Suckered
November 20th, 2007
This space was reserved for a quick reaction to one of the season’s most buzzed-about independent releases, but instead I have a tiny tale of woe for you. Last night was the first New York screening for Juno, the comedy ominously billed as “this year’s Little Miss Sunshine,” but somebody had recklessly overbooked the screening room on Sixth Avenue. Even though we had sent RSVPs and arrived with time to spare, about a dozen of us were left standing in the lobby while the publicist counted and recounted the remaining seats. I was at the front of the line and Marcy was already inside holding a seat, so there was hope — until a voice from the back of the line spoke these blood-curdling words: “I am David Denby, from The New Yorker.”
You can imagine what happened next. Now, I have no illusions about the pecking order among film critics, but — ah, let’s leave it at that. Unlike airplanes, there’s no compensation when you get bumped from a screening, except for the faint promise that next time, your RSVP might be honored. Marcy and I both left and had a drink or two toasting American Sucker.
The last screenings I remember being shut out of were The Royal Tenenbaums and Brokeback Mountain, neither one of which I cared for. Coincidence? Juno beware.
Eagle vs Shark
May 17th, 2007
An Indie comedy from New Zealand that reeks of the Sundance workshop where it was conceived by writer/director Taika Cohen — which is to say it features a road trip, a quirky dysfunctional family, and a couple of awkward lovers who dress up in silly costumes. Eagle vs. Shark tastes an awful lot like Napoleon Dynamite meets Little Miss Sunshine — with Kiwis!
Lily (Loren Horsley) is a gangly young woman who lives with her brother and has an inexplicable crush on Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), a nerdy loser who makes his own candles. They’re both awkward, they both work at the mall, they have the same upper-lip mole, and they both say “cool” a lot. Their favorite animals, respectively, provide the film’s title.
After Lily and Jarrod agree to have cool sex, the action shifts to Jarrod’s home town, where he plans to take revenge on a former high school bully–by challenging him to a fight. While Jarrod trains with cool nunchaks, Lily meets his family, among them an uncle and aunt who sell training suits out of Jerrod’s old room, which is why our lovers have to pitch a tent in the garden.
And so forth. Eagle vs. Shark may sound entirely predictable, and it’s true that it doesn’t add much to the quirky romance sub-genre, but the film does have one major asset: Loren Horsley. The face of Lily, with its big moist eyes and lopsided smile, is winning enough to make the derivative details surrounding her come alive. Opens June 22.
Eagle vs Shark. Taika Cohen, 2007. **
- The trailer:
