Viggo Mortensen Honored at Chicago Film Festival
Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs Promote Film "Good" at Fest
The Harris Theater, at the north end of Chicago's Millennium Park, hosted the premiere of the film Good for the closing night of the Chicago International Film Festival. Director Vicente Amorim hit the Film Festival red carpet first, followed by Good stars Jason Isaacs and Viggo Mortensen. Fans crowded the lobby, thousands of flashes from cameras and camera phones frantically capturing every smile and movement of two bonafide movie stars.
Jason Isaacs and Viggo Mortensen spent nearly an hour moving along the ropes, talking with Chicago Film Festival attendees, signing autographs and giving interviews to the press. Jason Isaacs was jovial and good-natured with fans; Viggo Mortensen is more shy by nature, but no less accommodating. I'm proud to say that for a Film Festival event with stars of this caliber, my fellow Chicagoans were largely a well-behaved bunch, waiting their turn with very little of the typical pushing, shoving, or shouting.
Chicago International Film Festival stars Jason Isaacs and Viggo Mortensen were handsome and dashing in tailored dark suits. Both men looked more vibrant and youthful in person, and no one would guess that the bright-eyed Viggo Mortensen had just celebrated his 50th birthday on the 20th of this month.
Chicago International Film Festival --Viggo Mortensen Career Achievement Tribute
Renowned television journalist Bill Kurtis hosted the Chicago International Film Festival presentations. He seemed delighted to be there, relishing every line of his speech as he listed the career achievements of Viggo Mortensen. He then introduced the Viggo Mortensen Chicago International Film Festival tribute film clips, which had to be the oddest and most uncomfortable group of Viggo Mortensen film clips ever.
The Viggo Mortensen montage began with a lengthy clip of a disturbing scene between Viggo and Patricia Arquette in Indian Runner. The audience visibly squirmed. Then it moved on to odd sequences from Alatriste, Carlito's Way (with Al Pacino), a nearly silent clip from Hidalgo, and Boromir's death scene from Lord of the Rings. Then, unbelievably, the infamous violent sex-on-the-stairs scene with Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello from A History of Violence.
Now, like most women, I have no complaints about seeing Viggo Mortensen naked on screen. However, taken out of context, the scene seems incredibly gratuitous, and several audience members were laughing nervously at it. Just a note to Chicago International Film Festival organizers: In future, when you're giving a career achievement award to a talented actor like Viggo Mortensen, it's not the best move to show him naked on a two story screen just before he walks out on stage.
Chicago International Film Festival --Viggo Mortensen Career Achievement Award
Chicago International Film Festival founder and artistic director Michael Kutza presented the Career Achievement Award to Viggo Mortensen. Viggo gave a heartfelt acceptance speech and let his sense of humor show through. He said that he was glad that it was a Chicago Film Festival Career Achievement Award rather than a Lifetime Achievement Award, because he was a little scared thinking this might be the end. Mortensen confessed he'd also been reluctant to accept the award at first--that while he's often considered taking a break from movie acting, it had been a little unsettling to think someone had made the choice to end his career for him.
Viggo Mortensen mentioned the pleasure he's had making films with so many fine actors, and that he often doesn't realize how long he's been doing this until someone brings up one of his older movies. Viggo grinned sheepishly as he mentioned the Chicago Film Festival clip montage and how young he'd looked in some of the scenes.
Mortensen then passed the Chicago Film Festival baton to Jason Isaacs, whom he claimed could be far more eloquent than he ever could be. In his precise English accent, Jason Isaacs shared the story of how he became involved in the film Good, from his protestations that such a movie could never be made to being fully dedicated to the film. He described the movie as a thoughtful piece, with wonderful nuanced acting from Viggo Mortensen, and no blood or explosions or chase sequences.
Director Vicente Amorim then came on to thank Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs, and all the parties involved with the Chicago International Film Festival and his film Good. He stressed that Good is not merely an historical piece, but something he felt was applicable to modern times and the difficult decisions we often have to make in our lives.
Chicago International Film Festival -- The film Good, based on a play by C.P. Taylor.
As Jason Isaacs promised, the film Good is a quiet, moving, thoughtful film with brilliantly nuanced acting. The story shows the progression of the character John Halder (Viggo Mortensen), a quiet man who teaches literature at a German university and exists in chaos at home with a scattered artistic wife, two children and an ailing mother. In a time of political and social upheaval, Halder struggles to find his place in life, with the help of his Jewish psychologist friend Maurice (Jason Isaacs).
