If you're going to catch "CHE" - which is being unveiled this week at the AFI Film Fest - the best place to catch the much-heralded release by controversial director - Steven Soderbergh - is where the press slipped in to view it today.
Michael Hall's plush little theatre on Wilshire in Beverly Hills is comfy enough to soften the mind-numbing ramblings of what ended up being an interminably-long film.
It's doubtful I would have held out 'til the end, had I attended a preview at a regular movie house with cramped seating and poor screening facilities.
I arrived early, so I was able to snatch up one of the big comfy easy chairs at the back.
Even still, Che is a four-hour plus celluloid offering that is tough to sit through for the most-patient of film buffs.
If I was required to take a gander at one more close-up shot of a military boot, ticking clock, or soldier standing around in the jungle engaging in idle chit-chat, I would have screamed bloody murder.
Get me outta here!
Albeit, there was a half-hour intermission, but the big screen bio amounts to a bloated overly-long tribute to Soderbergh's ego and an exercise in excess.
Yes, there is a taut little film with the potential to impact somewhere, but it's trussed up inside a lot of marbled fat!
The film starts off slow. Continues, slowly. Then, slowly ends at the close of the first two-hour segment without having accomplished a heck of a lot.
Except to cause me to doze off a couple of moments here and there in the dark.
But - the 2nd part of the ambitious bio grips - jolts the audience out of a deep slumber - and turns down an entertaining path.
Thankfully!
Of course, Benicio Del Toro is fascinating to marvel at from beyond the footlights, as always.
His performance is worth the price of admission alone.
Out-of-the blue, Matt Damon (gee, I think that was him) sauntered into a scene for about two minutes or so, then vanished into thin air.
Duh!
What was that all about?
Frankly, the most appealing aspect of the film for me, was the highly stylized approach that Soderbergh took at various junctures as the film unfolded on the silver screen.
Even still, Che was uneven on those occasions, too.
Maps that were color-fed onto the screen on at least two occasions - to spoon-feed and educate the filmgoer about regions affected by the revolution - didn't gel for me.
At times, I was inclined to pinch myself.
Had I been magically transported back to a boring geography class of yesterday?
But - black & white shots of a fifties-era Cuba and intriguing camera-work which strategically layered scintillating images throughout the big budget fiasco - appealed to my artistic sensibilities now and then.At times, the soundtrack stirred the emotions, and added an undercurrent of drama.
But, after awhile, the score became an obvious tip-off.
Whenever a particular strain of music was obsequiously ushered in - the audience was keen to the fact by now - that something downright intriguing was about to happen right before their eyes.
Golly!
Perk up, get ready!
Thoroughly well-acted, well photographed, and well - ill-conceived.
I just betcha that if Soderbergh withdrew to the edit bay - and trimmed about forty-eight minutes of fat - he might have a dynamite little art-house film on his hands.
Til then, the release smacks of a ceremonial barge floating down the river, aimlessly.
No doubt, Che will be a big yawn, to many.
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