The Wild Ones
Last week's death of Marlon Brando had some people comparing him to Orson Welles. Usually it was to chart their career trajectories from early successes to self-indulgent messes, but I like them both as much for what they became as where they came from. In a sense, they treated their late careers like artists would, at times self-indulgent but always looking to do new and interesting things. Welles became famous for a string of unfinished movies, but even his last finished feature, F for Fake, has a playful quality and raises cutting-edge questions about the truth and fiction of "documentaries" long before Michael Moore's deployment of the cinematic op-ed piece. As for Brando, people loved working with him even in his later insane years, even when he cultivated a reputation of being a "difficult" actor. Not just Johnny Depp, either. I've heard that director John Frankenheimer loved working with him on The Island of Dr. Moreau, despite the fact that the movie ended up a crazy mess. No matter what he did off-set (like calling Frank Oz "Miss Piggy," or allegedly walking around certain sets bottomless), his onscreen presence was always magnetic, and if his performances took you out of the pictures, that was usually because the movies themselves were less than magnetic. I'm going to miss Brando's appearances in the movies, and now want to see him in Johnny Depp's little-seen film The Brave even more.
On a more local level, those who were wondering if Warren Etheredge heard my cry to get press releases for his "Distinguishing Features" and "Shooting Scripts" series before my press time, I'm happy to report that he has. In fact, Monday's script reading at On the Boards (7 pm, FREE) is the most exciting thing happening this week. The script for See How We Are is described as a romantic thriller, but what raises this event to "must-see" levels is the fact that it's written by Gregory Widen. Aside from writing the semi-autobiographical Backdraft for Ron Howard, he created the worlds of Highlander and The Prophecy. What has he been doing since then? Aside from a little bit of television and cashing checks for the sequels to those movies, it's hard to say. Oh, and he wrote this script. Heck, he'll even be there to receive feedback and answer questions.
On Saturday, Warren's Distinguishing Features series is screening Fix: The Story of an Addicted City at the Seattle Art Museum. Set in Vancouver, BC, it takes the political hot-button issue of finding safe places for addicts to shoot up in, and finds within it a story of love and politics. Apparently it won a Genie (Canada's Oscar) for Best Documentary. Then on Sunday at SAM, the Seattle Film Institute--an organization that runs classes for filmmakers--is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a screening of Garrett Bennett's charming local feature A Relative Thing, along with a sampling of a decade's worth of student work.
