Steven Soderbergh’s Che Receives Major Response At Cannes, Palm d’Or Talk
Today, directorSteven Soderbergh’s four hour subtitledChe Gueverabiopic,Che(presented as two films entitledThe ArgentineandGuerilla) premiered at theCannes Film Festival. Online, critical reception is already momentously loud and divided, in a “Here we go…” way. And as you might expect, the film(s)’s questionable commercial prospects and controversial depiction of the Argentine revolutionary, as played by an uncannyBenicio Del Toro,have some critics waiting it out and chatting about the terrible sandwiches given at intermission instead. However,Cinematical’s Kim Vonyar is incredibly stoked on both films and believes that Soderbergh is a lock for the festival’s top prize, thePalm d’Or…
“Consensus among many of the very smart people I know here at Cannes (well, except forVariety, apparently) is thatChewill almost definitely win the Palm d’Or, and ifBenecio del Torodoesn’t win the Best Actor Oscar come January, there’s something wrong with the world.”
Stunned by Soderbergh’s DV auteurism, Cinematical’s James Rochhiobservedin the first full-length review around, that the biopics' style, tone, character study and story choices are all open for heavy debate (umm, that’s cool, I agree with him), but says that Oscar talk for Del Toro is also certain. In summation, he proclaims…
“Bold, beautiful, bleak and brilliant, Che’s not just the story of a revolutionary; in many ways, it’s a revolution in and of itself.”
Put that in your pipe, eh? Sounds sweet. In his own way,Jeffrey Wellshas stepped out as one of the first supporters/gushers of both films, callingThe Argentine"brilliant" andGuerilla"killer."
“[The Argentine] is what I’d hoped for and more. The tale is the tale, and it’s told straight and true.Benicio del Toro’s Guevara portrayal is, as expected, a flat-immersion that can’t be a “performance” as much as…I don’t know, some kind of knock-down ass-kick inhabiting. Being, not “acting.” No sentimentality, very straight. Oh, God…the second half is starting right now…”
Note the phrase, “it’s told straight and true,” because many historians, college students, Cubans, critics and Slashfilm readers (I’m predicting…) will inevitably take issue with Soderbergh’s decision on what to leave out and what to include from the man’s combative, violent life and ethos. Another reason why these subtitled films are a hard sell. Variety’s Anne Thompson [no linkage] doesn’t dive into the films' politics, but she was nonetheless underwhelmed and glum. She believes the majority of the press on hand reacted similarly…
“‘A folly.’ ‘A mess.’ ‘Great.’ These words came from some of the critics coming out of Steven Soderbergh’s four-hour 18 minute Spanish-language Che Wednesday night. At the end there was slight applause; no boos. My own description: noble failure.”
She adds that “Benecio [sic] del Toro gives a great performance…” but she’s particularly down on the direction of the second film,Guerilla, saying, “Soderbergh isn’t interested in the things that compel moviegoers to engage with characters: drama, psychology, motivation. He doesn’t dwell on the relationship between Che and Castro. He doesn’t tell you how ‘Ernesto’ turned into ‘Che.'” This works against the frenetic industry buzz thatSpoutbloghas thoroughly documented; that site points out that the films are being pitched to buyers separately…
“Rumor has it that the second half of the story is currently in better shape than the first; it remains to be seen what would be lost if half ofChewas demoted to straight-to-DVD.”
Please, let’s hope this doesn’t happen. I don’t think the Interwebs (or Che) could survive the weight of so many blog tears and life-hating, unedited diatribes. We’ve posted a new video clip fromChe(The Argentinehalf) below. It doesn’t reveal much, but it gives you an idea of the camera work and Soderbergh’s depiction of jungle warfare. One thing is for sure, Che’s t-shirt posse won’t be going away anytime soon (feh!).
Discuss: How do you think these films will be shown domestically? How does one sell four hours ofChe? Honestly, who cares, it’s fantastic these films were even made (for $65 million) no matter how you feel (or don’t) about the man in question or how good they are.
