DVD
Rifkin's festival
Call Number
- DVD COMEDY (CEN)
Languages
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Performers
Elena Anaya, Louis Garrel, Gina Gershon, Sergi López, Wallace Shawn, Christoph Waltz, Tammy Blanchard, Steve Guttenberg, Richard Kind, Douglas McGrath.
Publication Information
[Orland Park, Illinois] : MPI Media Group, [2022]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (92 minutes) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Audience
MPA rating: PG-13; for suggestive/sexual material and some drug use, language and thematic elements.
Summary
Cinema devotee Mort Rifkin accompanies his publicist wife Sue to the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, worried that her fascination with her young film director client, Philippe, might be more than professional. In addition, Mort hopes the change of scenery will provide a respite from his struggle to write a first novel that lives up to his impossibly exacting standards. Turned off by the lavish praise showered on Philippe's film, which he considers banal, Mort becomes preoccupied with the cinema classics he once taught as a professor, by masters like Bergman, Fellini, Godard, Truffaut, and Bun̄uel. Mort's relentlessly dismissive opinions of Philippe, Sue's current focus as a professional and someone she greatly admires, strains their already frayed relationship. Mort's mood lightens when he meets Jo Rojas, a kindred spirit whose marriage to tempestuous painter Paco is also causing her pain. While Mort's personal tastes have sometimes pushed people away, Jo's intellect and shared sensibility draw them closer together. While Sue spends her days with Philippe, Mort's relationship with Jo deepens and he rekindles his love for classic films. Reflecting on the events of his life through the prism of those great movie, Mort finds renewed hope for his future.
Notes
Originally released as a motion picture in 2020.
Special feature: World premiere at San Sebastian Film Festival, September 2020.