Robin Williams features in The Night Listener as a late-night radio presenter.
Early nights only work if no one calls you. So I was thrilled to be phoned by Dell computer couriers this morning at 4.30am to ask when I wanted them to pick up a hard drive they had already picked up around a month ago. My heart warmed when the phone rang again at 7.45am with someone offering me some freelance work. I may have sounded less than grateful but, hey, it was early.
It snowed in the night so the first order of the day was to clear the two-inch drift off my car. I was forced to mentally concede that "super sizing" the jalopy had been a good move since there was still quite a bit of snow on the roads when I set off. Saw my first active snow plough this morning, too. Boy, can those things shift. It seems amazing that while we can import the Big Mac and fries to the UK, we haven't brought over some of the snow ploughs and gritters. There was a serious downfall overnight, but the roads are all clear.
Spoke to Rex Bloomstein this morning about KZ. As I said in a previous diary piece, he is very erudite on the subject and not only a documentary maker but also a human rights activist. Our interview is interrupted by a woman whose father was at Mauthausen - the subject of his film - which seems somehow fitting. He is clearly concerned that we find new ways to bring the horrors of the Holocaust home to people lest we forget, or somehow become immune to it, and feels that every school child should visit one of the camps. He wanted to do a film "that concentrated not on the perpetrator, or the victim, but to try to approach the subject in a different way."
Went to see The Night Listener this morning. Adapted from Armistead Maupin's book, which he describes as "a thriller of the heart," Robin Williams stars as Gabriel Noone, a late night radio host who forms an unusual relationship with a teenager who is dying of Aids. When something happens to make him question the veracity of what he has been told about the boy, he embarks on an obsessive journey to discover the truth.
I thought Williams was pitch perfect in a well-measured and understated performance. Toni Collette, too, was excellent.
There has been a lot of talk here about Brokeback Mountain being a breakthrough movie for the gay community. Personally, I think that the fact that Gabriel Noone just happens to be gay and yet this isn't the focal point is much more of a breakthrough. Films shouldn't have to be "about" being gay, or straight. They should be about well-written characters of any sexual orientation.
I have a confession to make. I think I'm addicted to Teriyaki. Specifically the Teriyaki joint near the Yarrow Hotel, where most of the press screenings happen. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "fusion food" in that it is a Japanese restaurant, staffed by Spanish speakers, with a permanent reggae soundtrack playing. The sauce, however, is definitely addictive.
Watched a screening of the new Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World) film, Art School Confidential, this afternoon. It's an interesting character exploration, to a point, but seems to revolve largely around jokey stereotypes. A new kid goes up to art college only to find that his dreams are somewhat at odds with the harsh reality. There is a satirical message about the nature of art and success beneath the high school gags, but it isn't as clever as it thinks it is. Both the screening for this and The Night Listener were crammed, so it's clear expectations were high.
Grabbed a copy of 13 (Tzameti) to watch tomorrow morning and headed back to the motel to try to recover some of my lost sleep.
Read more of Amber's diaries and coverage of the Sundance Film Festival.
