Saturday, May 1, 2010

Wake in Fright

As part of the San Francisco International Film Festival, the film Wake in Fright, by Canadian director Ted Kotcheff (Rambo, North Dallas 40, Weekend at Bernies, Uncommon Valor), played last night at the Kabuki Theater in SF. Aussie friend Dean had suggested that we go see this classic drama/thriller as it was set in the Australian Outback. Unbeknown to me, the director, Kotcheff, was there to discuss the film before and after.

I had never been to the SFIFF before and having a director describe bits about the film, answer questions about why he shot certain things or discuss what actors did during the shoot was rather remarkable. It completely enhanced the experience.

But what about the film? It was made in '71, won at Cannes, but never really made it in the US due to distribution issues. The film negatives had been lost, then found in Philly nearly 40 years later and painstakingly restored frame by frame over the course of four years. The movie itself is a Lord of the Flies meets Deliverance where men become primal, lose their moral compass and a man gets lost among the craziness of his surroundings. Did I like it? Not particularly, but it was thought provoking, and having the director there completely changed the experience.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wendy love the blog very fun c u soon someday i hope!