Floating Leaf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
floatingleaf) wrote2008-10-30 08:37 pm
floatingleaf) wrote2008-10-30 08:37 pm
"Good" premiere at Chicago Film Festival (mild spoilers included)
So... about yesterday. My second 'real life' encounter with The Man.:P Still no progress in the eye contact department (= he's still blissfully unaware of my existence, LOL), and I think that's rather symbolic in the general context of my interactions (or lack thereof) with people I admire... but let's not expand on that for the moment. I had a very good view of him 'in the flesh' for quite some time, though - more than I hoped for, actually. So I guess it all evens out in the end. *sigh*
I met up withakashaelfwitch in the afternoon and we took the train downtown. We got to the Harris Theater sometime between 3 and 4 p.m., but there didn't seem to be anything going on there at that time, so we paid a visit to Akasha's best friend, whose parents live right there on Randolph Street, less than a block away. We ended up having dinner together in a small restaurant located in their apartment building. By the time we made it back to the theater, it was almost 6 p.m. already, and there was a small crowd around the entrance. A really small one - no more than a hundred people altogether, I think, most of them inside the building - but still it was too late for us to take a prime spot right by the barriers. We sort of squeezed in behind two high school girls who were standing in the first row. Just a few minutes later, Viggo arrived. He started signing autographs right away, but wasn't as meticulous about it as he had been in Toronto two years ago (which was the first time I saw him). When he got to where we were standing and was signing stuff for Akasha, some tall guy behind my back called out to him and tried to pass him a notebook over my head - to which Viggo responded, a little impatiently, "I have signed something for you already". Then he quickly moved on to the next person in front of me, as though trying to get away from that guy, and I just couldn't bring myself to do the same thing - that is either call out, grab his sleeve or shove my copy of Linger at him over someone's shoulder (yes, I had brought Linger, hoping to impress him - because most people there only had notebooks or DVDs...). Not only because I am clinically shy and hardly ever do anything like that at all - but also because the last thing I could ever want would be his first impression of me as a pushy, arrogant fangirl. That is simply not who I am, and I'd rather remain in the shadows forever than have him think I just want a piece of him like everyone else (for the entire fraction of a second that he would be thinking ANYTHING about me, lol). Which probably means I have issues... but again, that's another story. So he went on down the line, and I quietly swallowed the pang of bitter (however predictable) disappointment, not letting it ruin my evening. I am making progress, you see - my advanced age and experience has taught me to focus on the positives.;) Which, in this case, means I will simply have to go to a book signing one day.:D
So, when Viggo disappeared inside the building, we went inside as well with the rest of the crowd, and watched over people's shoulders while he was talking to an interviewer (couldn't hear a word he said, the people around us were way too noisy). Then we proceeded to take our seats. To my breathless amazement, I found myself right smack in the middle of first row. Not so great for the movie itself, actually, since the awkward angle was distorting the screen a bit for me - but unbelievably good for the introduction, which involved Viggo being presented by the festival organizers with a Career Achievement Award. I mean, he was RIGHT THERE in front of me, just a few feet away, talking and smiling and cracking jokes, and the power of his eternally youthful charm put me in a state of very pleasant daze.;) I'm afraid I was so focused on just watching him that I didn't catch half of what he said.:P But of course he was praising the movie itself and gushing over Jason Isacs (who was there with him, as well as the director Vicente Amorim), in addition to downplaying his own achievements and just being silly, Viggo-style.;) The presentation of the award included also a selection of scenes from his earlier movies: The Indian Runner (the scene in the kitchen, where he is spitting peas at Patricia Arquette), Hidalgo (setting the horse free at the end), Carlito's Way, Alatriste (where Maria asks Diego to marry her), A History of Violence (sex on the staircase!...) and Fellowship of the Ring (Boromir's death). I think I got them all (they were not in chronological order). Surprisingly, no Eastern Promises, even though it was mentioned as his highest acting achievement so far. Anyway... that was a lot of excitement before the actual premiere even started, LOL.
Speaking of which... the movie was amazing. Not that I expected anything less. It is a totally engrossing story, thought-provoking, disturbing and beautifully done - just the kind of realistic historical drama I cherish the most. And Viggo is, yet again, completely transformed by his character, exuding a permanently distracted air and awkward shyness of a self-absorbed scholar, so very different from his own quiet confidence. He portrays the bespectacled, emotionally fragile nerd so well I can totally relate to his instinctive withdrawal from the harsh realities of his times - which, of course, makes the conclusion of the story even more disturbing for me on a very personal level. To put it simply, I (and many other people I know) could have just as easily ended up in a similar situation. And that was, I think, the whole point of making this film (or writing the play it is based on). The message is clear and powerful without simplistic moral judgement or unnecessary dramatism, which could have easily been added (and probably would have been, was it an American movie). I don't want to give spoilers, but let me just say I expected a more heartwrenching ending... it is almost understated, considering the circumstances, and the helpless bewilderment on Viggo's face when he finally realizes what he's gotten himself into is eloquent enough. Btw, I should probably be making a list of Viggo's Famous Close-Ups That Tell The Whole Story Within Thirty Seconds - I have quite a few in mind already...
