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December 1, 2008
Ciao is opening
Ciao officially opens in New York this Friday. It's so strange to think that the movie we helped Yen make over two years ago is finally going to get an honest to goodness theatrical release. The trailer is playing before Milk and other films in select markets; the poster is in newspapers and magazines. There are our names, right there in the credit blocks. It all feels somewhat legitimate in a new and rather strange way. So if you're in New York this week, or San Francisco the week after, or in Los Angeles at Christmas, please do go see the film. The better it does at the box-office over the next month, the further it'll go beyond its initial ten-city platform engagement. Yen will be attending all of these opening weekends, too, so say hello if you're there.
Cut to a month ago: the trailer was about to go online, and Yen prepared me for the worst. The studios advertising team had cut it, and I was fully expecting to see an ad promoting a film about a hot European fling, set to throbbing club beats. The funny thing is that, when Yen first started writing the script four years ago, that's exactly what he set out to do: not to create an entirely superficial film, per se, but to write one with just the right ingredients to be marketed as such, with the idea that such a package would woo investors. That didn't pan out, of course, and all the better, because before too long that script evolved into something far more intimate and personal and, of course, uncommercial. That's the same film that ended up selling, and now here it is on the big screen. Even more impressive, that's exactly what it's being marketed as. The trailer does make me cringe a little bit - the sound mix sets my teeth on edge, and the glossy text effects have the odd effect of making the movie look more low-budget than it actually is (or maybe just as low-budget as it actually is) - but all the same, I'm a little bit jealous of what it does right. Yen and I tried to cut a trailer time after time, and we never managed to distill the essence of it into two minutes quite as simply as this one does. I would always err on the artsy, abstract side, while Yen tried to cram more of the plot in. The studio trailer takes a median approach. Maybe the music and the crossfades dull Yen's intentions, maybe the critical quotes are more niche than we'd have liked, but regardless: here's to Regent for taking a risk and not selling the film for what it isn't.
So now we're on press watch. Slant gave it an honest, even-handed pan. New York Magazine's blurb was positive. I think we're all just holding our breath for the Times...
Posted by David Lowery at December 1, 2008 8:38 AM
Comments
I was planning on seeing it in San Francisco in a few days. I'll see if I can gather up a few friends to see it with me. Here's hoping for some good returns.
Posted by: Bryan Oldaker at December 4, 2008 3:13 PM