One day Halder is summoned by the most powerful government officials in Germany. Moved by a novel he wrote about compassionate euthanasia, the government wants him to pen a paper about the subject to be used as support for the new regime's way of thinking. As the Chicago Film Festival program explains, " Halder (Mortensen) finds his career rising in an optimistic current of nationalism and prosperity. Yet with Halder's change in fortune, his seemingly inconsequential decisions potentially jeopardize the people in his life with devastating effects."
Good is brutally honest, and tells the story from a point of view not usually covered in movies about Hitler's reign. For everyone who's ever wondered how so many of the German people could get swept into something so horrifyingly evil, Good offers an explanation. It's not a comforting one, but it's vividly real. As director Amorim stated, the themes in this film will hit close to home, closer than viewers may want it to.
Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs both give compelling performances, and their onscreen rapport is so powerful that it turned into a real life friendship. Good's subject matter is difficult, but there are humorous moments between the friends as well as poignant moments of love with family. Definitely a film worth seeing, and discussing, and remembering.
See Good film stills and find out more about Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs at the Internet Movie Database. Visit the Chicago International Film Festival website. Buy Viggo Mortensen books at Amazon. Visit Perceval Press, owned by Viggo Mortensen. Keep up with Viggo Mortensen news, articles, fan photos and more at Viggo-Works .
Published by Valerie David - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Valerie David has written articles for TVOvermind, TheFrisky.com, eHow, IMDB, Travels.com, TVNow, & her own TV news blog. She's also published in fiction, with short romantic stories and a manga comic script. View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentThanks, Terry. I had trouble with the pics, too. Viggo moved around a lot, so it was hard to get shots where he wasn't all blurry! I agree with you about the ending. It definitely shows that it's from a play, since it has more of that dialogue-heavy minimalist style with perhaps a less than conventional ending. It is one of those movies that makes you think about it long after it's over.
Hey Valerie, thank you so much for the article and pics. I was at the film festival too but was too short to get any really good pics--usually everyone's head was in the way! I've been crazy about Viggo ever since Perfect Murder. I couldn't believe it when I saw he was coming here!
I wasn't sure how I felt about the movie at first, but my friend and I ended up talking about it the whole ride home, so that definitely says something. I think it was more like a play, since it didn't end in a way most movies usually end.
A few things about the film could possibly have been tighter, but I enjoy these sorts of real time movies that meander like real life does. The whole crux of the movie was the slow build-up of some of the more terrible events. I think a more typical, forceful storytelling would have detracted from the point they were trying to make.
I'm sure the film won't be for everyone. It took awhile to even be picked up by Toronto, and it seemed the actors and director were grateful to Chicago for taking the risk to show it here.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1163013/viggo_mortensen_receives_award_at_chicago.html
Just so you can compare, I must say that my review (written at 4:30 a.m.!) needs better proofing. (Mea culpe). However, you can hear the comments of the participants (actors, director) and get a very different point-of-view about the montage of film clips. I was just sorry that "Eastern Promises'" shower scene didn't make the cut. All of the clips were riveting, visceral, engaging. A big contrast to the night's featured film, which seemed to sort of amble or wander around amongst a jumble of important ideas that are truly worthy of consideration, but needed to be conveyed in a more believable and interesting (and, yes, visceral and compelling) fashion. But that' s just my opinion. I won't be sitting through it again.
Thank you, Sue, for your comments. It's funny, right after the performance I said it was a shame they didn't have a Q&A afterwards. I love being able to hear what the filmmakers envisioned while the film is fresh in the mind, and hear the audience's different takes on it. That's interesting that your second viewing gave you a different impression. I agree with you, hindsight is 20/20. It's natural to judge Viggo's character harshly, but he didn't have all the knowledge we have. We tend to see war films with defined heroes and villians, when in reality, bad times and war are filled with many regular people that have debilitating fears and family responsibilities and true human fraility.
And weren't those clips bizarre? They didn't really even illustrate his acting in most cases, either.
Hi Valerie, Thanks for a nice synopsis of last night - I think I agree with you on all points, especially with the very odd assortment of clips they showed.
I actually saw GOOD in Toronto and didn't care for it too much and thought that Viggo's character was cowardly and couldn't figure out what was "good" in his character. I think this was colored by the fact that we know what happened in Nazi Germany and we know the history that these characters did not. There was an extended Q&A that explained a lot and seeing the film again last night changed my mind about it. I can appreciate the subtlety of the performances and the story. It's not an easy film to appreciate, but I am really pleased I gave it another shot.
Last night's crowd was indeed the quietest and most polite I've seen in ages. Viggo was his usual patient and giving self to the fans. He is a star with a lot of class and depth.