31 August
        Today's films in competion are: *Combat des Fauves* by Benoit Lamy
(Belgium) and *A Ostra e o Vento* by Walter Lima (Brazil).
        *Combat* is primarily shot in an elevator stuck between two floors,
where a fifty year old ace of the advertising world (Richard
Bohringer engaged in a tour de force performance onscreen but  also
off, as I found him singing in the bar of the hotel Excelsior--where
most of the film people are hosted) is held captive by a woman (Ute
Lemper) who owns the apartment he intended to rent.  A fairly
predictable story where the man loses his power and is forced to
reevaluate his life.  Finally, he leaves his prison after two days,
an "older and wiser man.  Quite a disappointment from the director
who made *La Vie Est Belle* (1987).
        *Ostra* is a story of "open sexuality and paternal rebellion, but
above all of the 'physical' rapport between a young girl and the
element of air."  Marcela lives with her father and old Daniel
in an island inhabited by thousands of sea-birds.  Her father keeps
Marcela as a prisoner, forbidden from contact with the outside world
and old Daniel, who teaches her how to read, becomes her only source
of knowledge and affection.  With the advent of puberty, Marcela
experience an explosion of vitality which awakens her sexually and
arouses an intense desire for living.  However, she becomes more and
more immersed in a world of fantasy: she conjures up a physical and
emotional love-affair with the wind itself.  In the end, Marcela's
desire for freedom clashes with her father's tyranny.
        Harrison Ford arrived today on a private jet to present *Air Force
One* and "delighted" the press with his philosophical musings.  I
quote: "I'm an assistant story-teller.  It's like being a waiter or a
gas station attendant, but I'm waiting on six million people a week,
if I'm lucky."  What he did not mention, which is public knowledge
anyway, is that, unlike a gas station attendant or a waitstaff, he
makes $20 millions a film.  Needless to say, the Mostra was all over
Mr. Ford (except for me).  How sad.
        Finally, and on a more serious note, *Mi Ricordo, Si Io Mi ricordo*
(on Mastroianni) will be shown in the US (when?).  Rumors indicate a
possible Oscar nomination.
 
        Gloria Monti
 
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