London Film Festival - Infamous, Who Loves the Sun, Shut Up & Sing
As the 50th London Film Festival begins today, here's a third update from Suchandrika Chakrabarti, with previews of Infamous, a Truman Capote biopic, Who Loves the Sun, a Canadian indie feature and Shut Up & Sing, a Dixie Chicks documentary.
Infamous (dir. Douglas McGrath, USA, 2006)
Brit Toby Jones gives the Oscar-winning Philip Seymour Hoffman a run for his money in this very different telling of Truman Capote's close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, which formed the basis of his famous crime study, In Cold Blood.
Compared with the title character in Capote, this Truman is a much softer, more sympathetic character, whose affection for the condemned Smith seems more genuine.
The contrast between Capote's charmed circle of friends - including such contemporary luminaries as Babe Paley, Diana Vreeland and Harper Lee - and the violent existences of Smith and Hickock is marked. Little is left to the imagination here - from intimate details of Capote and Smith's affair to their fights and then the eventual executions of the two criminals.
Even if you have seen Capote, it's worth taking a look at how facts can be fictionalised and interpreted in a different way... Truman would be proud.
Who Loves the Sun (dir. Matt Bissonnette, Canada, 2006)
Bissonnette's first feature, Looking for Leonard (2002),dealt with mistaken identity, guilt and the huge consequences of seemingly small actions.
These themes are developed further in Who Loves the Sun, which portrays the fallout that occurs when a missing man returns home.
Will walked out of his life five years before the film's start, and returns home to those who had thought him lost forever, with only a manuscript to show for his time away. In his absence, his friend Daniel has achieved fame with his own novel, a tale of a love triangle. It becomes apparent that the fiction is based on reality, involving the two men and Will's wife Maggie Claire. Further to this, Will knew, and that is why he disappeared. Who knows why he has come back?
A slow-moving film which will draw you in and make you care about the characters and their messily intertwined lives.
Shut Up & Sing (Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck, USA, 2006)
Admit it. You had not heard of the Dixie Chicks until they endeared themselves to the entire nation with this comment at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in 2003: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
That's probably the nicest thing that lead singer Natalie Maines says about the 43rd President of the United States throughout the film; and "Shut up and sing" is definitely the kindest response that she and her fellow Chicks receive.
The comment initially seemed to halt their career: in 2003, Bush's approval rating was at an all-time high and the Chicks' country & western lovin' fans fell largely into the right-wing, pro-war camp.
There are scenes showing shocked American front pages, mass CD-stamping and radio stations boycotting the highly successful band because of fear of retribution. That's all before we get to the the death threats from a Texan man, who Natalie thinks is "kind of cute" - for someone who wants to shoot her.
Fast-forward to 2005 and it looks like Bush isn't quite so popular anymore. The Chicks have found a new demographic to warble to, and countries in which they were previously little-known - including this one - are vanquished by their all-singing, all-banjoing power.
A hilarious, Brit-friendly (the audience applauded enthusiastically whenever Bush was called, well, rude things) study of how dissing a generally-mocked leader can up your sales. Take note.