Rage (2009)

I had seen Sally Potter's 1992, Orlando, with my favorite Tilda Swinton, but I am just now catching up with her later films. She manages to attract amazing actors to her films and this recent one is distinguished as the first film ever to debut on mobile phones. A wonderful low-budget prodction, the director set out to "think big on a small canvas."

Each scene is a monologue by a fabulous actor who is supposedly being interviewed and filmed by an unseen character, Michelangelo, outside a much-anticipated fashion event. The camera is the primary character in this story, along with this mystery person/blogger behind it. The characters curiously open up and bare their souls to this Michelangelo. Each one is made up in sharply defined style (almost cartoonish) against an opaque colored background. I watched the DVD version, but I can imagine how good this must look on a small phone screen.

Simon Abkarian from the 2004 film, Yes (commented on in the post below) is featured again here...this time as an artistic fashion designer. The most intriguing character is Minx, a highly made up transvestite model. I will not give away which actor plays her...took me the first twenty minutes of watching to get it. Steve Buscemi is wonderful as the craggy bug-eyed photographer. Judi Dench, Diane Wiest, John Leguizamo also star along with several others. Unexpected events unfold that disturb the highly-crafted identities of this crew of characters who live the world of appearance and make comments such as...

"We are all product--everything is product, everything is belief."

"Appearance and essence are two sides of the same thing."

"Is an idea a thing or is a thing an idea?"

"Taste, refinement, beauty--without beauty there is nothing and I can't stand nothing--that's why I can't stand buddhism."

The DVD has many extra scenes worth watching, along with a revealing interview with Sally Potter.