lifestyle THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 MUSIC & MOVIES For Gere, playing a homeless man was a humbling experience

he last time Richard Gere walked into riorate mentally.” “He was shaken by the expe- this bar, he did it as a homeless man. rience because this is a man who for 40 years TGere plays one in “Time Out of Mind,” a is used to being looked at and admired by movie that he shot almost entirely on the most and paid attention to and showered with streets of Manhattan - in East Village back attention and love,” says Moverman. “Here he allies, among the trash cans outside Grand was dealing with immediate rejection, with a Central Station and inside the Houston Street bar he’s returned to in order to reflect on an unusually spare and neo-realistic movie, one Gere has wanted to make for more than a decade. “I really believe this was one of the things I was meant to do,” says Gere, sitting in a booth in the back. Inspired by the photography of Saul Leiter, director Oren Moverman (“The Messenger, “Rampart”) frequently shot Gere from far away, hiding the camera from view to capture an unwitting city moving around one of the more famous faces on the planet. It was an audacious approach, one that, if successful, would only further prove part of the movie’s point: Most of us are oblivious to those suffer- ing around us. Gere (also a producer) and Richard Gere poses for a portrait in promo- Moverman nervously gave it a test run on the tion of his role in the upcoming film “Time first day of shooting in the East Village’s Astor Out of Mind” in New York. — AP photos Place, where the man forever linked to “Pretty need to get away from him, a toxicity he was Woman” begged for change with a coffee cup. bringing to the street corner.” “As someone who would probably never stand In between takes on the very low-budget on a street corner that long, it was an anxiety- film, Gere would wait in a rental car. The one ridden moment,” Gere recalls. luxury he allowed himself was a tea kettle he “None of us really knew what was going to could plug into the car. For the longtime happen. We thought maybe we would get five Buddhist, there were “monk-like” lessons of minutes before crowds started to screw up the In this image released by IFC Films, Richard Gere appears in a scene from, “Time Out of Mind.” — AP humility in playing George. None of it, per- shot, that I would be recognized and it would vagrant named George Hammond whose around him. “Are we all in this together or not, of inspiration from the Cadillac Man memoir of haps, is how many would expect the 66-year- be over. A couple minutes into the shot, we unfortunate fate is teased out slowly and with- is basically the question,” says Gere. homelessness, “Land of the Lost Souls: My Life old Gere, most famous for less extreme realized no one was paying attention.”They out sentiment. His backstory comes through “Somehow, we’ve gotten habituated to this on the Streets.” Hollywood productions, to be spending his went on shooting unnoticed for 40 minutes, only in Moverman’s patient observation of his idea that we’re in our separate capsules. It’s Getting to actually experience the feeling time. But his filmography has always been dot- and the same lack of recognition continued movements around New York. not true.” of begging, if only for hours at a time, Gere ted with more daring than he’s often given throughout the production. “They could have The movie doesn’t just capture George’s says, was more like being a black hole than credit for, from 1978’s “Days of Heaven” to seen Richard Gere if they looked into his eyes,” story, though. It’s a close-up of the soul-crush- ‘interior opera’ being invisible. 2007’s “I’m Not There” to 2012’s “Arbitrage.” says Moverman. “Here we are putting make- ing experience of homelessness: The Gere, a longtime New Yorker, first got a pass He could feel people avoiding him, going “Time Out of Mind,” which he hopes leads to believe in the middle of reality, and reality is omnipresent assault of noise, the indignities of to homeless shelters 12 years ago. He’s worked through an “interior opera” of guilt that he more collaborations with Moverman, is part of saying, ‘No, that’s reality. That’s not make- shelters, the sanity-shattering invisibility. But with the Coalition for Homeless for years and notes, ultimately “has very little to do with the a recent string of films for the still ambitious believe.’ It doesn’t matter who it is.” In “Time it’s also a wider view of urban life where the refers to his “homeless friends” he’s gotten to reality of that guy on the street corner.” Gere. “I’m not going to waste any time,” he Out of Mind,” which opens Friday, Gere plays a normal occupations of people are going on all know while researching the film. He took a lot It gave him a taste of “how quickly we dete- says. “I’m still enjoying this.” — AP Witherspoon named People magazine’s ‘best-dressed’ of 2015 ctress Reese Witherspoon was named reporters were encouraged to ask actresses on People magazine’s best-dressed person the red carpet more about their work in movies Aof 2015 yesterday. Witherspoon, the than their style choices. Oscar-winning star of movie “Walk The actress is often a fashion favorite on the Line,” headed a list that includes Hollywood red carpets, opting for a pale blue