Movie Blog @ MSPIFF, Day 3: 'Eye Of The Storm'

Fred Schepisi isn't particularly high on the list of most cinephile's lists of great working auteurs, but for a small, fiercely devoted group.

The small, devoted group have a solid case, though. His filmography has more hits (The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Plenty, Roxanne, Six Degrees of Separation, Last Orders) than misses (Fierce Creatures, It Runs in the Family), in addition to a solid body of TV work (including Emmy-nominated work on HBO's Empire Falls).

The Australian director's work might strike some movie fans as a trifle middlebrow, and the overall sheen of his newest film The Eye of the Storm probably won't do much to convince them otherwise.

But at the heart of its posh settings and Tradition Of Quality literary background is something that should also appeal to a very different group of cinephiles (one, I stress, I am very much a part of): a trio of to-the-rafters performances that all threaten to tear down all those high society walls.

Charlotte "I'll Eat Your Children" Rampling stars as an aging society grand dame who is nearing the end of her highly theatrical life. Her two offspring are played (ludicrously) by Geoffrey "Never Met a Tic or Stutter I Didn't Embrace" Rush and Judy "Brittle is My Middle Name" Davis.

I don't think I'm spoiling anything to tell you that words are exchanged.

Director Schepisi will be present at the screening this evening.

The Eye of the Storm plays in Theater 1 at 7:15 p.m.

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Other Highlights: Saturday, April 14

Century Of Cinema. Start and finish this day with celebrations of cinema (see more below). In this reduction of a 261-minute documentary, this movie takes a look at the Midnight Sun Film Festival. (Theater 1; 1:30 p.m.)

Funeral Season. A documentary look at the way people in Cameroon celebrate the passing of life and the ever-presence of the dead. (Theater 4; 5 p.m.)

A Trip to the Moon. Seen Hugo? Now see the movie that inspired Scorsese's epic, Oscar-winning movie. Fitting way to close the day if you started it with Century of Cinema. (Theater 4; 9 p.m.)

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For the festival schedule, and a complete listing of all the movies being shown, click here. Ticket information is available here.

For more of the WCCO Movie Blog's coverage on the MSPIFF, click here.