Review: "Burn after Reading" by Joel and Ethan Coen

Ali and I saw the Coen brothers' "Burn after Reading" last Thursday night in the open-air cinema at Campo San Polo. The venue was filled to capacity - that being about 700 people - of which I'd be interested to know how many were Italian and how many Venetian residents. The majority of films in the competition are only shown for two days (some for three days) and "Burn after Reading" had already been shown the previous night, to open the festival, so this was the last opportunity to see it until release which will happen in the US in a couple of weeks. Accordingly there was a long long line of people waiting for tickets, but that line could be avoided by buying an abbonamento for 6 tickets (total price 30 euros). The line had started forming about 6pm for the 7.30 opening of the ticket office to the 9pm film screening, so the abbonamento was a great idea and we could have a pizza between getting the ticket and watching the film.

The film centres around Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand who work in a gym as an airhead sports-junky personal trainer and single, body-image obsessed public relations officer, respectively. Things go wrong for the two when they discover the memoirs of ex-CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich, disturbing as ever) and see that as the way to money and elective surgery. Well, "things go wrong" is a subjective concept in a Coen Brothers' film, since being in the film in the first place means your character will probably end up dead, like the statistically ill-fated Star Trek ensign. The two attempt to blackmail the CIA agent, then resort to even more desperate and hilarious gambits as things go steadily pearshaped. Frances McDormand is great as the Coens' archetypal protagonist, singlemindedly pursuing her objective of destructive surgery. Brad Pitt owns the screen with pure charisma, playing the airhead with panache and boundful energy.

A dash of "Intolerable Cruelty" is brought about with the converging plotline of Malkovich, his adulterous, bitchy GP wife (Tilda Swinton), a compulsively-cheating retired secret service agent (George Clooney) with whom Swinton is having the affair, and his wife who writes childrens' books (Elizabeth Marvel) - her month-long book tour allows Clooney's character plenty of time for infidelity. Divorces, fights, lawyers and financial double-crosses ensue in the hilarious yet disturbing Coens' style.

The Coens' film noir leaves me always thinking about guilt, blame, circumstance - there's usually an innocent or two in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like an experiment in natural selection - the innocent, the compulsive, the corrupted all go without judgement. All of that is balanced by the Coens' skill in crafting a compelling and at times hilarious story. Even if you are left emotionally destroyed, unable to sleep and cogitating pointlessly, you are still warmed by the experience of watching such artful filmmakers do what they do best.

There is one more external narrative to the film, which I won't go into. You'll find out about it when you see it - and enjoy it.

Venice film fest part 1

The 65th Venice film festival (Mostra internazionale d'arte cinematografica) landed on Tuesday, meaning that film industry blow-ins, a couple of overpaid ad-men and a lot of jaded paparazzi get to enjoy the venice humidity between their hotel rooms and their restaurants. Did I mention the jaded blow-in residents?

First rule of enjoying the film festival is to remember that this is Italy - in a country dedicated to appearances, you're nobody. So today we went and visited the palazzo del cinema - waste of time. Great to see that the building does actually get used for two weeks of the year, because it's boarded up, closed for the other 50 weeks. Forget about going there to watch a movie (or even a film with subtitles) any other time because it's closed, because you're nobody and the subjects of Loreal ads are elsewhere. On a Sunday, there's not much to do there other than buy a "mostra" logo-ed beach towel or cloth bag or get something from the bar. The usual posters and stands by Loreal and Lancia saying "go away" and plenty of security to reinforce the feeling. The best thing you can do is write a little comment on a piece of paper and have it posted on a marquee - some of them are very apt, like the once that had a group of stickpeople at the entrance of the mostra saying "vaffanculo troppo caro".

