Fantastic Fest 2008

Sacha Baron Cohen, best known for his MTV comedy series Da Ali G Show, achieved wild success translating his TV characters to the big screen in the 2006 movie Borat. Reception for his 2009 release Bruno, however, was deservedly lukewarm. Both films relied upon anonymity for the enormously talented actor as he put unsuspecting everyday people in the spotlight saying and doing extremely rude and outrageous things. His fame has made it relatively impossible for Cohen to remain incognito, so we are unlikely to see those kinds of performances from him again.

The Dictator, directed by Borat and Bruno filmmaker Larry Charles, plays like an attempt by Cohen to script the kind of insanity he achieved with Borat. His character, General Admiral Haffaz Aladeen, is the born dictator of the fictional African nation of Waadeya (actually depicted in the movie with the current borders of Eritrea), a Red Sea state that appears to be a caricature of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Threatened with U.N. sanctions and a possible invasion by the U.S., Aladeen and his advisors travel to New York to address the U.N. in person.

Once in NYC, Aladeen is abducted as part of a murder plot from which he escapes, and then must find his way back into the U.N., stop the coup to replace him, and win the affections of his heart's desire. Cohen performs each scene as he would with one of his live characters. The other actors, however, generally fail to react as the jokes fly over their heads to the audience. As people meet Aladeen, they overlook or ignore some of the most offensive things he says as if attributing them to language barrier problems.

Indeed, some very offensive things are said in The Dictator, offensive if you ignore the tongue-in-cheek delivery of this caricature-within-a-caricature. Groups were already protesting the movie last week on these grounds. Cohen genuinely made me laugh several times with jokes that are neither insensitive or racially offensive, and it was these moments that made for an enjoyable experience. The people most offended by this movie will probably be Bush-supporting Republicans, as there is a very strong anti-Republican party message here.

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Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

• The Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-in has a new home this summer: Austin Studios, home of Austin Film Society. AFS will work with Blue Starlite on the programming as well. Slackerwood is especially proud because after Elizabeth interviewed Josh Frank about the future of the Blue Starlite, Josh asked her if she could put him in touch with someone from AFS ... and that's how the collaboration started. (via Austin Chronicle)
• The dark comedy Killer Joe, starring Matthew McConaughey, will be released in theaters by LD Entertainment on July 27 with an NC-17 rating, according to Deadline. The William Friedkin-directed movie, based on the play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Tracy Letts, is about a tough but quiet killer in Texas who befriends a young man (Emile Hirsch) who wishes his mother to be murdered. It screened at SXSW this year.
• Speaking of Matthew McConaughey, he's in two movies that will screen at Cannes this month: The Paperboy, about a reporter who returns to his hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate; and Mud, Jeff Nichols' story of an unlikely friendship between a fugitive and a 14-year-old boy who helps him escape off an island in Mississippi to reunite with the woman he loves. Watch clips from the Nichols-directed film at IndieWire.
• MovieMaker reported that assistant UT RTF professor Andrew Shea's first documentary Portrait of Wally opened May 11 at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan. The documentary explores the history of Egon Schiele's 1912 oil painting of his mistress that was purchased by Jewish art collector Lea Bondi before WWII and was later stolen by a Nazi art dealer.

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Steven Soderbergh has been a prolific filmmaker, cranking out a movie every year or two (and sometimes twice a year) since Sex, Lies, and Videotape propelled him to fame in 1989. Always willing to venture into new genres, Soderbergh tried his hand at film noir with his fourth feature, The Underneath.

Released in 1995 and shot in Austin, The Underneath (also known as Underneath) is a remake of Criss Cross, a 1949 thriller based on Don Tracy's 1934 novel of the same title. The story is classic (some would say clichéd) noir, a grim tale of how addiction, lust, jealousy and greed can inspire evil acts, compelling desperate people to take desperate measures.

The film centers on gambling addict Michael Chambers (Peter Gallagher), who returns home to Austin for his mother's wedding. Michael had left town abruptly years earlier to escape his gambling debts, leaving his wife, Rachel (Alison Elliott), to deal with the mess her husband created. Vowing that he's changed his ways, Michael tries to patch up his relationships with his mother and brother, moves in with Mom and takes a job working with his new father-in-law, Ed Dutton (Paul Dooley), as an armored car driver.

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