Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Ray Pride

Being Julia

Oscar murmurs, but the only real hope is Annette Bening…. and only if the pool is shallow. One of two theater-based period movies that mean to charm us at this festival. Both failed to get to me. In this case, it is a campy, bitchy manipulative actress, played by Bening, who is having a mid-life crisis that can be fixed by a special tool. Shaun Evans plays the tool, though he seems more a fish hook than a monkey wrench.

I adore Annette Bening's work and for me, this was a walk in the park for her… not all that special. This is the second collaboration between the great director Istvan Szabo and Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Pianist). The first one, Taking Sides, really suffered commercially from its obvious theatrical roots. But I liked it better than Being Julia. It had some problems, but it had a point. As far as I can tell, there is none in this movie. Think Diane Weist in Bullets Over Broadway… but without the funny parts. Don't speak… no… don't speak…

- by David Poland