Two amazing directorial debuts

Whoa! If these two films are any indication of the talents of a new crop of directors coming on to the horizon then moviemaking will be in good hands indeed……The first film, as screened yesterday at the Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF) in Tampa, is the directorial debut of Noble Jones. It’s called The Tomorrow Man, and stars the estimable John Lithgow and Blythe Danner. Lithgow plays Ed Hemsler, a 70-something retiree who lives alone near a small town in upstate New York. He’s one of these guys who follows news incessantly, frequents chat rooms (even in his underwear), and harbors paranoid fantasies about disasters and nuclear holocaust – in a word, a survivalist.  In fact, he has gradually built a storehouse of food and non-perishables should the world as we know it implodes or indeed explodes. “I just want to be ready,” he says in the most matter of fact way. One day, at the supermarket, he spots a woman of his own age, Ronnie Meisner (Danner), who turns out to be a bit of an eccentric herself. She accepts an invitation to drop by his house and they sit on the couch watching war documentaries. Ronnie herself is a hoarder. Her biggest criticism of Ed: “You always think about tomorrow but I’m here right now.” For a first-time director Jones has an accomplished hand, combining absorbing nuanced pacing with an appropriate offbeat score, while extracting wonderful performances from these two great actors.

Then there was Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning. Minghella has welded together an American Idle type plot with crisp editing and a fantastic performance by Fanning, who must be seen to be believed. The story starts out in a Polish immigrant household on the Isle of Wight (Fanning’s Polish is flawless) where Violet (Fanning), a public school student and singer in the church choir, has bigger, much bigger, ambitions: to win the British Teen Spirit contest, possibly land a recording contract, and become a star for the ages. Along the way she’s helped by an unlikely character, Vlad (Zlatko Burić), a scruffy one-time opera star who happens to live in the same village. He recognizes her talent and appoints himself her manager. Yes, the plot is pretty formulaic. We watch as Violet rehearses and wins local and regional auditions before travelling to London for the nationwide contest. But it’s Fanning’s acting composure, verve and raw talent  (she had a singing coach for the role) that make for an extraordinary singing and dancing performance, enough to bring tears to your eyes. 

The Gasparilla International Film Festival continues until Sunday in the Tampa Bay area.