Alright, I’ll kick it off right away by saying that the opening film for this 14th edition of the Rome Film Festival is wonderful! ‘Motherless Brooklyn’, the second directorial venture by beloved actor Edward Norton is everything an opening film should be for a festival — full of star power, great performances and evoking an elegance that only that particular time and that place can bring about. More on it later.
Now I’ll start with the second thing I love about Rome this year — my first as a credited journalist. They are plastic free and with each accreditation bag, comes a little red tin bottle which can be filled at fountains around the fest.
The third wonderful thing here is the place. On a sunny, not yet chilly fall day, to sit outside and enjoy a lunch of “cacio & pepe”, the traditional pasta doused with cheesy cream sauce sprinkled with flecks of freshly ground pepper, seemed like heaven on earth. After a good film, great food is like a perfect dessert to the entertainment. And with great service too! Wait, am I really at a film festival or have I been transported on a cruise of cinematic wonder where people are elegant and kind and cinema is introduced with a smile — by the Artistic Director of the festival who welcomed the journalists at the press screening this morning. Truly magical.
So now back to ‘Motherless Brooklyn’. I still can’t get over the charisma and chemistry of the actors Ed Norton has picked for his film. Based on the novel by Jonathan Lethem, the film takes place in 1950s NYC, traveling across the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. From Harlem to Fort Green, this is the New York most of us know and love, even if Norton’s story takes place in a faraway era.
Lionel, played by Norton who remains one of the best American actors working today, is a private detective with Tourettes syndrome, which causes him to shout out naughty rhymes at the most inappropriate times and feels, in his words, like “living with an anarchist” — his own mind. His boss and friend Frank (Bruce Willis) dies and Lionel doesn’t miss a beat, throwing himself into the search for his killers. If his body throws him often into a loop of senseless repetition, his heart and instinct are perfectly spot on. And his mind retains everything.
During this search he crosses path with a corrupt politician, a well-meaning beautiful African American woman, a determined Jewish urban activist, a few bad eggs, a couple of good ones and a trumpet man. This last one, “Trumpet man” as he’s credited, is played by Michael Kenneth Williams who was the memorable Omar Little on ‘The Wire’. He is spellbinding. We hang on his every word, we listen to him play the trumpet (well, it’s really Wynton Marsalis, we kind of know that, but it seems like Williams could be doing it!) we watch him with that irregular groove that cuts his perfect face in half. Casting him was the cinematic coup of the century by Norton.
That, and Alec Baldwin of course. Am I the only one who caught a whole lot of Trump in his character? Moses Randolph is the Don, before the presidency and even before the reality star turn. That Don who evicted tenants from his father’s properties and got rich in the process Those of us who lived in NYC in the 1980s knew that Don. We still can’t believe he got where he is today.
Bottom line, when ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ begins playing at a theater near you, watch it. It features one of the most romantic dance scenes I’ve watched on the big screen in a long time — between Norton and leading lady Gugu Mbatha-Raw. It also features wondrous music, a stunningly vintage NYC and even more perfect performances by some of the best actors alive today. And it brings magic back to the movies, by making its audience dream once again.