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Film Festival Diary -
Sept. 9, 2003
by John Kalangis
I met Vincenzo Natali today, finally, and I didn't think we looked alike at
all.
Our conversation
came on the heels of one I had with one of Canadian films' more interesting
lead actors, David Hewlett. After I saw Treed Murray, another in the
list of unique low-budget films Canada has put out in the last few years, I
started to associate Hewlett
with films that tread a particular line for me.
Treed Murray
is about a guy, Murray, who gets chased into a tree by some bullies. (I
can't believe I'm using the word "bullies," but I
don't have time to properly summarize the film.) The film plays out with
Hewlett, a conservative business type, afraid to come down because, well,
you know what bullies are, right?
When I heard this
premise, I thought about Cube, which walked the same line. This line
is best described as the moment when
watching a film where I find myself
thinking, "I'm not sure I'm buying that," and right when I'm really not
sure, something happens –
often something involving a particular choice the
Hewlett character makes – that keeps me in. Natali's most recent film, one
of two
at this years' festival called Nothing, had that same effect,
but somehow, there was Hewlett again to keep me there.
With long wavy hair
and the kind of skin I notice on actor friends of mine who move down to
L.A., Hewlett greets me and I settle into the couch across from him to talk
shop and tell stories. We talked for at least half our allotted time before
I turned on the recorder, more interested in meeting the guy than talking
about something that just comes naturally – I mean, how do you ask a guy
about this skill he has to make things work in films with borderline
premises? I don't think there's a Meisner technique or "method" in acting
for that.
Can an actor pull on elements of his past, like a time when he was
in a tofu-like spongy environment with his psycho-best/worst friend
at age
10? (That's sort of what happens in Nothing.) It was best to just
leave well enough alone and listen to his stories about moving to L.A.
and, because it's early, his taking of roles like "Suited Officer #18." I'm
sure that won't last and he'll land some part as a guy who
goes on a ocean
cruise, only to discover it's not a ship but a ship-in-a-bottle and his feet
and hands are slowly turning into corks and soon. He won't be able to fit
through the neck of the … oh, forget it. He'd pull it off. That's all I'll
say.
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