November 19, 2005
Buddy Film Day at the Denver Film Festival
I spent the afternoon viewing two very different buddy films at the Denver Starz Film Festival, The Matador and Backseat, both very good. Before I get into the movies, I've got to say how great it is to have a very real film festival in Denver. There were few open seats and plenty of discussion happening in the halways, no doubt instigated by great Q&A sessions after most films with either actors/directors/writers that were surprisingly active for group discussions. I will be planning to spend a lot more time at next year's festival!
As for the movies, the main life blood of any good buddy film is in the interaction between the characters, and the actors who play them. I would say that both films did a solid job here, in very different ways.
The Matador
I'd forgotten what a great actor Greg Kinnear is. This movie is clearly a vehicle to allow Pierce Brosnan to stretch out of the Bond/Remington Steele persona, which he does admirably, but Kinnear continued to steal scene after scene of this movie playing the every-man down on his luck against Brosnan's vagabond. Like most great friendships, theirs is built over a moment of complete trust and honesty that happens at the end of a mysterious night in Mexico City.
In the Q&A with the writer/director Richard Shepard afterward, he revealed that the script was sent to Brosnan as a proof of writing for Shepard to pen the sequel to the Thomas Crown Affair, when in his words "I was doing what any unemployed writer does at 4pm, watching Oprah in my underwear" when Brosnan called and stating that he wanted to do the film.
Inspired Rating: Fun. I had a good time, and some good laughs, but watching the interaction between Kinnear and Brosnan really was the candy for this movie.
Backseat
The most revealing piece of the Q&A was to find out that the writer/actor Josh Alexander had penned himself as the role of self-reperessed Ben with good friend Rob Bogue playing his free-wheeling counterpart Colton, but on the first day of readings the director Bruce Van Dusen switched the entrenched actors, which proved the right thing to do.
Inspired Rating: Quirky. I really enjoyed parts of this film and it definitley fits the indie mold, but it just didn't engage like other really good low-budget films can (El Mariachi, Clerks, etc.). Worth a rental if you really like buddy films, otherwise let it ride.
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