This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Venice, Italy • Willem Dafoe says "A Woman," one of his latest projects, is the kind of "pure personal cinema" that he wants to keep on doing.
Dafoe plays a novelist devastated by his wife's death yet caught up in a new romance in the film by Italian director Giada Colagrande, his real-life wife.
The film noir starts out in nighttime Manhattan, and only gets dark under the harsh light of Italy's southern Puglia region, where the sun and the sea play menacing roles.
"It is quite pure personal cinema, and it is quite pure cinema, because it is an expression of what Giada wants it to be," Dafoe said in an interview this week at the Venice Film Festival, where the movie premiered in a section of Italian films.
"What it is is quite unusual, and something I want to keep doing," he added.
"A Woman" was one of two films in which Dafoe appeared in Venice. The 55-year-old actor also had a small part as Eddie, an American who witnesses the evolution of an orphanage for Palestinian children, in director Julian Schnabel's "Miral."
But the film he is busy promoting at the Lido is his wife's. It's her third film, and their second project together after "Before It Had a Name," which he also co-wrote. All three of Colagrande's movies have premiered at Venice.
There is something menacing in Dafoe's Max Oliver, as in many of his better-known roles, from Spider-Man's nemesis Green Goblin to the rat in Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox." But Dafoe says he doesn't think he is always cast as a villain.
"I think that is people's perception because the more widely seen movies, the more studio movies tend to function more in the dark way, as an antagonist. But if I look at my filmography, probably I play more heroes than bad guys," Dafoe said.
In "A Woman," it's not always clear who's the good guy and who's the bad guy. Max is in New York City promoting his new book when he falls in love with Julie, played by Jess Weixler, whose acting credits include appearances in the TV series "Medium" and "Law&Order" as well as films including "Teeth."
It's only when Julie accompanies Max to Italy, where he is working on a novel, that the mystery emerges. The Italian sequences are filmed under strong light, reflected in the beach where Julie sunbathes beneath a vertigo-inducing black-and-white swirling hat, and in the sprawling bleached stone villa where Max writes. Julie can't seem to escape the presence of Max's dead wife, Lucia Giordano, a beautiful tango dancer.
"I think all along in the story, lots of little possibilities are dropped. Some are developed, some are not," Dafoe said. "Giada, as she tells the story, makes room for the audience to join Julie's paranoia."
Dafoe said his Max "is very guarded. ... He's carrying a secret."
Colagrande said she was inspired by American noir films of the 1940s, where the plot functioned on a more subconscious and less overt level. She took inspiration from Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and "Notorious" as well as from the work of David Lynch and video artist Bill Viola.
"Noir is my favorite genre in films. ... That is always a source of inspiration and a reference for anything I write or I direct or have made so far," said Colagrande, 35. "In this case, the element I was attracted to from noir as well and other sources was the use of light and of the shade and the composition."
The contrast of dark and light is a key element of the film. New York represents a positive sort of mystery that turns foreboding under Puglia's strong light.
"The white part was more the properly scary part, the kind of negative mystery that drives to madness," she said.
In the same way, the sun and sea, usually beckoning fun and relief, play against character.
"The sun and the sea were basically the devils of our tale. It is really about a sense of belonging to those elements in a scary way," Colagrande said.
Dafoe and Colagrande, who married in 2005, said they will continue their professional collaboration but Colagrande didn't want to say what that those plans might be.
"I am superstitious and I can't talk about them," she said.
"A Woman" will screen in the Pusan Film Festival next month in South Korea. For the moment, the couple are working on finding the right distribution.
Dafoe is also looking forward to the release of another project, "John Carter of Mars," a return to animation with Andrew Stanton of Disney's Pixar Animation Studios. Dafoe previously worked with Stanton on "Finding Nemo," playing Gill, the wizened aquarium fish who helps Nemo to freedom.
In "John Carter of Mars," based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs graphic novel, Dafoe plays a 9-foot-tall Martian warrior.
"I think it is going to be an important movie. It's very big, it has lots of special effects, live action mixed with special effects," Dafoe said.
I would like to share my thoughts from a layman’s point of view as follows:
When the matter was raised in Parliament in April 1994 by Lim, Anwar had denied it, saying he was “fully satisfied with the reasons” given by Jaffar for the Bank Negara’s forex losses.
•It looks like the person who really tried to cover up the case was the late Jaffar Hussein, the then Bank Negara Governor. If Anwar was “fully satisfied with the reasons” and Lim had no evidence in hand or grounds to push the case further, Lim, being the astute politician he is, knew it was pointless to pursue the case presupposing that the four great-time gamblers had faultlessly and fully covered their tracks.
Raja Petra said that Anwar’s attempt to cover up the losses itself is tantamount to him being involved in the scandal.
•If what Anwar said was tantamount to him being involved in the scandal, I believe it should be proven, not assumed, that Anwar was privy to the case as well. Isn’t this stretching the matter? If not, couldn’t it similarly be said that Lim was “fully satisfied with the reasons” given by Anwar and therefore it was tantamount to Lim also being involved in the scandal? Certainly, no!
The blogger also queried Rosli, who is also a PAS member, on why he did not expose the matter in 1999, when he resigned from Bank Negara.
•I believe Dr. Rosli is no fool and neither was he “chicken.” He was not only careful and realistic but also smart and wise knowing that was not the right time to expose the matter then, unless he wanted himself and maybe his entire family persecuted by the authorities. Remember how Marina Yusof was mercilessly treated and punished after she challenged the PM then?
“Why after more than 10 years did he decide to speak up even though he has not offered any evidence to support his allegation?” asked Raja Petra.
•Probably, he is brave enough and he thinks it’s the right time to do so now. He knew and we wonder how many others with him knew about the nonsense that was going on in Bank Negara then even though they might not have access to the hard evidence. Did Bank Negara ever dabble in forex trading and lost billions as alleged? If it did, that meant it was an undeniable fact, the evidence notwithstanding. Maybe it’s time to get to the bottom of his horrendous felony.