Ebertfest Coverage

Romance closes this years Ebertfest

Romance and Cigarettes

5:00 pm Apr 27 - by Andy Herren

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    "I'm off to see my man!" were the words passionately exclaimed by Chaz Ebert at the close of this year's bittersweet film festival. Although Roger Ebert himself could not attend, Chaz and an adoring audience full of Ebert lovers gave the Pulitzer-Prize winning critic a hearty round of applause.

    After the applause for Ebert died down, the curtains were drawn and Romance & Cigarettes, the festival's final film and lone musical, took the stage.

    Romance & Cigarettes, directed by John Turturro, boasts an amazing cast, with James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Mary-Louise Parker, Aida Turturro, Amy Sedaris and Mandy Moore all acting and singing their way through a story about a man who cheats on his wife, ultimately learning his lesson about love the hard way.

    The audience was very reactive to the film, shouting and clapping with joy on numerous occasions.

    Family was the word of the day at the Virginia Theatre. As Chaz hurried off to visit Roger in Chicago, the audience was left with a very personal movie loosely based on John Turturro's family.

    At the discussion after the film, Turturro's cousin Aida (who played Rosebud in the film) and choreographer Tricia Brouk spoke of the personal, from-the-heart nature of Romance & Cigarettes.

    "John is a great guy with a big heart," Turturro said."When the opening number [of Romance & Cigarettes] came on and everyone was clapping, I was like, "I can't wait to tell John!""

    The film had a very rocky release after Sony bought out United Artists, the company that was backing the film.

    "[Sony] didn't appreciate the film. They gave it no love, no backing. They just wanted to bring it to video, and this is a movie that should be seen on the big screen," Turturro said, talking of the film's unconventional nature and the major behemoth studio's hesitancy towards giving something different a wide release.

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    Last post: Apr. 30, 2008 at 1:37 am

    trisha (trisha ruiz) said on Apr. 28, 2008 at 1:18 am:

    "he tried to kill his self with black licorice!"

    my favorite quote of the whole movie

    Jeff Brandt (Jeff Brandt) said on Apr. 28, 2008 at 3:28 am:

    I'm sad I didn't go see this movie. I really enjoyed the whole Ebertfest environment, and I missed Romance & Cigarettes in order to go to an honors ceremony/banquet that basically just gave me a piece of paper to commemorate a scholarship I won a whole year ago. I've already used the money, many months ago, but I wasn't sure if being invited meant I was getting a new scholarship.

    So yeah, turned out it was basically a waste of time, plus I had to dress up in a dress pants, dress shirt, a tie, and a blazer just to go. Coulda just gone in jeans and a t-shirt to this movie and had a great time.

    God damn it. From what I've heard, this movie is fairly available though. Like, it's supposed to be on HBO on demand right now, or at least one of those on demands.

    Michael Yohanan (Michael Yohanan) said on Apr. 28, 2008 at 2:17 pm:

    goose frabba?

    Jeff Brandt (Jeff Brandt) said on Apr. 30, 2008 at 1:37 am:

    Anger Management?

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