Michael Mann at LAFF: ‘None, zip, nothing’
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
From Big Picture correspondent Mark OIsen:
For the second evening in a row, Hollywood proper came stomping through the more usually indie-centric environs of the Los Angeles Film Festival. Where Monday night had seen a lavish-to-the-point-of-ridiculous event celebrating the robot wars of ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ with the attendant red carpet ruckus, Tuesday night was given over to a decidedly more dignified to-do for the Depression-era tale of bank robber John Dillinger in ‘Public Enemies.’
The event began with full-on star power from Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard, as well as appearances on the carpet by director Michael Mann and cast members Giovanni Ribisi, Leelee Sobieski, Carey Mulligan, Branka Katic, Rory Cochrane, Jason Clarke and Stephen Dorff, as well as Rosario Dawson, Vince Vaughn, Chan Marshall, Samm Levine, Amber Heard, Ondi Timoner, Shawn Hatosy, Peter Fonda, Jerry Bruckheimer and others.
Festival director Rebecca Yeldham introduced the screening by saying, ‘’Public Enemies’ is unlike any movie I’ve ever seen.’
But it certainly is every inch a Michael Mann film, which means there will be those (including this reporter) who find it thrilling from start to finish, and those who will find it over-long, digressive and emotionally disengaged. The precision of the film’s high-definition aesthetics create an electrified tension with its exacting period detail, rendering every button and brick, fender and phone with a startling exactitude. The you-are-there energy, Depp’s dashing, playful performance and the surprisingly heartfelt romance with Cotillard push through any of Mann’s trademark moody longueurs. That said, the film’s celebrators and detractors could both be felt in the theater.
At the after-party in the courtyard of the Hammer Museum, the usual throng of well-wishers and glad-handlers made their rounds. (A fun game was to guess how many had been at “Transformers” just the night before and would also be at Thursday’s premiere of “Brüno.”) At the center of the crowd was Mann, who declined to answer any questions -- “None, zip, nothing” -- regarding his new movie following its premiere as part of a local film festival.
He quickly added, “I appreciate you asking first, though.”
RELATED:
Michael Mann: The inside scoop on ‘Public Enemies’