4 Months, 2 Films

Yesterday I saw "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" a Romanian film that has garnered great publicity both for the number of awards its received (including the Palme d'Or at Cannes), and for its being snubbed by the Academy Awards nomination process. Really, it's a shame, as it's excellent, one of those movies in which mood is captured perfectly by its look and feel, from the lighting to the bland scenery to the long awkward pauses to the camera angles. (I noticed that for most of the film, you see only one of the two female characters on screen; the other is moving about the room or sitting/standing still, out of frame.) The story centers on two students, one helping the other through an illegal abortion. Even summarizing that much says too little about the movie.

I rented "Interview," and now wish I'd scene it in the theater. It's directed by Steve Buscemi, who stars as a reporter whose career aspirations have fallen so low as to find him assigned a celebrity puff piece, and Sienna Miller as the popular soap actress he interviews. I liked it, as it had the staged feeling of a play, two characters almost exclusively trapped in one space (although, as it was the actress's massive loft, definitely not a claustrophobic one) with more talk than action. I always think I'm going to dislike Sienna Miller, but I always like her. (I think the dislike stems from her reputation in the media as a fashion trend setter, which I never could quite see.) The reviews of the film were not very good, and I know that most people don't like that kind of talky mental game film, but I do.

It reminded me of "Two Girls and a Guy," with Robert Downey Jr. as the guy whose two girlfriends (Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner - Natalie Wood's daughter, and where has she been lately?) realize he's two-timing them both, and confront him in his gorgeous loft. I guess it was the lofts (I still have fantasies about the "Two Girls" loft), but also about the twists and turns and the confrontations.