The DaVinci Code

[m.g.]

It will probably not change anything in terms of $, £ or €... but it's funny/interesting to know that the two first projections of the Da Vinci Code in Cannes festival were very badly received by press & critics...

[den]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBurnout

BTW - and this is the wrong thread - but if anyone felt like me "nice plot, shame about the Sun Reader prose", try Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. I am reading it at the moment (thanks for the tip, Lloyd) and it is eminently more satisfying to read something that is beautifully written, with strong, believable characters.

I second Foucault's Pendulum. I read that book while traveling around Europe, which made it even better. I specifically went to see the actual (recreation) pendulum at the Pantheon in Paris. I haven't read DaVinci Code, (maybe I should just see the movie ) but I feel that Foucault's Pendulum is the same idea except written ten years earlier and much more intellectual. It references so many historical facts in passing that I didn't understand at all. It's more about the idea of a conspiracy than the actual conspiracy itself. Great stuff, with a great ending. I'm currently slowly reading Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' per my brother's suggestion.

[ffolkes]

Originally Posted by grady

what is your brother doing at the festival? Is he working it or seeing films there? I'd love to be there and see a few films there myself.

he's doing both, actually.

his job is to buy movierights for a film distributor that he works for. i've heard that deals can go up to several hundreds of thousands of euros... the bidding gets quite crazy. the bigger the movie is (buzzwise) the higher the price naturally.

other than that he sees as much movies as possible during the festival, approximately six-seven per day. the company he works for focuses mostly on independent art-house films, so he sees a lot of stuff i've never even read about. it's quite taxing from what i've heard (tons of movies to see every day + tons of drinking in different parties) but he's not complaining... only worried that his liver will pop some day due to too much drinking, which seems to be mandatory there.

and when he's off from cannes there's other festivals to catch later on like milan, berlin, toronto etc. the bastard!


p.s. i'll try to see arrested development a bit better some day if i can.

[potatobroth]

ff, i gotcha now. ive actually not seen *any* ron howard movies. i stopped and thought about this for a second and realize that its true, i havent.

and yeah, the Metacritic scores are a lot lower than I would have expected; AO Scott wasn't too generous in his review.

Arrested Development on the other hand, is too wonderful to pass up. RH was responsible for getting that show on Fox in the first place. So yo have to understand, RH has an unfair advantage in my mind :P

[adam]

Anyone involved with Arrested Development has a permanent "get out of jail free" card.

ffolkes, I'm going to kill your brother and assume his identity. I'd appreciate it if you'd back me up ("Yes, this is my brother, mom. What are you talking about?"). Thanks in advance. Sounds like a great job.

[grady]

Originally Posted by ffolkes

he's doing both, actually.

his job is to buy movierights for a film distributor that he works for. i've heard that deals can go up to several hundreds of thousands of euros... the bidding gets quite crazy. the bigger the movie is (buzzwise) the higher the price naturally.

other than that he sees as much movies as possible during the festival, approximately six-seven per day. the company he works for focuses mostly on independent art-house films, so he sees a lot of stuff i've never even read about. it's quite taxing from what i've heard (tons of movies to see every day + tons of drinking in different parties) but he's not complaining... only worried that his liver will pop some day due to too much drinking, which seems to be mandatory there.

and when he's off from cannes there's other festivals to catch later on like milan, berlin, toronto etc. the bastard!


p.s. i'll try to see arrested development a bit better some day if i can.

That sounds like an amazing job. I would like to do something like that even for a year.

Via a friend of a friend, I knew someone who did a similar job in the mid 90s for Miramax, around 95-96. What was funny to hear him say was that you'd think it would be a great job, but it can really become an endurance test as you want give the fifth film the same shot you did for the first film you saw 15 hours earlier that day. Plus in writing up little reports about each film, he'd then have to prove he was at attention and not bullshitting his way through the reports.

So yeah, sign me up, tell your brother you've got a prospective trainee that his company needs to hire for the other festivals that are large enough but due to time constraints your brother cannot attend. Think he'd go for it?

[ffolkes]

Originally Posted by adam

ffolkes, I'm going to kill your brother and assume his identity. I'd appreciate it if you'd back me up ("Yes, this is my brother, mom. What are you talking about?"). Thanks in advance.

heh, i'd killed him myself a long time ago if we weren't in such good terms
but honestly i can't be envious really cos he's very much the man for the job and deserves it.

also he's mentioned that it's quite possible that i'd join his workplace someday in the future... (family ties etc.) who knows?
maybe one day i can run up and give ron howard a swift kick in the arse myself

[ffolkes]

Originally Posted by grady

What was funny to hear him say was that you'd think it would be a great job, but it can really become an endurance test as you want give the fifth film the same shot you did for the first film you saw 15 hours earlier that day.

heh, exactly the same things my brother has been saying. last time i met him i asked him doesn't it get tough for him not to blur his focus/perception between a dud film and a good one, especially when he's been sitting in a movie marathon all hung over and the movies are mostly in chinese or some other exotic language etc?

he said that yes it used to be hard in the start, but the more experienced/professional you get in the job you will eventually develop some sort of a filter in your brain that automatically separates quality from utter shit within the first 15 mins of a movie. and he sees a lot of shit movies btw.

it seems that the good ones are always rarer... which makes sense when you think of it.

Originally Posted by grady

So yeah, sign me up, tell your brother you've got a prospective trainee that his company needs to hire for the other festivals that are large enough but due to time constraints your brother cannot attend. Think he'd go for it?

dunno, but it never hurts to ask

[b.miller]

yeah... from my limited festival-going experience, a good film stays good but everything under that level of quality drastically falls down. A film that might be ok at your multiplex on a friday night is utter shit when it's the 15th film you've seen in 3 days. I've come out of more than one movie knowing i'd like it better with a full night's sleep. but i think the big con with being a film buyer/festival-goer is that you lose the audience part of your brain.. you have to train your brain to examine each movie strictly in terms of is-it-worth-buying and how other people like it rather than how you yourself enjoyed it. I suppose this is true for all critics as well, but I think it'd lose a lot of the magic for me... plus you have to sit through a lot of bad movies that you have to pay attention to.

if you REALLY think about it though, isn't it the festival programmer's job to make sure he doesn't play crappy films? in a perfect festival every film shown would be worth watching... too bad it's not like that.

speaking of though... there's a 7-day horror/sci-fi/fantasy film festival coming up here in Austin this September. It's at the best theater in town and the guys who are putting it together are really cool. Anyone interested or nearby should try to make it! it IS quite a unique feeling to watch 5-7 movies a day for 7 days straight... much like an all-night marathon and The Matrix, it can't really be described

[ffolkes]

Originally Posted by b.miller

i think the big con with being a film buyer/festival-goer is that you lose the audience part of your brain.. you have to train your brain to examine each movie strictly in terms of is-it-worth-buying and how other people like it rather than how you yourself enjoyed it.

exactly. that's when the professional side pretty much overtakes all personal enjoyment. it becomes work!!

i love movies a lot, but when i think of how much my brother puts time into them only via his work i can't help but be amazed that he still has interest in them on his freetime. i'd be complete toast after a grueling festival, and wouldn't prolly want to see a single film for weeks.

then again he has also said that sometimes it gets so taxing that if anyone would even mention "movies" to him he'd most likely assault them