"Cannes Can't Hold A Candle"
a review of the Nantucket Film Festival
By
'The Screen Queen"
If Nantucket film festival, were a script, it would win an Oscar for "Best Screenplay" and here's why:
FADE IN:
Ext. Town of Nantucket - Day
Cobblestone streets, yesteryear, boutiques (sans franchises) carved wooden signs snapping in the sea-breeze with sun-drenched shore-lines in the distance. TOURISTS roam the streets mingled with high-profile types behaving very low-profile - actors, directors, writers - as they congregate outside the;
Ext. Dreamland Theater
…where a few posters hang from the clapboard siding, just as V.I.P. tags hang around salty PATRON'S necks, as the sun pounds on the line of guests, anxious to get inside the;
INT. DreamlandTheater
…to claim a seat in the dark-cool room with a feeling of nostalgia. No cup holders in these chairs. No Armani suits, no attitudes, no cell-phone-Hollywood-types here. They were checked at the ferry along with any attitude. Instead the attire is shorts, baseball caps, sandals and smiles.
Yet, look closely. Mixed in we've seen BEN STILLER, PETER FARRELLY, MICHAEL MAILER, MARISA TOMEI and CONAN O'BRIEN to name a few - they magically blend in with the rest.
The old popcorn machine pops as friendly sun-burnt KIDS, posing as interns, inquire about "butter on that" bucket. Hugging old friends and reminiscing along the aisle to find a seat, I recognize familiar faces of last year's festival. Moments later, the lovely top dog, JILL GOODE, not to be confused with the black dog, stands at the front of the screen to welcome us back to the festival's 7th year. Then the lights dip, the crowd's talk silence to a whisper and another movie begins -- hoping to get noticed, hoping to catch hype, and hoping to land a distribution deal.
FADE OUT well, sort of…
It's the films Hollywood doesn't want you to see. The unusual and the controversial Oscar nominated "The Full Monty" opened here. So did "The Tao of Steve" and Gwenyth Paltrow's "Emma". This year's east coast premiere of "The Good Girl" starring Jennifer Aniston begins here, too. But it's not the movies, or panels, or awards. Sure, they're all good. Instead it's the simplicity that no other festival world-wide possesses.
It's artistic director Mystelle Brabbee in a flitty sundress with sun-kissed nose. It's Jill Goode's calming energy as she stops to talk to stars like Rosie Perez just as earnestly as she'd speak to some couple from Idaho here to catch their first Hollywood-non-Hollywood experience. It's NBC's Al Rooker looking down at his foot in a cast as he informs us that he has one word for Nantucket's cobblestone streets 'Asphalt!' It's carelessly stopping for a Nantucket Nectar at the news stand, or sneaking out of a movie to chow down on a pile of hash browns at Black Eyed Susan's with the breakfast crowd. It's a new shirt at Pollack's, the Barney's of the island. Or simple flip-flops and Nantucket Reds from Murray's Togglery as we splash through puddles in the rain to arrive breathless at the Boarding House and sip that martini under shelter, chatting up the latest buzz on a screening.
It's where NBC big shots like President Bob Wright and his wife Suzanne invite you to their home overlooking the horizon from their close to Wauwinet deck . It's gazing at the ocean all the while wondering if your film will win first prize as you suck down oysters with the talented James Schamus (who tells his latest movie plot to follow up on his "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). It's Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller doing a staged reading in the old Methodist Church. It's not Brad Pitt, but instead it's Ring Lardner Jr. for writing M*A*S*H.
It's difficult to get to - it's prop planes, ferries and reservations. It's hard to find accommodations. And it's that very limited availability that keeps it quaint, contained and in-control with a touch of sophistication but never any pretense. It's fog rolling in because "fog happens' on this island. It's for that person serious enough to want to get to ACK (Nantucket) because they care about writers and not just the next party. It's about screenwriters, not movie stars. It's about art. It's about the beginning, because there isn't a movie without a good script. It's an occasion that works its own sort of cinematic magic, transforming a peaceful island into a vibrant film hub. Heck, Hollywood couldn't build a set like this!
It's a mood. It's a calm. It's New England sensibilities meets Ship Captains' ghosts crashing into Hollywood. The Hamptons want it. Sundance doesn't have it. Cannes can't hold a candle.
And, finally it's Jill Goode, festival director sitting on a rock at Jetty's beach after closing night ceremony. The waves smash along the shore, spraying her with the salty and satisfying reality of knowing the festival has completed another successful year. Next year will be the sequel.
Now, that's a story. Cut!
FADE OUT