fitted off- stars Julianne Moore, Kate Hudson, and 15- the-shoulder Tom Ford gown to this year’s year-old “Mad Men” actress Kiernan Shipka. Oscars, a silver beaded strapless Calvin Klein Witherspoon, 39, has clear ideas about what dress for the Golden Globes and a one-shoul- she likes (bright hues and clean lines) and what dered Giorgio Armani gown for the SAG she doesn’t (crop tops and puffy dresses). awards. People magazine also named some of “I’d look like a mushroom,” she told People their best-dressed couples, including actress magazine of such styles, saying her height, at 5 Gabrielle Union and Miami Heat basketball ft 2 in (1.58 meters), is a fashion liability. “I player husband Dwayne Wade, singer John always tell my stylist that it’s hard to dress Legend and his model wife Chrissy Teigen, short girls.” Witherspoon ironically was one of and “Magic Mike” actor Channing Tatum and the women leading an #AskHerMore campaign his actress and dancer wife Jenna Dewan at the 2015 Oscars ceremony in which Tatum. — Reauters Reese Witherspoon File photo showsPhillip Sweet, from left, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook, of Little Big Town, arrive at the CMT Music Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. — AP photos Little Big Town, Eric Church Venice film review: ‘11 Minutes’ here’s a lot of life but a comparative dearth imposed rules he wishes, though it’s hard not to incidents. A hangdog hot dog vendor (and it is of humanity in “11 Minutes,” a buzzing, view this as an avoidable cop-out. suggested, a disgraced college professor) awaits Thurtling, too-fast-to-think thriller that a lift from a young drug courier, while the latter lead CMA nominations scarcely makes sense of one of its numerous Personal crises flees a tryst with a wealthy married woman. cross-woven mini-narratives. Antically jumping, A pre-credit prologue, dubbed a “cyber ittle Big Town crushed it with their song Church earned his first nomination for rewinding and shifting perspectives across a cemetery” by the helmer, sets the tone of pan- Cartoonish climax “Girl Crush” and are tied with Eric Church entertainer of the year and was also nominat- tight (but not 11-minute) timeframe as a cross- icked confusion from the off. Using only scrappy, One of the vendor’s customers licks her Lwith five nominations each at this year’s ed for male vocalist, single, song and musical section of Warsaw residents witness the chaotic everyday-access means of filming-a webcam, a wounds after an acrimonious breakup. An on- Association Awards. In the event of the year for a duet with Keith Urban. prelude to a calamity, this unexpectedly trend- smartphone, a CCTV camera-Skolimowski intro- edge paramedic team overcomes a hysterical nominations announced Wednesday, the four- Kenny Chesney earned four nominations conscious return for veteran Polish auteur Jerzy duces his raggedly stressed assembly of subjects diversion to reach a woman in labor. And so the part vocal group rode the success of the song including entertainer, single, musical event Skolimowski will earn him some slightly patron- in the midst of disparate personal crises that we threads multiply-raising many questions, if not to nominations for of the year for “Pain and album for “The Big Revival,” which he also izing plaudits for its sheer caffeinated drive-as if can’t yet decipher. Auds may expect the ensuing much equivalent interest in seeing them Killer”; vocal group; musical event for a duet produced. Lambert also earned four nomina- skilled 77-year-old filmmakers are expected to film to catch up to these story glimmers in due answered-ahead of a punchier, more extrava- with Miranda Lambert; music video and single tions for entertainer, female vocalist, musical set all their films at a walking pace. course, though that won’t be the case for all of gantly cartoonish climax that layers peril upon of the year. The songwriters for “Girl Crush,” Liz event and music video. Also nominated in the them. The more enduring implication of this peril. It’s the technical bravado of the enterprise, Rose, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey, also CMA’s top award, entertainer of the year, were Rigorous pulse intro is that we’re all, by dint of modern technol- rather, that sustains our attention. After the received a nomination for song of the year. Garth Brooks and Luke Bryan, who also got a But while “11 Minutes” gives his technique a ogy and surveillance, stars of film narratives- scuzzy camera sources of the prologue, the film nod for male vocalist. brisk workout, it’s minor-to-sloppy on a concep- whether of our own making or otherwise-on a expands into a sleek widescreen aesthetic. Singer-songwriters stood out in this year’s tual and narrative basis, shot through with daily basis. The strand that emerges most domi- Sound design is impressively oppressive, nominations with Kacey Musgraves, Sam underbaked script threads-some of them raw nant is among its least superficially compelling, making strong use of passing-yet-pounding Hunt, Chris Stapleton and Maddie & Tae all dough, frankly-passed off as experimental snap- as a human oil-slick of an American filmmaker incidental noise-in particular, a low-flying plane receiving three nominations. It was also a shots. The pic’s surface flash, however, may daz- (Irish thesp