So it seems to me that the mostra is the quintissential experience of Italian style over substance. Where Italy once had a groundbreaking, vibrant and truly innovative and meaningful film industry it now has dreadful placement-laden films filled with recycled face-lifted tv stars and mouthless bimbos, in cineplexes that show nothing challenging or inspiring. Perhaps the apex of this disregard to film culture is the dubbed film - why is it so threatening to show films in their original language and add subtitles? Why is it so difficult to show films in english, or with english subtitles, in a city so given over to tourism as Venice? Why is the palazzo del cinema so criminally underused as to be left empty for 50 weeks of the year, when on Thursday night over 700 people turned up to Campo San Polo to see the Coen Brothers' "Burn after reading" in english? For the city that has hosted an international film festival for the past 65 years, isn't it incongruous that there's only one cinema in the town, and no films screened with subtitles? How does the Italian film culture rejuvenate itself if there are so little opportunities for the public to see and enjoy films? Why are the cinemas treated as little more than viewing rooms, lacking couches, information, cafes, events...The stunning contrast between the availability, activity, patronage and enjoyability of cinemas between Australia and Italy mirrors the culture you find in those countries' film culture and filmmaking.

I think Ali has a similar gripe about the swimming pools...it might be argued that if Italy opened its swimming pools for the other 9 business hours of the day, then maybe there would be more Italian swimmers at the top of sport. Maybe if Venice opened its film palazzo for the other 50 weeks of the year, it would be a good start toward making exciting films again.

Holidays holidays holidays holidays....and more holidays! The last couple of months have been pretty busy with so much holidaying and "relaxing myself" (one of my favourite incorrect italian - english translations made by my students) and even "making my skin brown" by "taking the sun". Ahhh yes. Respect to all my students for helping me understand how to have a fantastic holiday Italian style!

So, a cunning plan concocted by Paul and myself some time ago was to ship me off to his relatives on the eastern coast of Italy to a town called San Salvo in a region called Abruzzo for some intensive Italian speaking, eating and tanning. So I went to stay with the lovely Anna-Maria and family for the first week of August and I believe I achieved all three goals.....yes, I even obtained a luke-warm tan.

I was very grateful to receive such warm hospitality and my own personal guide, Andrea, the youngest son, who had returned from university for the summer holidays. I easily slotted into his holiday lifestyle for the six days of my visit. Get-up when you wake-up, watch the Italian MTV channel over breakfast, go to the beach, lie in the sun, go for a swim, lie in the sun some more, go for a walk, go back home for the family lunch, have a siesta, get-up when you wake-up, go back to the beach.....as above.....then go back for the family dinner, go for a walk or go back to the beach bars for a drink, go home to sleep, get-up when you wake up, go to the beach....etc. etc.

It was interesting to partake in the Italian beach culture which to me, is quite different from the Australian culture. It seems like a much more ritualistic activity in Italy invovling being beautiful, renting a spot on one of the privately owned sectons of the beach (you rent an umbrella and beach bed for a month or two which remains your exclusive spot for the whole of summer if you want), and finally, being beautiful. There is then much concern with tanning - even little children have tans which can be a bit confronting for a pale-skinned aussie like myself coming from a culture obsessed with avoiding skin cancer. No baggy tee-shirts or one-piece bathing costumes for any female under the age of 50 to be found. My bathing shorts must have been a humourous talking point for those on the front row.

The Adriatic sea is completely calm given it's sheltered position so no body-surfing, boogie boarding etc. My surfing dreams are unfortunately yet to be realised ;) It was of no surprise then that the translation of "I'm going to have a swim" is "faccio un bagno" - the direct english translation being "I'm making a bath". So anyway, I got right into making my baths and making my walks. I even "made" a shower of two at home.

So we spent a lot of time umbrella-hopping....Andrea was well connected down on the beach so we had a choice each day of people's spots that we could crash. I did get a little tired of pop music being blasted out of speakers onto the beach and the circling advertising cars blaring out messages about pizzas etc. Gave me a strange feeling of being exposed to propoganda messages circa WW2 but Paul and I don't know where this association comes from....can't recall being around for WW2.....maybe it was a film?

What else? The food was amazing of course, including my first porchetta party experience with an entire roasted pig.

I also had a fantastic trip out to the tremiti islands with Andrea where we took a boat around the islands into caves and dived off at a secluded spot with perfectly clear water. However the highlight was returning to the mainland 10 hours later to discover that what was once a carpark when we left had been transformed into a market.....with Andrea's car now right in the middle of it! Damn these agriculturalist, cottage-industrial, impromtu, keepin' it local-style Italians! We sheepishly appologised to the stall owners before making a quick getaway down the middle.

All in all, a fantastic experience and I'm looking forward to my next trip down south!