october 21.2005 »
just OUt 3g
FILM
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REVIEWS
Domino
This new film from director Tony Scott
(True Romance) and writer Richard Kelly (Don
nie Darko) is “sort of’ based on the life story of
actor Laurence Harvey’s daughter, Domino
(Keira Knightley), who turned away from her
career as a model and become a bounty hunter
in Los Angeles. Domino is not an easy movie to
watch. It’s bkxxly and hardcore, almost like a
color version of Sin City —quick cutting, multi
media presentation, overlapping lines and inter
esting déjà vu with Beverly Hilts, 90210 vets Ian
Ziering and Brian Austin Green playing them
selves and Mickey Rourke as Domino’s boss. C+
—Yvonne P. Behrens
Good Night,
and Good Luck
George Clooney’s timely, well-considered
and confident directorial follow-up to the
auspicious Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
recounts—in cinematographer Robert
Elswit’s beautifully frank, rerun-evocative
black and white—the 1953 media confronta
tion between television newscaster Edward
R. Murrow and witch-hunting anti-Commu-
nist Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis. David
Strathairn—supported by a stellar cast
including Clooney, Robert Downey Jr. and
Patricia Clarkson—is likely to garner awards
for his spot-on portrayal of Murrow, and the
film balances its deft exploration of the tele
vision newsroom dynamics of yore with a
healthy skepticism (apt, given Clooney’s own
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tube origins) toward the medium’s future
dominance. A-
—Christopher McQuain
North Country
In the feisty female tradition of Nt/rma Rae
and Silkwood, Charlize Theron plays a single
mom who files harassment charges against her
sexist male co-workers at a northern Minnesota
iron mine. The action is gripping, edgy and
infuriating, but it loses credibility in the climac
tic, over-the-top courtroom scenes. Though
W(x>dy Harrelson inadvertently comes off as a
total bozo of a lawyer, director Niki Caro
(Whale Rider) coaxes terrific, earthy perfonn-
ances from her cast. Frances McDormand steals
the show as Theron’s witty and ailing friend,
and Bob Dylan makes frequent appearances on
the soundtrack. A-
—Stephen Blair
À Tout de Suite
Benoît Jacquot (Sade, A Single Girl) directed
this French new wave thriller—shot in black
arid white and based on actual events—about a
Parisian art student (Islid Le Besco) who flees
her stifling bourgeois family to join her lover,
a MoriKcan gangster, on a cross-continent
adventure through Spain, Morocco and
Greece. (This will make up for the vacation I
couldn’t take this year.) Her breathtaking jour
ney of self-discovery captures the fear and
exhilaration of love on the run. Opens Oct. 21
at Hollyw<x)d Theatre. B
—YPB
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24 Hours on Craigslist spotlights a transsexual escort (right) and an Ethel Merman drag queen
searching for the perfect backup band for her Led Zeppelin covers.
24 Hours on Craigslist
To its credit, this film (opening Oct. 21 at
Clinton Street Theater) doesn’t purport to be
anything other than what it is: brief interviews,
over a one-day period, with various people
who’ve used San Francisco-based Craigslist.
This vastly popular online classified service,
now in just about every city, allows people to
find everything from apartments to clothes to
sex partners. Idle d<xz samples a wide range of
these types: a butler wannabe, a gay pom
star/drag queen, a guy who buys “250 women
soldiers’ pants,” a self-styled “rent-a-husband,”
a Chinese immigrant girl who paints penises.
All are “unmasked” from the noted anonymity
of Craigslist.
(don’t kxtk here for how Craigslist started
during the crazy dot-com era, or the scandalous
purchase of part of it by eBay a few months back.
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There’s no history and no context here, just
interviews. But reality riffs like this are only as
interesting as their subjects, and enough of these
folks are duds to make the whole project seem
more like a self-indulgent home movie than a
fascinating dip into a consumer subculture.
A few characters and scenes keep the film
from being a total waste. Best of all is a bril
liant, hilarious “flash mob” sequence, in which
hundreds of hipsters meet (via a Craigslist post
ing) at a posh San Francisco hotel, where they
all “fall asleep" in unison, hug each other and
do all manner of other whimsical things while
the staff watches in astonishment. But the film’s
attempt to make Craigslist inventor Craig
Newmark a kind of Wizard of Oz mythic figure
are way strained. As anyone who’s lived in SF
knows, Craig is a familiar fixture around town
with no mystery at all. Kind of like this film. C
—Gary Morris JH
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La Calaca Comelona
Restaurante Mexicano
I—
3551 SE Division Street 503-236-6890
aja
J'
www.havcncoffee.com
WE HAVE WI-FI
trattoria ? enoteca
pacific kitchen
northwest cuisine with asían influence.
lunch & dinner everyday
breakfast sat & sun at 9am
happy hour everyday 4-7pm
5:30 pm Monday to Saturday
2304 SE Belmont • (503) 239 9675
Regional Ameritan Cuisine
www.lacalacacomelona.com
Reserve now for Day of the Dead Nov 2nd
featuring original paper collage by elizabeth bngham
503.287.5400 • 3449 ne 24th and fremont ’
reservations taken, but not required
reservations
503 • 232 • 6151
assaggiorestaurant.com