May
21
Cannes: Che Meets Mixed Response
"A folly." "A mess." "Great." These words came from critics coming out of Steven Soderbergh's four-hour 18 minute Spanish-language Che Wednesday night. At the end there was slight applause; no boos. My own description: noble failure. Click here to read Todd McCarthy's review.
The global press corps jammed into the Debussy for the 6:30 PM screening. After two hours and nine minutes of The Argentine of the double feature, the press tucked into tasteless white-bread sandwiches in brown paper bags labeled "Che" and started dissecting part one. If you left the hall, you couldn't come back-- some took off. (After all, there was a major soccer match under way.) But many stayed for part two--which was even less dramatic.
Benecio del Toro gives a great performance, but Soderbergh's roving HD camera keeps its distance as Che trains guerillas in the jungle, leads his troops through various skirmishes and the takeover of Santa Clara, talks to TV interviewers and gives moving speeches at the U.N. The movie is well made and watchable. I was utterly inside it. I wasn't bored with the the first half, which offers plenty of narrative cut-backs and diversity; some periods are shot in black and white, some in color. There are ideas and dialogue galore.
But the second--which is also two hours and nine minutes--becomes a focused cinema verite account of Che's doomed adventures in Bolivia, the point of which becomes clear and inevitable. As my pal Larry Gross put it, the film is about "process." Soderbergh isn't interested in the things that compel moviegoers to engage with characters: drama, psychology, motivation. He doesn't dwell on the relationship between Che and Castro. He doesn't tell you how "Ernesto" turned into "Che." He doesn't share the inside of Che's relationship with the woman who becomes his second wife. He doesn't let you see the iconic photo being taken. He withholds the takeover of Havana.
Soderbergh didn't think he could finish the film in time for Cannes. Why don't these guys ever learn? Remember Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, Wong Kar Wai's 2046, Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny, and Edward Norton-starrer Down in the Valley? DON'T TAKE AN UNFINISHED MOVIE TO CANNES!!!! Wait. Give the film the time you need.
The good news: there is plenty of fine material here to be edited into one releasable long dramatic feature and hopefully French producer/sales co. Wild Bunch, which paid for 75 % of the $61 million film, and Telecinco, which came up with 25%, will give the filmmaker the time he needs to find this promising film's final form.
One thing is likely: it will not be released stateside as it was seen here. And it will not sell overnight--unless a distrib promises to help Soderbergh to find his movie. It seems that Peter Rice of Fox Searchlight, Daniel Battsek of Miramax and James Schamus of Focus knew that they didn't need to see Che before they left town.
UPDATE: I saw Harvey Weinstein after the screening at the Hotel du Cap; he says he neither placed a bid nor saw the movie in advance; he loved it and supports Soderbergh. Whether he will go after it is a matter on which he was not willing to comment.
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It sounds like he made a Stanley Kubrick film. Barry Lyndon mixed with Full Metal Jacket.
The movie is probably fine. It just wasn't what people were expecting. Not unlike The Good Shepherd.
Posted by: Edward Wilson | May 21, 2008 at 04:12 PM
Karma, Che, karma....
Posted by: kidkosmic | May 21, 2008 at 04:52 PM
thought the film brilliant and got a ten minute standing ovation at the evening screening, which is a notoriously tough audience!Maybe instead of saying what was missing--you want an eight hour movie--you should say what is there and how compelling it is!!
Posted by: sterno | May 21, 2008 at 04:56 PM
It looks like CHE is the victim of being over-hyped.... It also looked like "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" benefit from getting lower expectation....
Posted by: marychan | May 21, 2008 at 05:18 PM
I guess that price tag is too rich for Mark Cuban's day and date model, and I wonder if there's "plenty of fine material here to be edited into one releasable dramatic feature" is realistic -- it certainly wouldn't be expensive to give a couple of 5k a week editing doctors a simultaneous crack at it and see what they independently come up with.
Posted by: T. Holly | May 21, 2008 at 05:56 PM
What I really want to know is how in the hell did Soderburgh (who in my opinion has always been overrated) actually hypnotize...I mean... convince investors to put up $60 million for a film with absoutely NO commercial value whatsoever? I've got some screenplays that I would love to get financed.
Posted by: Sergio | May 21, 2008 at 08:13 PM
Though Edward Norton starred in DOWN IN THE VALLEY, it's worth noting that the movie was written and directed by David Jacobson.
Posted by: Griff | May 22, 2008 at 06:20 AM
We do know that Ernesto's metamorphosis into Che began with his motorcycle trip through South America. It will be innaresting to see if anyone picks this up for distribution in America - after all, he was a Communist! And all Communists! are evil! Besides that, we don't need to know anything more about them.
I mean, heck, the Cloverfield monster would get a better reception in Washington than Che even now.
I've always been curious about his relationship with his first and second wives, too, but I'll wager you won't find much us regular folks can relate to - that wasn't what his life was about. But perhaps Soderbergh should have made that obvious.
You didn't hate it, so I'm betting with some good carving, this film will do well in a million overseas markets where to many, Che remains a hero. Even if he was a Communist!
Posted by: mcQ | May 22, 2008 at 03:07 PM
Idiots like this are why Soderberg had a human obligation to include some of the less than heroic details he admits he was aware of and close to elide. But then, it's always more lucrative to pander to ignoramuses who put pictures of mass murderers on tee shirts.
Posted by: David C | May 23, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Gee David,
Feeling a little testy? Or is it esty?
Sometimes, interest in a historical figure and their thoughts and writings doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna run out and get the T-shirt and the mug.
(That Lynn Cheney tank top looks fabulous on you, btw!)
Something else you might consider is that many humans have dreadful characteristics co-existing with good ones right there in the same personality!
Hope your next post proves that theory.
Posted by: mcQ | May 23, 2008 at 01:43 PM