyed the film because it was 'serious'.


The other day I posted a link to a video in which Gavin Hood was interviewed by an attourney working for ACLU who represents victims of rendition. ACLU's support of Rendition continues with a special screening taking place on 1 November, hosted by Screening Liberally and ACLU, after which there 'will be a fascinating discussion on the realities of "extraordinary rendition," the current lawsuit being brought against Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., in San Jose, CA, and the role of art in depicting current politics.' It's not clear where the event is taking place, but I suspect San Francisco.


Rendition's reviews have been decidedly mixed as we know, and covering everything from two to five stars. A review I saw today in the Truro Daily News falls very much into the five star category. In fact, the reviewer hails Rendition as one of the best films she has ever seen. Jen Johnston has this to say about Jake: 'Gyllenhaal is the master of body language, able to communicate volumes without saying a word. (There are moments where, simply by pacing down a hall, he brings out a character who is wound tighter than a spring. His haunted eyes are mesmerizing. His outer shell of machismo exquisitely covers a man desperately unsure of himself. Gyllenhaal executes some enchanting attempts at uncomfortable humour, lightening some of the movie’s darker moments. As Douglas, Gyllenhaal perfectly underplays reactions to extreme circumstances, making the moments where he explodes all the more compelling. His moments of guilt and emotional pain are absolutely heartbreaking. As Douglas, Gyllenhaal is cool, calm, and commanding. He blew me away.'

Jen sums it up by saying: 'However, parents and older teens will have a terrific time at Rendition. It’s intelligent, well written and complex without being convoluted. The subplots are fascinating, the minor characters captivating. The leads performances are Oscar calibre. Rendition is intense, the finale thrilling. It is a literal nail biter of a film and not to be missed. It’s easily one of the best films of the year.'


Jake in Fabric magazine for October

Thans to IHJ for alerting us today that Jake is the cover boy of the London property magazine Fabric. Interestingly, that's an old picture on the cover, so I'm intrigued to see what the interview is about. The challenge is now on to find a copy.


Donnie Darko on the stage

Tonight is the opening night for the stage version of Donnie Darko in Cambridge, near Boston. This is a production I personally would never wish to see for at least one obvious reason. However, you may be interested to read an interview with the person responsible, Marcus Stern, who speaks here with great admiration for the film. He also comments on how surprised he was that everyone recognised Frank the Rabbit when publicity photos were taken outside the theatre. Stern sums up: 'What we're doing is a very faithful rendition of the film; it's a really great film and we're trying to bring that to the stage. We're not trying to do some interpretation or take on the film, we're trying to honor this killer story, killer event.'


Includes pictures from IHJ and Fabric.