Richard Dormer, rather overdoing it) that repeatedly resonates as a doom-laden leit- good year for new and emerging acts as four zle up some European distributor interest. invites a nervous ingenue actress (Paulina motif. All metallic textures and vertiginous artists debuted in the new artist category who Anyone who saw Skolimowski’s last feature, Chapko) to his luxury hotel suite for an audition. under-and-over movement, Mikolaj Lebkowski’s also earned nominations in other categories 2010’s Vincent Gallo-starring survival thriller Coy casting-couch insinuations abound, while lensing is not especially innovative, but is ath- for the first time. “Essential Killing,” shouldn’t be surprised by the her suspicious husband and manager (Wojciech letically fit for purpose. Editor Agnieszka Glinska The new artist category includes Hunt, formal itchiness on display here-though that Mecwaldowski), bearing a fresh facial wound, keeps things barreling forward in kinetically dis- Maddie & Tae, Thomas Rhett, Stapleton and pic’s rigorous pulse was tied to undeniably stalks the building in search of the right room. tracted fashion, but can’t tease out a great sense Kelsea Ballerini, who helped announce the immediate human stakes. “11 Minutes” is a more Skolimowski checks in repeatedly on the poten- of purpose in the whirl-which is how her direc- nominations with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler on evasive, elliptical affair all round, which limits its tial love triangle’s progress over the film’s brief tor appears to want it in this fizzy but flagrantly ABC’s “Good Morning America.” international arthouse prospects despite a duration, splicing in shards of even less scrutable nihilistic exercise. — Reuters and got a nomination for decidedly commercial sheen. musical event of the year for their album, After all, multi-stranded, clock-watching “.”Carrie Underwood and genre pieces hinging on simple twists of fate Brad Paisley will host the No 4 awards show at aren’t the relative novelty they once were. Eric Church performs at LP Field at the the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Skolimowski’s planned solution to the derivative CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tenn. The show will air on ABC. — AP form of his script is to forgo storytelling arcs and unifying themes entirely, gaining momentum from his characters’ constant collective move- ment rather than the explication and accumula- ‘Eye of the Tiger’ writer tion of personal objectives and obstacles. It’s a bold strategy that would perhaps be more effec- tive in a film with either an avant-garde or stark- slams anti-gay clerk ly realist sensibility. Given how much of “11 Minutes” takes place in the glibly heightened he songwriter behind “Eye of the Tiger” has issue licenses despite a Supreme Court ruling realm of the Hollywood-molded actioner, its var- protested after a US county clerk who that declared marriage a constitutional right for ious fragments are rather short on intrigue, refused to issue marriage licenses to gay same-sex couples. T whether considered alone or in simmering con- couples emerged from jail to the 1982 hit. Frankie Written by Survivor for a film of the “Rocky” Sullivan, the guitarist and main songwriter from boxer franchise, “Eye of the Tiger” was also used text. Skolimowski also, rather curiously, ducks Chicago band Survivor, said he did not give in 2012 by Republican candidate Newt Gingrich out on what would appear to be the pic’s defin- Rowan County, Kentucky, official Kim Davis per- until Sullivan filed suit. US politicians, especially ing gimmick. mission to use the song. “I would not grant her on the right, have frequently struggled to find While it seems at the outset that all the film’s the rights to use Charmin!” Sullivan wrote on songs by sympathetic musicians. In the latest action will be contained, from multiple vantage Facebook, referring to a brand of toilet paper. Republican presidential race, left-leaning artists points, within a single 11-minute period, the He also complained about presidential candi- Neil Young and the Dropkick Murphys have helmer flouts that restriction as matters unfold date Mike Huckabee’s appearance at Tuesday’s voiced outrage over use of their songs by Trump in a wider radius of activity. Per press notes, rally with Davis, saying that the former Arkansas and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker respective- Skolimowski changed tack in the writing governor should “do better” than frontrunner ly. However, Dee Snider, the frontman of heavy process, preferring to view the 11-minute win- contender Donald Trump, a blunt-spoken billion- metal band Twisted Sister, recently gave his dow as a “metaphor,” perhaps of our enslave- Actor Wojciech Mecwaldowski (L), actress Paulina Chapko and director Jerzy Skolimowski aire. Davis, a born-again Christian, was jailed last blessing for Trump to use the band’s angst-rid- ment to time’s passage in the first place. A film- pose during the photocall of the movie “11 Minut” (11 Minutes) presented in competition week for contempt of court after she refused to den 1984 hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” — AFP maker is, of course, free to break any self- at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival yesterday at Venice Lido. — AFP