Peter O'Toole is a stage and movie actor who does not merely learn his lines; he studies his parts. In his interview with Charlie Rose whom a friend calls narcissist, uncultured plebe, failed lawyer, the 80-something O'Toole, bemused and intuitive, faced Rose, the interruptor, for the first time. O'Toole said he never had to face the "catastrophe of success" (Tennessee Williams' ominous phrase) because he always replaced one fulfilled dream with another. O'Toole is a "bold boy" extremely well educated in the Irish universities AND the bars of Dublin. He "loiters with intent" and is a master of reading character(s). His first film, The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960) got David Lean's attention. O'Toole was cast as T.E.Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and began to voraciously devour the Seven Pillars of Wisdom -- all 7 volumes. Since then, he's given brilliant performances in Beckett; Lord Jim; The Lion in Winter; Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969); Caligula; Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (about the priest who contracts leprosy on the island of Molokai); Troy (a bomb); and the latest film, Venus, in which he plays an aging actor besotted by a young ingenue (Jodie Whittaker). Ultimately, the film fails! Had the director Roger Mitchell selected his own music --hey, why not the 3 little notes of Frankie Avalon's Oh, Venus or some humor? A friend living in lala land complained, why do the English think they can make a French film. I agree. As Nick James points out in his recent article in SIGHT AND SOUND, entitled "Greenlit Unpleasant Land," a huge chasm exists between intention and reality:
"This honeying of the sour is lamentably pervasive. Take, for instance Roger Mitchell's new film VENUS, shot from an original screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The promise you might draw from the trailer is a a life-affirming romantic comedy that modernises the EDUCATING RITA/PYGMALION idea of a lowly born young woman and a wisdom-imparting oldster. But with Kureishi's characteristic unblinking honesty, the screenplay is in fact about how sexual desire for young women never leaves some men, no matter how old and decrepit they become. O'Toole portrays this conundrum magnificently as the ageing actor given the opportunity to entertain (and slaver over) a working-class ingenue, but this otherwise well-executed film fights its hard observations all the way with inappropriate love-of-life music. All these are symptoms of an aesthetic timidity that often prevents a perfectly good British film from becoming great."
March 17, 2006: Excerpt from Mitchell's Production Diary: Another screening. I found the first half dragged. But by and large, the second half is working and all laid out in the right order. The only ghastly section that remains if from the row in the cafe to the ambulance crew. Hanif and I went for a drink after. I say: "I don't know if it's funny, that's all. The first half should be funny, and if it's not, we're fucked." "But the second half is so powerful and moving. I reply: "But that's because we can do the powerful stuff. That's what we do. Being funny, that's hard."
Peter O'Toole: incredibly intuitive, incorrigibly optimistic, highly spirited: an original, a dreamer, a great actor who always strikes an authentic chord. Good luck, Oscar night on February 25, 2007, but I'll bet the ranch on Forrest Whitaker & his masterful portrayal of Idi Amin, in the LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Good luck, Peter O'Toole, next time: Is 80-something the new 60? As Anatole France once said: TO ACCOMPLISH GREAT THINGS, WE MUST DREAM AS WELL AS ACT.
******** La Mediterranee (San Francisco Fillmore, Castro, Berkeley; www.cafelamed.com;(415)921-2956). It's not exactly the French Riviera, but these Bay Area restaurants have provided staples that have stood the test of time, providing excellent Middle-Eastern Med fare. Try the Middle Eastern plate, with a combo of chicken drumsticks marinated in tangy pomegranate sauce, chicken cilicia, Grecian spinach & feta, levant sandwich, lamb lule (10.50) In this dish the hummus is heavenly. Or try the quiche of the day (8.95). All house specialties come with soup or house salad served with tomato vinaigrette . Other fresh, flavorful meze is served with lightning speed (no time to crack any jokes here). Try the dolma -- grape leaves stuffed with almonds, currants, rice & spices; or the lentil salad (both 7.50). They also do catering: ANOUSH ELLA!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment