My Two Cents On Looking For Jimmy, Billy & Avignon NYC Screening

---

Since Gretchen and Sue have done excellent reviews on Looking For Jimmy I will try to make this a combination review, meeting of fans, friends, and surprises. As Gretchen mentioned this was "the girls" third meeting in NYC since getting together two years ago for a Kismet screening in Tribeca. Gretchen and I became great friends and any reason to meet up with her is a go for me, I hadn't seen Cyn in months also it would be a double treat. When I got a heads up from Emily Wagner about the film festival and the screening of Jimmy and started making calls. I also discovered that Reunion was also screening at the same festival, well, three friends and two Billy unseen films in 3 days. We usually meet in September but what the devil was a couple of months early.

At this point it was getting hysterical since I had just learned about Taos and was making plans for going there and this festival would be within a week of my return from there. Me with no job, little money but you only live once. I made some travel plans (and those of you who know how I love to do this are smiling) and we were set. Emily and I talked about meeting in NYC but at the last minute she had to stay in LA for re-taping of ER, she told me to check with Julie Delpy when I got to the screening "Jules" knew my name & the fanclub site from Emily and Billy.

Cyn and I went to Reunion on Thursday at 3PM, Billy showed up like he mentioned he might in Taos and had told me to look for him. Cyndie got to meet Billy and get a grade A+ hug, Billy now had both faces to go with the names of his fanclub site owners. Cyndie had to get back to work on Friday and Gretchen came into town early Friday morning. The three of us hit a French Cafe on the upper east side for brunch, shopping and a little touring of the new New York. Anyone who knows NYC but hasn't been in a few years needs to revisit. It is a neon world in Times Square and so clean it will scare you. I have been going the city since the 60's and cannot believe the changes in the past couple of years.

Train time for Cyn, relaxing and catching up for Gretch and myself. Out to dinner and off on a Friday night in NYC. As we took a short cut through the theater lobby we caught photographers getting photos of Julie Delpy in a crazy fun hat, bulbs were popping all over the place and this was certainly no time to say hi. We went into the Tinker and looked around, Gretchen was hoping Billy would show for Looking but since he had seen it at the AFI I figured he would pass. He had mentioned to Cyn and I on Thursday he was planning a day of golf with friends and some family time.

A gentleman came in and saved four seats in front of us, sitting down he asked to borrow my program, asked if we had seen the film, and that his children were the producers. Hey what a small world Emily & Andrew Wagner parent's, along with their uncle Hollywood Director Mark Rydell and his wife. I told him I had exchanged emails with Emily and we were there to support Billy Wirth and one of his projects. He updated me on how all of the "kids" had known each other since grade school and how Andrew and Billy had gone to Brown University together. They were both very into sports for their entire friendship and were still friends now that they both lived in LA. I told Mr. Wagner that Billy had mentioned Andrew recently at the Taos Film Festival and how Andrew had given Billy advise on editing MacArthur Park.

It was time for Julie to do a little introduction of her experimenton film. She told us that to get a cast and extras all actors/friends were invited to a cookout and those who attended were added to the cast and the cameras started rolling. Each actor was given a brief history of the plot and told to ad-lib the majority of the dialogue. Viewers were told to enjoy and she would be back for a Q&A.

If you read Gretchen's review you will follow along with the storyline, the film I found very interesting but than again I like European films, documentaries, shorts, etc., so after reading Sue's review and write-ups I was waiting to see what they had put together. As it turns out I enjoyed the movies. It is really not a film in the normal sense of the word but an experiment in digital processing. I feel that middle America and the average film viewer would not get this, that you would not find it playing at your local cinema complex, but art movie houses, film seminars, a teaching tool for young filmmakers would also be perfect. This is a great training tool for anyone wanting to try digital techniques.

They shot for 24 hours straight on a three thousand dollar budget only stopping for tape reloads. The actors were always "on," the camera is hand held and believe me it moves all over the place. From the 24 hours they cut the film back to 74 minutes, but I would love to see the footage that ended up on the cutting room floor.

Billy's character is called BILLY an actor living by his quick mind in West Hollywood. I have to agree with Sue on Billy's character study, a young actor hustling his way through the LA scene party to party looking for contacts and parts. I also feel like Sue that some people and fans will get the feeling that this character "is" Billy Wirth since he seems so comfortable and natural in this role. From having met Billy and spent time talking about different subjects I think he "played" the role to the hilt. The character is very over the top, which is just what Julie later said she was looking for. From the brief glimpses of Billy, Steven Constantino and the Cronies at a party, to the desert rave mix-up at Joshua Tree Park, to his tai chi moves on top of rocks, to a mesmerizing actor exercise with Billy and some fellow actors. I think fans and film viewers need to keep in mind it is only a character and not Billy Wirth playing himself.

Emily Wagner was hysterical as V, her antics in the desert at Joshua Tree looking to speak with aliens and her alien dance are great. Her timing and complete change from the character she plays on ER was refreshing. One of the best things I will remember is watching her parent's reactions to some of her scenes and dialogue. I am looking forward to meeting this gifted actress/filmmaker one day.

Julie Delpy has Al down for the count, a self-centered person, with European ideas who is living and becoming an LA "character." Very transparent and shallow. She pulls it off perfectly. From sitting through her Q&A you get a very different side of Ms. Delpy, a very intelligent woman, filmmaker and I feel someone who knows her own mind, and is not afraid to play the film game with "the boys." She told viewers in NYC that this film is her take on LA "types" she sees everyday in LA. Running all day looking for something and at the end of the day, nothing has really been achieved or made any difference. You the viewer are not asked to like the characters but to see them as the shallow, self-centered, searching, and hustling users that they are. She felt that if you disliked them, that you had gotten the point of the film.

I think we will be hearing more from both these gifted women as filmmakers as well as actresses, neither is afraid to stick her neck out and take a chance on new techniques. I would hope all fans that get a chance to see this film, and for Billy Wirth fans it is a completely different Billy than they have seen before.

I am now looking forward to more "girls time away," and if it can include Billy and his films it is just a great added bonus.

Max.... NYC Avignon Film Festival 2001

built mm 5/9/2001

Avignon Film Festival| Looking For Jimmy

cg 6/05