By Dave Montalbano
AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com
France has dominated the foreign motion picture world his year. The heralded release of The Artist opening the 26th Annual Fort Lauderdale Film Festival shows an emphasis on visual art, making films like these pure cinema protein.
While Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a biography, it is also influenced by the surrealistic motion pictures from the 1960s, most notably Blow Up and La Dolce Vita. (Given the egotistical nature of the title character, the protagonist may have thought that he invented those acclaimed motion pictures). Not for all tastes, but this film is visually arresting.
Born to Jewish parents in Nazi-occupied France, the precocious Serge Ginsberg fantasizes about the world around him through music and art. After changing his name to Serge Gainsbourg (Eric Elmosnino), the musician becomes an international pop sensation. Gainsbourg romances the sex symbols of the 1960s (Bridget Bardot, Jane Birkin) and releases controversial music that becomes disguised as elevator music. While physically he grows into an adult, emotionally Serge remains a man-child.
Although a bit long, this film is fascinating. The ensemble cast is European and actresses cast as Bardot and Birkin look like twins. Contortionist Doug (Pan’s Labyrinth) Jones mimes the part of Gainsbourg’s alter ego with dark and humorous results.
As we reach the center point of FLIFF 26, actor Dennis Farina takes center stage in The Last Rites of Joe May (www.
FLIFF.com for showtimes). Introduced to the American Public in the 1980s television series Crime Story, Farina has portrayed John Travolta’s arch rival in Get Shorty, Jennifer Lopez’s dad in Out of Sight and Robert DeNiro’s nemesis in Midnight Run. In The Last Rites of Joe May, Farina is top-billed and portrays a composite character that sums up the actor’s previous two decades in the public eye.
Also in the fest is Troupers. In his book Born Standing Up, Steve Martin wrote about The Amazing Ballantine’s influence upon his comic persona. We lost Carl Ballantine two years ago, but his final words of wisdom can be heard in the documentary Troupers. Directed by his daughter Saratoga Ballantine, Troupers interviews 12 familiar faces from the acting profession, among the most recognizable: Kaye Ballard, Betty Garrett, Pat Carroll and Harold Gould. While the fame of Steve Martin may have eluded these individuals, these performers seemed to enjoy their work and lives.
