Rage

I see all of Sally Potter's films. She is always different, new, and interesting.
I saw her latest, RAGE, at The Box, in SOHO. I had read online of this provocative movie with a wonderful cast set in the world of fashion; about its unique mobile premiere. I was puzzled; how could a movie be shown on the tiny screen of a cell phone? And then I saw it. Now I want to have it on my cell phone. Imagine, Judy Dench talking to you on your own cell, like your friend, who trusts you enough to tell you the truth, that fashion has become an obsession akin to porn. And Steve Buscemi, Lily Cole, Bob Balaban, Patrick Adams, John Leguizamo, Dianne Wiest, Jude Law, all of them would became your personal friends and enemies. They speak to you directly.
They were speaking directly to me on the big screen, each image so crisp, so intense; each face so close, you can see every tiny movement of a muscle. So much drama without outside action. There are no sets here; you don't need them at all. The face is the set. And the costume. The faces are everything here, a landscape depicting all kind of battles.
RAGE tells the story of a crisis at a New York fashion house through a series of interviews, shot on his cell phone camera by a young boy named Michelangelo. The interviews are taken over the seven days in which a runway accident becomes a murder investigation. It's a funny, sad, bitter, tragic collection of monologues, spoken directly to the camera. Each shot is a close-up of a character against different color backgrounds. Every actor performs alone. They are so close that it is impossible for them to hide anything from you; just as you can't hide anything from yourself.
After watching RAGE on the big screen and online, I ordered it on DVD.
I want to have it; I want to be able to see those faces close and hear the voice of an Artist who never takes a conventional road, Sally Porter.

Sally Potter takes chances. There are so many unique aspects of this film that reviewing it is difficult. The major aspects of the film include the very au courant 'rage' of blogging as a means of communication, the 'rage' to stay young and in fashion (that almost daily changing series of fads of what is in and what is out), the 'rage' of focusing everyone's attention on celebrity antics including drugs and death, the 'rage' to buy everything (if you don't own it and it looks like it is going to be popular then buy it), the 'rage' of climbing into the media world, be it film, fashion, television searching for that promised 15 minutes of fame, the 'rage' of PR, minding the selling promotion of a product without concern of its value, the 'rage' of creating new fragrances with a special name for fame, and the 'rage' for maintaining a wealthy or famous class and a poor or service class. Potter manages to take us through all of these phases with brilliant writing, fascinating character studies, experimental lighting and photography, and one of the best uses of color fields ever on film.

The premise is simple yet strong. A blogger named Michelangelo follows the backstage proceedings of a New York Fashion Show: we never see him, we see only his daily blog entry and the images of the interviewees through his cellphone camera - the individuals all are part of the hyped fashion show cum ramp walk of fashionista Merlin (Simon Abkarian) who designed the clothes, Miss Roth (Dianne Wiest) who owns the company, Mona Carvell (Judi Dench) the fashion critic who writes for the media coverage, Otto (Jakob Cedergren) who works managing PR, Mr. White (Bob Balaban) who directs the show until he is replaced by the overeducated image builder Dwight Angel (Patrick J. Adams), Frank (Steve Buscemi) a hard nosed photographer who has spent better time on the war fronts in the Middle East taking 'meaningful pictures', financier Tiny Diamonds (Eddie Izzard) who buys everything he wants including his bodyguard Jed (John Leguizamo), models Minx (Jude Law in drag) and Lettuce Leaf (Lily Cole), pizza delivery boy transformed in to model Vijay (Riz Ahmed), and Anita de Los Angeles (Adriana Barraza) the seamstress who simply wants to remain invisible. Two deaths occur - one car accident and one shooting - and that brings in Detective Homer (David Oyelowo) who investigates while displaying his own brand of Shakespeare to the blogger's cellphone camera.

All of this complex story happens in the form of interviews - each star is dressed in well designed clothes and each poses in front of various colored screens. The ending of the interview brings the whole experience together. Potter's immaculate and imaginative script gives each one of these gifted actors room to shine in a one person act. It just simply works and never for a moment does it become dull. Sally Potter gave us 'Orlando', 'Yes', 'The Man Who Cried', and 'The Tango Lesson'. She is one of the most imaginative and skilled writer/director units in the business. Grady Harp, July 11

The movie was pretty interesting since it is done completely in interview style. The end was a bit odd and didn't feel it fit into the movie but otherwise it was good.