I met up with
akashaelfwitch in the afternoon and we took the train downtown. We got to the Harris Theater sometime between 3 and 4 p.m., but there didn't seem to be anything going on there at that time, so we paid a visit to Akasha's best friend, whose parents live right there on Randolph Street, less than a block away. We ended up having dinner together in a small restaurant located in their apartment building. By the time we made it back to the theater, it was almost 6 p.m. already, and there was a small crowd around the entrance. A really small one - no more than a hundred people altogether, I think, most of them inside the building - but still it was too late for us to take a prime spot right by the barriers. We sort of squeezed in behind two high school girls who were standing in the first row. Just a few minutes later, Viggo arrived. He started signing autographs right away, but wasn't as meticulous about it as he had been in Toronto two years ago (which was the first time I saw him). When he got to where we were standing and was signing stuff for Akasha, some tall guy behind my back called out to him and tried to pass him a notebook over my head - to which Viggo responded, a little impatiently, "I have signed something for you already". Then he quickly moved on to the next person in front of me, as though trying to get away from that guy, and I just couldn't bring myself to do the same thing - that is either call out, grab his sleeve or shove my copy of Linger at him over someone's shoulder (yes, I had brought Linger, hoping to impress him - because most people there only had notebooks or DVDs...). Not only because I am clinically shy and hardly ever do anything like that at all - but also because the last thing I could ever want would be his first impression of me as a pushy, arrogant fangirl. That is simply not who I am, and I'd rather remain in the shadows forever than have him think I just want a piece of him like everyone else (for the entire fraction of a second that he would be thinking ANYTHING about me, lol). Which probably means I have issues... but again, that's another story. So he went on down the line, and I quietly swallowed the pang of bitter (however predictable) disappointment, not letting it ruin my evening. I am making progress, you see - my advanced age and experience has taught me to focus on the positives.;) Which, in this case, means I will simply have to go to a book signing one day.:DSo, when Viggo disappeared inside the building, we went inside as well with the rest of the crowd, and watched over people's shoulders while he was talking to an interviewer (couldn't hear a word he said, the people around us were way too noisy). Then we proceeded to take our seats. To my breathless amazement, I found myself right smack in the middle of first row. Not so great for the movie itself, actually, since the awkward angle was distorting the screen a bit for me - but unbelievably good for the introduction, which involved Viggo being presented by the festival organizers with a Career Achievement Award. I mean, he was RIGHT THERE in front of me, just a few feet away, talking and smiling and cracking jokes, and the power of his eternally youthful charm put me in a state of very pleasant daze.;) I'm afraid I was so focused on just watching him that I didn't catch half of what he said.:P But of course he was praising the movie itself and gushing over Jason Isacs (who was there with him, as well as the director Vicente Amorim), in addition to downplaying his own achievements and just being silly, Viggo-style.;) The presentation of the award included also a selection of scenes from his earlier movies: The Indian Runner (the scene in the kitchen, where he is spitting peas at Patricia Arquette), Hidalgo (setting the horse free at the end), Carlito's Way, Alatriste (where Maria asks Diego to marry her), A History of Violence (sex on the staircase!...) and Fellowship of the Ring (Boromir's death). I think I got them all (they were not in chronological order). Surprisingly, no Eastern Promises, even though it was mentioned as his highest acting achievement so far. Anyway... that was a lot of excitement before the actual premiere even started, LOL.
Speaking of which... the movie was amazing. Not that I expected anything less. It is a totally engrossing story, thought-provoking, disturbing and beautifully done - just the kind of realistic historical drama I cherish the most. And Viggo is, yet again, completely transformed by his character, exuding a permanently distracted air and awkward shyness of a self-absorbed scholar, so very different from his own quiet confidence. He portrays the bespectacled, emotionally fragile nerd so well I can totally relate to his instinctive withdrawal from the harsh realities of his times - which, of course, makes the conclusion of the story even more disturbing for me on a very personal level. To put it simply, I (and many other people I know) could have just as easily ended up in a similar situation. And that was, I think, the whole point of making this film (or writing the play it is based on). The message is clear and powerful without simplistic moral judgement or unnecessary dramatism, which could have easily been added (and probably would have been, was it an American movie). I don't want to give spoilers, but let me just say I expected a more heartwrenching ending... it is almost understated, considering the circumstances, and the helpless bewilderment on Viggo's face when he finally realizes what he's gotten himself into is eloquent enough. Btw, I should probably be making a list of Viggo's Famous Close-Ups That Tell The Whole Story Within Thirty Seconds - I have quite a few in mind already...
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I constantly think of whether other people would approve of the way I treat them
just had to sneak back over and hug you again. xo
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