Ray Pride

"The Darjeeling Limited" left the station without its planned pre-release promo, with Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman taking a trip to Chicago and having some journos ride into the Midwest for a bit. After it's opened, there's a press day a hotel along Michigan Avenue, the elderly Drake. On my way, I get a call to come before my time, but once there, things are running late. Soda and water and trays of melon and errant radishes sit on a side table. Interviews are next door: This room's too warm, this one's too cold, the hallway's just right, warmed by the PDAs of personal assistants. At a nearby table, someone's drawn a Fiji water bottle on hotel stationary, empty in front of it.

Once in the room, the three of us hurtle through twenty amusing minutes, exchanges genuine and offbeat. It's a couple days before the studio announces the Natalie Portman-starring short "Hotel Chevalier" will be added to the 600-plus-screen rollout this Friday, and the pair seem unflappable. (Then again, they have been together for weeks on trains through India while researching the comedy.) The only moment Anderson misses a beat is on the subject of Slate's discovery that he's a white guy. "Are they suggesting I've gone to India with the desire to exploit the people of India? People always refer to these privileged white guys, but we're writing from our point of view. I don't consider us, I don't consider myself a privileged person. It was upsetting to me."

Anderson had only one prepared line in his quiver, his goodbye: "Thank you for coming to the Drake today." For an instant, I feel like a character in an eccentric scene. I am Pagoda, writ pale.

(2007-10-23)

Also by Ray Pride

Hannah and Her Brethren
No one can say what it means in the mutating media universe, but it's nice to see a theatrical release for "Hannah Takes The Stairs," the third feature by one of Chicago's most prolific filmmakers, 26-year-old Joe Swanberg
(2007-10-16)

Tip of the Week
South African director Gavin Hood made his name with the Oscar-winning "Tsotsi" (2005), with its visceral evocations of the lingering effects of apartheid-era repression. His first U.S. picture, "Rendition," is an attempt to make honorable drama out of the terrible reality of "unlawful rendition," or the kidnapping and "disappearing" of alleged evildoers
(2007-10-16)

Tip of the Week
Autumn is upon us if the sere, severe, serious likes of "The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford" and James Gray's brutal, assured third feature, "We Own The Night" are filling American screens. In his earlier features, "Little Odessa" (1994) and "The Yards" (2000), the 38-year-old demonstrated his affinity for the grand canvas upon which an intricately orchestrated tale is told
(2007-10-09)

Do You Feel Lucky?
There are about forty movies that I've either seen or know enough about to heartily recommend. A movie year should be this lucky, let alone a festival filled with these postcards from around the planet
(2007-10-09)

Cheeseball
(2007-10-08)

There’s Something About Queefing
(2007-10-05)

Commissioned
(2007-10-02)

The 43rd International Film Festival
(2007-10-02)

Tip of the Week
(2007-10-02)

The Life Sub-Asian with Wes Anderson
(2007-10-02)

Heart of Larkiness
(2007-09-25)

Tip of the Week
(2007-09-25)

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