At the local premiere of the movie Perfume
Some years ago, I ran across a novel named Perfume by Patrick Susskind. I don't recall how I first ran across it or why I read it, but this was one of the most riveting books I ever read. Highly recommended. Changed my relationship with my sense of smell forever. How's that for a strange comment? Well, if it suggests to you that you ought to read the book, then it works.
The movie made from the book played at the Austin Film Festival. Stars Dustin Hoffman. We went to the one showing. It was late, like 10:00, and on a school night.
The audience contained a number of Hollywood types, including the man in front of us who sounded like a director. At least he dropped names like someone in the biz. And the actresses sitting with him who were very slinky and very cuddly. And the sycophant local actor or director holding the seats for all of them.
There was a woman sitting right behind us declaiming about politics. She was heaping praise on Senator Barack Obama -- except that she called him Osama Borat. And not as a joke. (The Borat movie was just about to open, okay, that's confusing, but where did the Osama come from relating to someone she likes?) She had other names slightly muddled, too, like Carol Strahan Keaton instead of Carol Keaton Strayhorn, but that's minor.
Sorry to report that the movie was not particularly good. It certainly did not live up to the promise of the novel. To be fair, the book has a lot of interior monologue, and that isn't easy to translate to a viewing experience.
2006-10-20
